Hey Sir, Where’s Your Medal of Honor?

I don’t get an email like that every day. Naturally it came with a link to an article.

Der Spiegle has the story of Germany’s newest version of the Iron Cross called “The Cross of Honor for Bravery”.

The medal is the fifth and highest distinction in the Bundeswehr. According to the decree that created it, the new cross honors “exceptionally courageous deeds” that go beyond what is expected “within the framework of the performance of duty.”

The story is mostly about the medal itself and the controversy it caused by its resemblance to the old Iron Cross.

What caught my attention was this phrase, “exceptionally courageous deeds” that go beyond what is expected. This struck me because all of my sources say that the German contingent are pretty much “Fobbits” who are not allowed to do anything remotely close to fighting.

At the very end of the article we finally learn the heroic actions that these four soldiers did to earn the highest distinction in the German Army.

The four soldiers that were honored on Monday were witness to a suicide attack by Taliban militants on Oct. 20, 2008 southwest of Kunduz. Two German soldiers were killed and two wounded in the attack. Five Afghan children were killed, one injured. Although the German’s armored vehicle was on fire and munitions were exploding, the four soldiers, aged 28 to 33, rushed to the scene to try to help.

Okay let me try to get my brain wrapped around this one. You are a soldier in a war zone and an explosion happens and several people are killed or wounded and rushing to the scene to render aid is “beyond what is expected”?

Don’t get wrong, this probably rates a three day pass or an extra beer ration but the highest medal in the whole frigging army?

In fact, not rushing to the scene could easily be cause for charges of dereliction of duty or cowardice.

Note to the German Army; this is the kind of action that deserves this kind of medal. Meet SSG Erich Phillips:

Mortar Platoon Sergeant for Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross Sept. 15, 2008 in Vicenza, Italy, for his actions at Ranch House in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan Aug. 22, 2007.

Phillips initially directed fire from the mortar pit, then led its defense — holding off more than a dozen insurgents who had breached the perimeter with a combination of small-arms fire and grenades. Then he and Sgt. Kyle Dirkinitis, a medic, rushed out to defend an isolated guard post. Phillips halted another enemy advance with more grenades and fire.

Dirkinitis — who would eventually receive the Bronze Star with “V” device — was then wounded in the chest. Phillips dragged him to safety and directed another soldier to treat his injury while rejoining the fight. Strafing runs by the A-10 and machine-gun and mortar fire by the Chosen Company soldiers forced the enemy to abandon their positions.

Phillips then led a team that retook part of the perimeter. He then dragged another wounded soldier from a destroyed guard tower and directed the evacuation of wounded.

And even that DID NOT rate the highest award in the American army.

If you start giving away medals, people will stop earning them.

Category: Politics