SSG Salvatore Giunta
Today was a rare and special day as President Obama awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to United States Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta for his heroic actions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan in October 2007.
Special because any time a Soldier is awarded the Medal of Honor, the entire nation should stop and be reminded of the extraordinary bravery and sacrifice made on their behalf.
Rare because today’s ceremony marked the first time that the Medal of Honor was awarded to a living recipient since the Vietnam War.
But I’m also a little troubled about the awarding of Medal of Honors during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last 10 years.
I’m troubled that only 8 total MoH have been awarded during this time. I find it hard to believe that there have not been an a lot of other Soldiers and Marines who have also displayed “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty.”
There were 246 MoHs awarded during the Vietnam War, 91 of which were awarded to living recipients.
There are only 87 living MoH recipients. Because of the military’s refusal and reluctance to honor more Soldiers and Marines (both living and posthumously) in the current wars, we’re only a generation away from having only SSgt Giunta left to carry this honor.
I’ve met several MoH recipients, and it’s an amazing honor. We can learn a lot from these men, which is why it’s important to make sure that every deserving men is recognized.
The Feminization of the Medal of Honor
But there’s something else that has bothered me about all of the MoHs that have been awarded during the current Wars Against Terror, which was pointed out by Bryan Fischer — a Liberal whom I would probably not agree with on almost anything else:
But I have noticed a disturbing trend in the awarding of these medals, which few others seem to have recognized.
We have feminized the Medal of Honor.
According to Bill McGurn of the Wall Street Journal, every Medal of Honor awarded during these two conflicts has been awarded for saving life. Not one has been awarded for inflicting casualties on the enemy. Not one.
Gen. George Patton once famously said, “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other guy die for his.”
[snip]
So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?
I would suggest our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery. We know instinctively that we should honor courage, but shy away from honoring courage if it results in the taking of life rather than in just the saving of life. So we find it safe to honor those who throw themselves on a grenade to save their buddies.
And he’s right.
So while I salute SSgt. Giunta today, and stand humbled to know that we still produce men like him — I’m still troubled that we don’t recognize that there are many others equally deserving of this recognition living in our ranks today.
___________
UPDATE: I wanted to add this video of SSG Giunta — if you can get through the 30 or so insincere seconds of Obama grinning and enjoying himself (at a solemn ceremony brought about by the heroic actions of one Soldier and the death of two others). But you should watch it just to listen to SSG Giunta. He carries this honor with an impossible humility, and as almost all other Soldiers who have been awarded this medal, he acknowledges that those who fought on his left and on his right are more deserving than him. He claims that he’ll wear the medal, but he’ll wear it for all the men and women with whom he has ever served.
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Typical libs — cheapen awards so they lose all meaning. Sort of like soccer trophies…why don’t we just give them to everyone who enlists?
If we want to award an MOH, let’s give it to a stand-up guy like Maj (then 1stLt) Brian Chontosh:
SSG Giunta is certainly deserving of our nation’s highest military award.
Why so few have been awarded the MoH in the past decade is a topic that many have taken up. If it were given out too freely it would cheapen its value, but that clearly isn’t happening. There have been so many instances of heroism above the call of duty since the GWOT began in 2001, that haven’t received the honors they deserve, I have to wonder if the military brass isn’t referring them. It just seems odd.
I was amazed when the highest award given for this action by MPs in 2005 was a Silver Star. The SS is no small thing, but if you read the after action report, this action of repulsing a heavily armed ambush by insurgents from three Hummers of MPs and a medic is surely deserving of the MoH.
I hadn’t really considered the feminization of the Medal of Honor, along with so much else in our culture. When I raised the subject with my husband (an army brat and military history aficionado) he immediately concurred, noting that the first recipient (if I remember his comment correctly) had personally killed 50 of the enemy.
I do honor SSS Giunta, however, particularly for keeping the Afghanis from dragging away a mortally wounded American soldier.
I cannot bear to look at pictures of anyone receiving this honor today, however, because military honors from the hands of Obama are such a travesty that they physically sicken me.
I’m with you. I couldn’t bear to watch the video of the presentation because of that poseur.
[Comment deleted by Robbie, because you don't get to come in here and act like a typical Liberal whiny POS in a thread dedicated to a man a thousand times your better.]
I love how they call it the “feminization” of the MoH…as if females can’t “kill people and break things”.
Check the link in my comment above.
Has a female ever received the MoH?
Yes, only once and it was 178 years ago.
If anything, it is the anti-feminizaton of the MoH, with “wussification” being the more appropriate term.
Hayley, please go deny reality, gender, and history somewhere else. American combat troops are MEN. When women “kill people and break things” they are merely exhibiting exaggerated PMS symptoms.
Get a life aside from your gender grievances.
Sheila — I’d cut Hayley some slack. I get what she’s saying.
The nature of combat has changed, especially in our current wars where there are no “front lines,” and thus any female Soldier or Marine over there is in the combat zone and has to be just as prepared and ready to kill the enemy as the Joe on her left and right.
I served with some remarkable women warriors whom I would have gladly gone into the worst of combat.
Thank you Robbie, I couldn’t agree more
, God Bless ALL our troops!
Yes, thank you!
In the link I gave above, about an MP receiving a Silver Star:
WTF did I ever do to you?! I’m not even a damn feminist, just think another term would make more sense!
Sorry NO2, that was for my new best friend SHEILA.
“if you can get through the 30 or so insincere seconds of Obama grinning and enjoying himself” LMAO!! Too funny!!
Great Article Robbie!! Aside from the bullshit of Obama and the obvious Liberal Wussification crap, this is a great piece! Loved it!
I find this article you wrote unintentionally hilarious. You do know that Bryan Fischer works for the American Family Association, a CONSERVATIVE organization? In addition, I find it even more hilarious that you agree with this supposedly “liberal” person on something that is wrong on both the historical and moral levels. Seriously, you should look at veteran organizations’ reaction to this asshole.