Chaplain Gets Bronze Star For Koran Sensitivity Presentation

[gun sane]

Well, he did risk his life....if he misspelled a verse he could have been beheaded or something.

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/342655/air-force-chaplain-awarded-bronze-star-powerpoint-teaching-proper-sensitivity-quran-pa

Edited March 11, 2013 by gun sane

[gjohnsoniv]

What?

[Dolomite_supafly]

That is absolutely retarded and lessens the sacrifices of real heroes. I might give the guy a break if he wrote it while in the hills of Afghanistan while taking fire. But then again if he was in the hills of Afghanistan taking fire he wouldn't be concerned with treating the Koran with sensitivity. He would be trying to kill those who have wounded or killed his fellow soldiers.

 

Dolomite

[mikegideon]

That's a misprint. It was really the Bronze Nose Medal, which was recently created by Team Obama.

[monkeylizard]

His work was apparently comprehensive and has reportedly helped ease tensions between US Forces and the locals, probably saving lives by de-escalating a tense situation and helping prevent more of the same in the future. It was done quickly and effectively, and it was beyond the scope of his normal duty assignments. Good job. He probably deserves a citation of some kind. His commander(s) think it deserves a significant citation. That's what the Meritorious Service Medal is for. It was made specifically to be an award comparable to the Bronze Star for non-combat meritorious service. I would have leaned more towards the one-tier-lower Air Force Commendation Medal, but not knowing the actual effect of his work on the ground makes that hard to call from the sidelines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritorious_Service_Medal_(United_States)

 

 

At the Tri-Department Awards Conference (February 5, 1968), there was a discussion on the need for a third meritorious award to provide appropriate recognition for non-combat achievement or service comparable to the Bronze Star Medal for combat achievement or service. It was felt that the Legion of Merit's prestige was slipping because it was being used with increasing frequency to reward service below the Legion of Merit's intended standard, but higher than that required for the Commendation Medal.

 

Appraently the USAF likes to pass out the BSM for non-combat service more than the other branches do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Star_Medal

 

In 2012, the U.S. Air Force alleged that two of its female airmen were subjected to cyber-bullying after receiving Bronze Star Medals for meritorious non-combat service. The two airmen had been finance NCOICs in medical units deployed to the War in Afghanistan and received the medals in March 2012. The awards sparked a debate as to whether or not the Air Force was awarding too many medals to its members, and whether the Bronze Star should be awarded for non-combat service.^[5] This prompted the Air Force to take down stories of the two posted to the internet, and to clarify its criteria for awarding medals. The Air Force contended that meritorious service awards of the Bronze Star outnumber valor awards, and that it views awards on a case-by-case basis to maintain the integrity of the award.^[6]

However, this is not the first time that the USAF has come under fire in the past for offering this award. The Department of Defense investigated the award of the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) by the USAF to some 185 individuals after operations in Kosovo in 1999. All but 25 were awarded to officers, and only 1 in 10 of those awarded were actually in the combat zone. Five were awarded to officers that never left Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. During this campaign, the Navy had awarded 69 BSMs, and the Army with 5,000 troops in neighboring Albania (considered part of the combat zone) awarded none.^[7]In the end, there was a Pentagon review and decision by Congress to stop the awarding of Bronze Stars to personnel outside the combat zone.

<<emphasis mine>>

 

Giving him a Bronze Star for this is a disgrace. If he had any character at all, he'd refuse that citation recognizing what it really means and knowing that he does not deserve a combat medal for this. I suppose that by being deployed to Afghanistan that he was techincally in a combat zone, but any normal person knows that being in a theater with combat operations <> combat zone.

Edited March 11, 2013 by monkeylizard

[Guest 6.8 AR]

My guess is political correctness run amok in the military.

[gun sane]

Besides turning the honor of a Bronze Star into something akin to a Cracker Jacks prize, my beef about this is the military has to be PC on anything that may offend somebody when our troops' butts are on the line 24/7.  "It might start a riot," the brass says.  Yeah, they might start shooting at us, too.  But heaven forbid they call us hurtful names like "infidel."  

[c.a.willard]

Unfortunately rank plays way to large a role in the awards process.  Had an E-4 chaplains assistant created the same powerpoint they at best would have received an acchievement medal or nothing atall.

[Major Kong]

My guess is political correctness run amok in the military.

You'd be absolutely disgusted to know just how amok it is running right now.

[gun sane]

It is also comes from a part-time president who believes we should end wars instead of win them. 

[Guest 6.8 AR]

End wars or lose them?

[monkeylizard]

same thing.

[TMF]

If you only knew the crap that goes on in the awards system. Compared to what I've seen, this Chappy has met the requirements for a meritorious Bronze Star by comparison to what I've seen it awarded for. If I were king for a day, this lunacy would end and Bronze Stars would require actual valor and this subjective meritorious crap would end. This system awards staff weenies with BSMs while giving ARCOM Vs to lower enlisted who were shot while dragging wounded buddies behind cover. Just disgusting. Don't even get me started of these less than worthless piles of POGs who have received BSMs having never stepped foot in a combat zone. One of the many reasons I was happy to leave. The military wants people to feel good about themselves and could care less about the grunts that actually do the work our military exists for in the first place.

Once again, for all the folks in the military who want all the shiny medals and awards that have traditionally gone to the infantry, they should have gone into the infantry. There have been more new authorized tabs badges and such in the past decade than the last 70 years, while the standards for everyone have dropped across the board. And when I see a overweight slob of a Soldier that can't IMT unless its vicariously through an XBOX I think to myself how quickly things would have to change if we had to fight a real war. Edited March 12, 2013 by TMF

[Dolomite_supafly]

Towards the end of my time in I worked in a school house because of injuries. And watching some of those people get the awards they got was disgusting. I can't even count the times the Legion of Merit was awarded to NCO's that did nothing more than spend 20 years in. And the majority of them never seen a day of combat or even deployed.

 

Same thing with officers, they would get awards for doing their job. And some of our officer students would get awards for completing OBC.

 

The awards system got that way because of how the NCOER's always got fluffed up. I think the normal progession went from embellishing on NCOER's to lying on award requests. I have seen NCOER's on people who had article 15's or were POS's that read like they were Audie Murphy. And I was told that a good supervisor fluffs their subordinates NCOER's. Did I do it? Yes I did because I wanted my soldiers on the same playing field as every other solder out there. If I didn't they would look like a POS when they weren't.

 

Dolomite

[gun sane]

[gun sane]

They're backstepping now.  The latest story is that he didn't get the medal for just a Powerpoint presentation.  While in Afghanistan, the chaplain also bravely ran a suicide prevention training program and regularly held worship services.

 

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/13/air-force-chaplain-awarded-prestigious-bronze-star-for-powerpoint-teaching-about-proper-disposal-handling-of-islamic-texts/

 

 

[monkeylizard]

Oh...you mean he did his job. Gotcha. In that case, I rescind my earlier criticism and would like to formally submit him for the MOH. Maybe we should name an air base after him.

[Chris]

POGs. I swear, you wouldn't even feed em if you had a choice.

[gun sane]

Maybe I'm being overly critical, but this feat sort of pales in comparison to what these four chaplains did:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Chaplains

[Daniel]

Unfortunately rank plays way to large a role in the awards process.  Had an E-4 chaplains assistant created the same powerpoint they at best would have received an acchievement medal or nothing atall.

This.