Running short on purple hearts

August 17, 2007

Nyles Reed, a 75-year-old Texan, sustained injuries during combat in Korea in 1952. Last week, the Pentagon sent him a letter to let him know he qualifies for a Purple Heart.

But the Defense Department didn’t actually give Reed a Purple Heart; it just sent him a certificate saying he’d earned one. The mailing included a notice explaining that the medal for injured troops was “out of stock.”

“I can imagine, of course, with what’s going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s a big shortage,” Reed said. “At least, I would imagine so.”

The form letter from the Navy Personnel Command told Reed he could wait 90 days and resubmit an application, or buy his own medal.

After waiting 55 years, however, Reed decided to pay $42 for his own Purple Heart and accompanying ribbon — plus state sales taxes — at a military surplus store.

Granted, Reed’s injury was sustained a half-century ago. His Jeep was shelled, his face was badly wounded, and he was taken to a battalion aid station. After surgery, Reed was asked if he wanted a Purple Heart. He reportedly said, “I haven’t got time! They’re waiting for me up at the front lines.” He rushed back to duty.

But he got to thinking recently that the medal would be nice to pass on his kids and grandkids, so he sent in the paperwork, only to be told the Navy doesn’t have any more Purple Hearts. They ran out. Thanks for your service.

As it turns out, Reed contacted Sen. Cornyn’s office, and the Navy “just received additional Purple Heart medals,” one of which is going to Reed.

That said, we’ve apparently reached a point in which U.S. troops are injured so frequently in Iraq and Afghanistan — the number is now near 30,000 — that the military is running out of Purple Hearts. That’s stunning.

August 17, 2007 at 11:21 am

Maybe Bush can donate his back to one of the troops.

Actually, the military had been using Purple Heart medals that were made for the land invasion of Japan in WW II that never took place because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They had 400,000 of the medals and issued them through the Korean War, the Vietnam war and now Bush’s War in Iraq. $hrub’s misadventures in the ME finally used them all up. I think it is pathetic that a wounded serviceman should have to buy his own. Servicemen “Killed In Action” also used to receive one posthumously. I guess now, the DOD will give them a presentation box with a paper IOU in it.

Or some of the 2004 GOP convention attendees can give them Purple Heart band-aids.

So how do the neocons spin this as a sign the surge is working and the war is a success? Look at how many more decorated veterans this occupation has made? The war on terror: a new injured hero made every minute? The enemy must really be desperate and in its last throes if they are injuring so many American troops? Those insurgents think they’re so deadly, but they’re only wounding the troops and not killing them? Bill Kristol must really have to do some advanced mental yoga to twist a shortage of purple hearts into a sign his great and glorious conflict is anything but a fools errand that a lot of really good men and women are having to pay an extreme price for.

Why not give him a Medal of Freedom instead? There appears to be no shortage of those.

Why not give him a Medal of Freedom instead?

Hey now – this guy was wounded in action. He should get a medal that has some meaning, not something the president hands out like free popcorn at a used car dealer.

That was really dumb of the Administration; they could save half, if not 2/3 or more (especially after news of conditions at Walter Reed broke, not to mention veterans’ benefits and other Pentagon-fuck-up stories) of the purple hearts they”ll need to hand out by asking the recipients if they’re reliable Republican voters.

Anyone who isn’t a Bush voter can have a purple-heart band-aid, since that’s what the GOP thinks of *Democrats* who earn purple hearts.

Restoring honor and dignity, my fucking ass.

That’s very disappointing of the Navy. Thankfully Mr. Reed’s Senator stepped in to help him out.

That being said – I’d like to see one post on this Blog, just one, that wasn’t critical of the military.

How about some posts about the bravery of our troops, such as The Battle Of Donkey Island, outside Ramadi:

“Charlie Company quickly noticed that they had discovered an enemy staging area hidden on an island south of Ramadi and quickly took the fight to the enemy in a fierce engagement that would last for over 24 hours.

“As one of the Apache teams — Apache helicopter teams returned from a refueling run, Chief Warrant Officers Alan Crist (sp) and Kevin Pertee (sp) noticed a wounded soldier and that a medevaced aircraft had yet to arrive.

