Sergeant major gets Purple Heart C.O.D
Not only didn’t Army Sergeant Major Rob Dickerson not get the ceremony that most Purple Heart recipients get, he also got a $21 bill for postage according to links sent to us by ToothlessDawg and VTWoody.
Dickerson, who was seriously wounded in a rocket blast while serving in Iraq in 2007, finally got his Purple Heart in the mail, four years late, and on top of it all was billed over $21.00 for postage. He couldn’t believe it.
“This is not a matter of money, this is a matter of principle,” Dickerson said.
Dickerson says because of a snafu with paperwork, he never got his Purple Heart when he should have. He has spent the last two years trying to prove to the Army he was injured in combat.
Not only did Dickerson get the bill for postage, when the Army reimbursed him for the mistake, the check they sent was made out with a misspelling of his name. How much more disrespectful can those puzzle palace princes get? I guess they could have drove by his house and thrown the medal out on his lawn, I suppose.
“I don’t want you to think I’m whining and complaining, because I’m not, I really don’t want this to happen to another soldier or any service member of the United States, it’s degrading,” Dickerson said.
Well, you’ve earned the right to whine if you want, Sergeant Major. Lord knows the Army has given you good reason in this case.
Category: Shitbags
I half expect in the near future all medals will be charged to your MyPay, to cover the cost of the medal the certificate and the presentation.
Hell, with this current crowd, I expect they’ll just send the recipient an email and have them post the awards on an app called iMedal for your freakin’ smartphone….share with all your Facebook pals!
Be interested to see who is the Congressman of the Sergeant Major.
Dumbassery and just not shiving a git. Serious failure of leadership that it took so long for him to get his decoration to begin with.
Reminds me of a family friend USMCR M/SGT that, upon his graduation got a lovely thank you letter from then CINC Ronald Reagan. There was a typo/syntax error on it. The good SNCO pen & ink’ed the corrections, wrote a letter explaining his expectation of excellence in his Marines and and returned to sender. Not sure if Ronny (‘s secretary/robo-pen) ever fixed the error but it was funny none-the-less.
“I guess they could have drove by his house and thrown the medal out on his lawn, I suppose.”
Worse would have been to have John Kerry throw the medals at him while driving by.
Hell, I was “presented” an air medal in Iraq by someone leaving the green binder on my desk while I was out flying a mission…good thing I made it back.
Typical bureaucratic bull that the Army is famous for. Doesn’t excuse it, it’s still horrible…just not surprising.
A paperwork snafu that delayed it is one thing, shit happens sometimes but to make up for it charging postage and spelling his name wrong? Sheesh……
I’ve been jumping up and down about this bullshit for a few years now.
Back in 2008 a then, SSG, was nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in eastern Afghanistan at the Battle of the Ranch House. His unit was based in Vicenza, Italy. A few weeks after they returned from a 15 month deployment he went to the post office on base. There was a package in his mail box. Yep, his DSC was friggin MAILED to him at his own Army base.
A few months later two men from the same unit who were to be awarded Silver Stars for their actions at the Battle of Wanat, also in eastern Afghanistan, received a call from some desk jockey in the Army wanting to know their addresses. When questioned as to why the desk jockey wanted their addresses he replied he didn’t know where they were stationed and needed to friggin MAIL THEM their Silver Stars.
Lucky for the desk jockey the guys all knew me well enough not to give me his name and location.
Long story short, their Battalion CO from the deployment (in all three cases) made sure all three medals were awarded in an appropriate manner.
So many, too DAMN MANY examples of EARNED awards being mailed. Just pisses me off to no end. And postage due? Someone should be busted in rank for that. Seriously they should be. Lazy turds.
Frankly folks, I don’t blame the bureaucrats for behaving bureaucratically. When any servicemember gets less than the proper decorum and courtesy, it’s because his/her C.O. doesn’t give a rat’s a$$.
Just what is an “earned” award? With all the Bronze Stars floating around out there, I’m kinda glad that my unit maxed its quota of BS prior to landing in-country. Not having a medal means I did my job correctly.