Big Army’s Latest FUBAR

[Valin]

RHINO DEN:

5/9/13

 

It seems almost comical. Perhaps there were a bunch of generals sitting around trying to fluff their OER so they could get another star, maybe it was a PAO prank run amok, or maybe a Duffel Blog writer slipped a note to the Sergeant Major of the Army. Whatever the root cause may be, next year’s Soldier of the Year will be: Everyone. Every single soldier in the United States Army will be Soldier of the Year. The details haven’t been worked out yet how every soldier, to include officers will receive the trophy and commendations that usually go with winning Soldier of the Year, but the basic plan is that everybody’s been doing such a good job, that they want to reward, well pretty much everyone.

 

This move is not without precedent, during the Korean War countless Colonels that stayed in rear areas bitched endlessly that their contemporaries that had actually gone to war had more medals than they did. It was seen as unfair that they did really important work in places like Fort Dix New Jersey to support the war in Korea. The fact that Korea is on the other side of the globe from New Jersey was not nearly as important as their “war time” service. President Eisenhower, in a move to head off the endless bitching created the National Defense Medal in 1953. The NDM is a blanket medal awarded to any member of the armed services that is active during a time of war. Any service member regardless of MOS, or duty station would now get recognition for their “War Time” service.

 

(Snip)

 

But the latest move by the Army Department seems to make no sense. How can every soldier be Soldier of the Year? Technically, Major Nidal Hassan, PFC Bradley Manning, and SSG Robert Bales are still soldiers. Does that mean that we will award Soldier of the Year to a terrorist, a traitor, or a massive Durbinhead? Well, it looks like we will. It seems that this is just the latest in a series of moves in the army to please a public that is increasingly valuing the participation trophy, and perhaps an attempt to remind the news media that we’re still the good guys.

 

(Snip)

 

 

[clearvision]