Post #111,206
7/23/03 10:24:09 PM
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Re: Question/rant
Nope - wounded is wounded.
She didn't freak out ,and she held her position under stress. Valor enough for me, she was part of a supply brigade, and probably had minimal weapons training.
She was in the care of the enemy, for however long - she was a prisoner.
Any more objections?
-drl
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Post #111,217
7/24/03 2:37:25 AM
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Any effort to stop her leaving?
Yeah, she wasn't in any shape to go anyplace on her own. But doesn't the word "prisoner" imply that somebody is taking steps to prevent you leaving?
Was she under any kind of restraint at all? Was anyone, at any point, specificaly trying to keep the US forces from retreiving her? Trying to keep US forces out of the area as a general thing doesn't count.
If the Iraquis considered her a guest and treated her as such, and attempted to provide her transport back to her unit, and made no attempt to prevent her leaving or others from retreiving her, how does that word apply?
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Sometime you the windshield, sometime you the bug...
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Post #111,229
7/24/03 9:02:07 AM
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Are you serious?
She was captured by forces of the army we were at war with. At that instant she became a POW. Whatever her later situation, she was a prisoner. Period.
As for the Purple Heart, I thought the crash she was in was caused by a attack on her convoy by enemy forces. Might be wrong.
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Post #111,240
7/24/03 9:41:51 AM
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Agree, now for the rest of the question
Will the other surviving members of her unit receive the same awards? Don't remember if they were also wounded, but they were also POWs and "held their ground".
As ret mil, I do have a problem with the Bronze Star. That may be a little too much, but I haven't seen the write up, so it's just speculation on my part.
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Post #111,247
7/24/03 10:20:17 AM
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Re: Bronze Star
I'm uneasy about that one myself. What did she do of her own volition to earn it? She may well deserve it. I don't know. Haven't heard why.
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Where were you in 72?
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Post #111,374
7/24/03 10:57:14 PM
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Re: What did she do of her own volition to earn it?
Well, she dutifully has no recollection of the events that might spoil a good story.
[image|/forums/images/warning.png|0|This is sarcasm...||]
Alex
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw
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Post #111,405
7/25/03 9:08:30 AM
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10 points !!! (as is so often the case :-)
:-)
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Post #111,421
7/25/03 9:55:13 AM
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Not needed
There are levels of decoration for personal initiative and valor.
1) Purple Heart to anyone wounded in confrontation with enemy, for any reason.
2) Bronze Star for fortitude under stress.
3) Silver Star for the former squared.
4) CMH for "above and beyond', like cousin Audie at Holzwir.
I think she deserves her medals.
-drl
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Post #111,502
7/25/03 5:47:52 PM
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Is there a special 'cluster' for dutifully not-remembering?
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Post #111,606
7/26/03 10:18:52 PM
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Lotus blossom?
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Sometime you the windshield, sometime you the bug, sometime you the driver you turn on the windshield washer you keep going.
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Post #111,376
7/24/03 11:17:49 PM
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Yes, I am serious
How is she a prisoner if there is no action to prevent her leaving? As far as I can tell, the only reason they moved her was for medical treatment.
As for the other medals, I don't know the facts well enough to know whether the Bronze Star is deserved. The purple heart is entirely appropriate, no question about it. She was wounded in combat, even if all that hit her was the inside of the vehicle. Most wounds in combat are from shrapnel - and much of that is bits of equipment which have been propelled by weapons, rather than being part of the weapon. The entire vehicle is in that general category. Not only was she wounded in combat, she was wounded as a direct result of enemy fire, not that the Purple Heart technicaly requires that.
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Sometime you the windshield, sometime you the bug...
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Post #111,425
7/25/03 10:08:56 AM
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You entirely missed the point.
At the instant the opposing soldiers took her captive from that wrecked vehicle, *then* she was a POW. What happened after doesn't signify.
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Where were you in 72?
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