Politicians and warriors
Back in June, we talked about Sergeant First Class Earl D. Plumlee’s Medal of Honor nomination which made it easily through the military side of the Pentagon, but was shot down once the civilian politicians on the other side of the Puzzle Palace got their grubby paws on the paperwork. The civvies decided that a CID investigation of a sale of a gift from a contractor to SFC Plumlee came to naught.
The Washington Post reports that California Congressman Duncan Hunter is looking at this case along with the case of LTC Jason Amerine and Major Mathew L. Golsteyn;
A spokesman for Hunter, Joe Kasper, said Tuesday that the inspector general’s office found in June that the Army was within its rights to launch an investigation into Plumlee’s alleged actions and notified Hunter’s office afterward. Work referenced that in a new letter to Hunter also sent Sept. 2.
“On June 26, 2015, the Office of the Inspector General responded to you regarding their investigation into the actions of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command following complaints lodged against Sergeant First Class Plumlee,” Work’s letter said. “Now that the previous investigation is complete, I have asked the Inspector General to open a separate review of the circumstances surrounding Sergeant First Class Plumlee’s award in response to the allegations in your letter of May 19, 2015. ”
The Pentagon needs to drag these civilians out of the awards process. I look at SFC Allwyne Cashe and Rafael Peralta, both of whom deserve the Medal of Honor by any measure and now SFC Plumlee – the awards system has failed these heroes, the “civilian leadership” has failed these men.
Category: Big Army, Big Pentagon
On a side note, I wonder if there is any relation to CSM Plumlee. Not exactly a common name afterall
That would be CSM Basil PlumLEY. Spelling is different.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_L._Plumley
Ahh yep fuck me runnin, didnt catch that. My bad
The civilians politicians have failed EVERYTHING, including AMERICA!
The problem is there are bureaucrats at Army HRC and the Pentagon (for example) who forgot a long time ago (if they ever understood it) that their sole purpose is to do everything they can to support Soldiers on the ground.
If “they” deem someone doesn’t deserve something, then that person doesn’t, regardless of what the action was or what the chain of command says. If “they” deem someone doesn’t belong, they kick ’em to the curb, regardless of what the chain of command says and/or what the Service member says or does.
They have become a “support ourselves” structure and hindrance. They need to clean house in many of the echelons above reality, rather than the Division and below reductions they are supporting.
Hmmm, HRC: Hillary Rodham Clinton / HRC: Human Resources Command. That’s kind of disconcerting.
I’m going to use an analogy that doesn’t fit exactly, but it will make my point.
When you show horses, the judges are expert horsemen. They have to be; the precision found in riding requires that the men and women judging the contest know what is happening and what to look for, both with horse and rider. If you use horse show judges who are anything but expert horsemen, the show degrades from being about excellence in horsemanship to something resembling a beauty contest.
I don’t think civilians should have any part in awarding medals for military valor, for exactly the same reason.
Fuckin’ AYEEE, bubba!
Bet you that the asswipe that recommended the downgrade has never, every worn the uniform… but has been a “career” GS with a axe to grind because he/she doesn’t feel “appreciated”.
Dead on point well made. All event’s are judge by experts in that field of performance so should valor.
PN, your analogy is spot on.
OC
Absolutely right.
I worked in the Pentagon for a year as a contractor and now work for another federal agency.
I was shocked at the number who are disdainful of the military. Really shocked.
My google-fu has failed me, so this is from memory, but in the case of Cashe I am pretty sure it was the military leadership that failed. Cashe’s unit fell under 42nd ID in Iraq (so did my unit in 2005) and MG Taluto had approval authority for his award. When the award came to his desk Taluto signed off on a Silver Star and he has since said he made a mistake (I read that somewhere years ago, probably either in Army Times or Stars and Stripes). If Taluto had forwarded the award with his recommendation for a higher award then it might have gone farther, so in that case it was a mistake by military leadership that was the problem.
Military awards should be the purview of the military period. Not lawmakers or judges; the actions should speak for themselves. Furthermore, unrelated past and future mistakes should have nothing to do with an honor someone may have earned at any single point in time.
Let the politicians hand them over and get their photo op if they must, just don’t let them decide who what when and why.
The senior decorations board is actually made up of senior Army Officers (COL’s and GO’s), they forward a recommendation to the SECARMY who has the legal authority either forward the Award to DOD or approve a lesser award (I think SECARMY can approve up to the DSC). The SECARMY’s authority (and the other secretaries) is established in Federal Law.
What we don’t know is….when did the Senior Decorations Board make the recommendation and what the recommendation actually was? For all we know, they could have recommended approval of a lesser award, pending conclusion of the investigation.
He doesn’t meet the diversity requirement.
The cynic in me says that he’ll be an MOH recipient just before or after he dies.
When I see indications that someone is quibbling about something like this, the nitpicking almost seems personal. There is no such thing as a White Knight in Shining Armor, never has been. But it almost seems, according to the article, that unless Plumlee can prove he’s so clean, so pure of heart, that he’s never even gotten laid, it will only come when he’s passed on. Why? Because there are people whose lives are just exactly that trivial.
I do agree that the civilian end of this should be eliminated.
the saddest part about the whole thing is that whatever he did to earn the award would probably have made those civilians that said “no, you can’t have it” piss down their leg.
They weren’t there, didn’t witness the act, but get the say so over the ones that actually know what happend and understand the related events.
Two deployments ago, every one of my awards were downgraded and this was during some very sketchy actions. Then this last deployment where the closest I came to combat was reading about it in a week old Stars and Stripes, I get a BSM. The awards system is a joke. I think the only people that they matter to anymore are privates and generals.
Lets let the military start reviewing awards pay raises and bonuses for the civilians. After all you know what they say about “Turn about is fair play”.