“In the face of enemy fire, they landed their Apache helicopter, and I remind you that’s a two-seated helicopter. Following a seldom-used technique, they loaded Specialist Jeffrey Jamaleldine into the front seat of the Apache helicopter while one of the pilots strapped himself to the aircraft’s wing. They flied him, then, to an area where he could be attended to by medics.”

That would be a nice change of pace.

$12 Billion a month on the Iraq Quagmire and we can’t afford a Purple Heart ribbon and medal? I bet one Pelosi or Reid cross-country plane ride would buy a carload of such medals. I mention them because it would be pointless to mention any real Republicans.

Nobody could have anticipated…

Have no fear! Bush will put in an order for other thousand or so from Red China. Just enought to last till the next election.

one more thing,they better be lead-free,we don’t want our service men and women to get sick.

That being said – I’d like to see one post on this Blog, just one, that wasn’t critical of the military.

Actually, there have been many posts on this Blog that have not been critical of the military. The post before this one and the post after this one are not critical of the military.

Following a seldom-used technique, they loaded Specialist Jeffrey Jamaleldine into the front seat of the Apache helicopter while one of the pilots strapped himself to the aircraft’s wing. — N. Lihach, @8

Too bad Jamaledine won’t get a Purple Heart medal. And, probably, the Apache’s pilots won’t get much of official recognition of their bravery and ingenuity, either. Medals cost money and the pilowrts just did their job.

BTW, do Apache helicopters have wings? All I can seem to remember about helicopters is those rotors…

That’s easy, Rambuncle. Neither post before or after this one has to deal with the military.

Find me a post on CarpetBagger that tells a positive story. Bravery, heroism, overcoming the odds, any of the dozens of reports whereby our troops have routed al Qaeda, often killing them at a rate of 35-1.

Maybe I’ve missed it somewhere, I’ll give you that.

It’s just unfortunate. The anger among the left and centrists felt towards the President has spilled over to our troops, and that’s not fair. If you don’t believe me, go read what Jack Murtha had to say about the Haditha Marines, many of whom are now being cleared of all charges. Look at Reid’s comments about Petraeus, look at TNR’s Scott Thomas Beauchamp fiasco, look at Obama’s “air raiding” remarks.

One would think there is nothing rewarding at all to be taken from military service by reading this Blog. Sure, the Navy made a dumb mistake. But more than likely, it was a Navy bureaucrat, possibly a civilian, who checked the records, saw they were low on medals, and responded shamefully to a war veteran.

I wouldn’t hold that up as a sign that our military is in decay.

libra,

It seems SPC Jamaleldine DID receive his Purple Heart:

“SPC Jamaleldine is my Brother. he is save and doing fine in Schweinfurt, Germany reunite with his wife and 2 sons. He survived a headshot and received his purple heart on july 3rd. ”

Link here: http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=6364

A simple Google search did the trick.

Please don’t assume the worst about our military. Your hatred for Bush is blinding you. Trust me, I used to hate Bush, too. Then I realized we have bigger enemies out there; al Qaeda, for one.

I fail to see how this post is critical of the military. Sounds to me like it is a criticism of the civilian leadership that works with the military.

Bubba’s right, the post isn’t critical of the military. It’s not the military’s fault that the supply of Purple Hearts is being outpaced by the demand. That’s the fault of this failed administration for sending the troops to Iraq in the first place. But Libach still clings to the old “you criticize Bush, you criticize our troops” chestnut. It was always cheap, ridiculous and intellectually dishonest, but he’s sticking to it.

Give Lihach a break. Even though the odds of dying in a bus accident, mine disaster, bridge collapse, aftermath of a hurricane hitting our shores, railroad track accident, by playing with imported toys, by eating imported foods, by eating domestic foods, etc., etc., etc., is much higher than in a terrorist attack, he’s bed wettin’ and pants poopin’ afraid and needs his authoritarian figure to give him some feeling of comfort.

Very intelligent discourse, I’m glad we can all be polite…

Nowhere in these comments have I explicitly supported or defended Bush. Rather, I contend that hatred of the President has come to coincide with bashing the military. There is copious proof out there to support the fact that left-leaning individuals tend to be far more critical of the military, often smearing the troops themselves.

