I grew up in a military family.

One of the benefits of that upbringing was that I met some extraordinary men and women during my childhood. And as a teenager I had the privilege of meeting a living recipient of the Medal of Honor. I learned that day exactly how special these men really are, and the sort of heroism they exhibited in the course of their duty. And so it is with that in mind that I read this commentary this morning about attempts to change the requirements – in effect to water them down – in an effort to award the MoH more often.

More than a dozen groups and lawmakers are lobbying the Defense Department to award this honor more frequently -- in effect, to lower its standards -- and to upgrade to the Medal of Honor other decorations that soldiers have received. In debate over the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010, the Pentagon was criticized for setting decoration standards too high. The "low numbers" led Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) to insert a conference report in the authorization act "to review the current trends in awarding the Medal of Honor to identify whether there is an inadvertent subjective bias amongst commanders that has contributed to the low numbers of awards of the Medal of Honor." It directs Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to report back to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees next March.

I’m sorry, but no matter how dearly one wishes to honor our men and women in uniform, this is not the right vehicle for doing so. This award is special – its recipients a mere handful among all those who have ever served – and so rarely bestowed that meeting a living recipient is rare. That is as it should be. If there is a desire to give more recognition to special acts of valor, then there is a case for creating a new award – but Congress should keep its hands off of this one.

Posted by: Greg at 01:24 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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