Whether it’s shouting down a soldier at YearlyKos, which Jon Soltz did, (conduct unbecoming an officer), or when Bloggers on DailyKos write:

“do I still support the individual men and women who have given so much to serve their country? No. I think they’re a bunch of idiots. I also think they’re morally retarded.”

Or when comments are made by Markos himself about the American contractors horribly executed and strung up and beaten: “screw them”

There are few greater instances of perfidy to this country, when one smears those who risk their lives on a daily basis.

Let’s try to be mature and keep the ad hominem “bed wettin’ and pants poopin'” comments to a minimum. They do not further the debate.

You can’t plead for “mature” debate and keep repeating the your ridiculous “liberals hate the military” lie. That doesn’t further the discussion, either. And your contention that bashing Bush “has come to coincide with bashing the military” is an equally ridiculous lie. In your post you 1) mischaractere an event (Soltz); 2) pick a random quote off a blog as representative of an entire political

Bashing Bush, if anything, shows support for the military because Bush’s policies have been bad for the military – stupid, immoral war in Iraq; Walter Reed conditions; veterans’ benefits; etc. His launching of the wrongheaded war in Iraq demonstrates how little regard he has for the millitary. And let’s not even talk about his draft dodging and then skipping out on his National Guard service.

And conservatives’ shrill trashing of any vet who doesn’t agree with their views – from John Kerry to John Murtha to Markos to Pat Tillman to Scott Beauchamp and the troops who backed up his story to TNR – indicates that there is plenty of ‘perfidity’ on the right. Hey, look – ‘copious proof’ that right-leaning individuals tend to be far more critical of the military, often smearing the troops themselves. Why do you hate America’s fighting men and women, Lihach? Traitor!

Hey, my first graph got cut off. Here it is in its entirety:

Woody Bombay,

I never said anywhere here that “liberals hate the military.”

I did not mischaracterize the event; Soltz shouted down Aguila, which, as an Officer, Soltz should not have done. Check the military code. Technically, Aguila was also in violation of military code, though. But note that Kos and others are fine with Adam Kokesh protesting the war in his uniform, but not Aguila’s supporting the war. Hypocritical?

I picked a random quote, but there are many, many more. Read just about any comment section from liberal blogs on the military, they get pretty nasty.

Markos’ follow up comment did little to save face. He clearly realized he blundered, then he backpedaled, just like a politician.

Bashing Bush isn’t supporting the troops. It’s specious to insinuate that opposing a war characterizes you as a defender of our soldier’s lives. Soldiers perform their duty, knowing full well their job is to protect the country. It just seems to me that it is convenient that the troops are only supported by liberals when they can bash Bush in the same breath. Notice I didn’t say “hate” here. In my time reading liberal blogs, I have scant found even a desultory attempt to describe a hair-raising tale of victory and heroism. Did you know last month that US troops killed 100 Taliban in one attack alone? Why do I have to go to Asia Times, of Lahore, Pakistan, to read about it? Or only conservative blogs? Where are the liberal blogs covering stories such as American troops killing 35 al Qaeda, after being ambushed, and only suffering 2 casualties. You won’t find that on liberal blogs.

I don’t bash just any veterans who I don’t agree with. Rather, I will criticize a veteran who is out of line. Take Jack Murtha, who declared on national television last year that the Haditha Marines killed those Iraqi’s “in cold blood!” before any investigation, before a trial, before the facts were in. That is despicable. Aren’t they innocent until proven guilty?

Tillman – I have seen nothing but support for the investigation to find the truth of this incident. The wackiest think I’ve read, though, are some liberal blogs suggesting Tillman was killed because he was supposedly to meet with Noam Chomsky. Now that’s nutty…

Beauchamp – This has been covered by the NYT, the WaPo, and numerous Blogs. He lied. Period. At the bare minimum, at the very least, he lied about the disfigured woman in the mess hall in Iraq. His own personal blog, which you can read online, details how he wanted to join the Army so he could write a book. Go look for yourself.

That about sums it up.