In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

[TheGrandMom]

Medal of Honor for soldier killed in Iraq - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

"WASHINGTON - The White House announced Friday that a Pennsylvania soldier who jumped on top of a grenade in Iraq and saved the lives of his comrades will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor.

The nation's highest military honor will be given to 19-year-old Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis of Knox, Pa., on June 2.

McGinnis "distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism," said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto.

McGinnis was perched in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee when a grenade sailed past him and into the truck where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning to the others, then jumped on the grenade. The grenade, which was lodged near the vehicle's radio, blew up and killed him.

Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, said McGinnis easily could have jumped out of the truck and saved himself.

'It saved their lives'
"The instinct is, jump out of the vehicle, but his four buddies were in the vehicle with him ... and he chose to place himself on top of the grenade and absorb the impact, and it saved their lives," Edgecomb said.

McGinnis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany.

He died on Dec. 4, 2006.

Three others have also been awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for their actions in Iraq. They are Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor and Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham."

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I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day. Please take a moment to just send your most positive thoughts and/or prayers to all the soldiers helping to protect our way of life.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

There are a lot of people, myself included, who criticize the necessity of our current war. But it can't be said enough that the soldiers who fight our wars still deserve all the respect we can give them for doing their duty, regardless of one's personal feelings.

[LilithAngel]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

It's been some troubled times we live in, but I'm glad of the past 5 and a half years of service I've had. I'm certainly a better person for it, and it's been a very positive change to my life. I'm just looking forward to the day I can come home. It'll be well worth it.

[Kitalrez]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

I had a long rant loaded up on this, but this no longer seems like the time or place. I was going to quote CMH guides and stories, and go into some kind of massive rant. Instead, I'll just hit a few points.

1. I wish the CMH guidelines were more transparent and attainable. This soldier got it for diving on a grenade. In bootcamp, my drill instructor showed us his bronze star citation. He opened Gulf War I by taking position on a berm above a mine field and holding down a company of Iraqis while his STA unit cleared a path for coalition tanks. 4 man sniper unit, v. 100 enemy troops plus an unknown quantity of mines. They're defusing or marking these things while people are shooting at them, plus he's above them trying to distract people shooting at them. I think one of them got a navy cross. Somehow it seemed like this was the kind of stuff that deserved more than crosses or stars. I hated the air this guy breathed for every minute of those first 3 phases of bootcamp, but after this citation I actually respected the man. And I felt then, as I do now, that this man was cheated.

2. I wish the CMH was less politicized. I'm looking at the distribution of CMHs here and I notice that they're roughly corresponding to the distribution of troops in each service. You have two army, one marine, one navy. I would expect one more navy, one airforce, and possibly a coast guardsman before the whole thing is done, (I don't think the Coast Guard has ever received one yet, so this would probably be a big deal if they are deployed as I suspect). Yeah, that's a cynical approach, but remember also that this soldier got the award for diving on a grenade. That's heroic, yes, but it's also something they teach every single marine on day 2 of the grenade range. I managed to knock the wind out of me several times on dummy grenades, and took an artillery simulator to the groin once or twice as well, (drop an M80 down your pants, it's pretty close). I mean, you learn that every M-16 takes 5.51 mm ball amunition, NATO standard, it goes into the magazine like so... oh, by the way, here's how you dive on a grenade. I wish we heard more about CMHs going to people doing dangerous and difficult things. I'd like one to go to someone who defused a roadside bomb under fire, so their convoy didn't get ambushed, for example. There are people doing that right now, why don't we hear about it? Why don't we recognize it? The cynic in me has just seen enough crap in this conflict to suspect that Pennsylvania's troops needed a morale boost, the army was due another one, and this soldier happened to die doing the right thing at the right time. I'm hoping I'm wrong on this, but I don't think I am.


3. Finally, and most importantly, I wish we'd stop awarding the CMH to dead guys. This is the highest honor in the land. To give you an idea of the scope, if Joe Bob the PFC gets this award and visits a military base, every soldier, every marine, every sailor, every airman, EVERYONE in or out of uniform has to salute it. If he has the CMH star in his car window, they'll salute that too. Dead stop, full attention, drop what they're doing, salute until he either returns it or passes them by. Every single person in the chain of command has to salute as well, the only person exempt is the president who put it on you, (and possibly the defense secretary, I was never clear on that). Call it PR, propaganda, or just plain morale boosting, but having a CMH somewhere people can actually see it, and talk to the person wearing it about earning one is probably the single greatest force in motivating young troops. But instead we're going to take this tool, and place it on a corpse, enclose it in a coffin, lower it into the ground, bury it, and ignore it for the rest of the forseeable future. Ross McGinnis did something really awesome there, but in 3 years time no one will know what it was. He'll be a footnote in some book, a collection of newspaper clippings, or a taped news story.

I'm sorry, but I find that sad. I wish the whole process was different.

[Feba]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

and took an artillery simulator to the groin once or twice as well, (drop an M80 down your pants, it's pretty close).

Ignoring everything else; how the hell do you not remember the exact amount of times this happened? Take a few to the head as well?

[Cotners]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

I wish we'd stop awarding the CMH to dead guys

I think this is a very good thing. Extraordinary acts such as jumping on a grenade deserve to be recognized as much as someone that lives to recieve the medal. I think it also helps the family see that their son/daughter/mom/dad/spouse was truly appreciated. I have been over to Iraq twice now and one of the biggest morale killers right now is lack of recognition in the great things guys are doing over there.

M-16 takes 5.51 mm ball amunition

5.56 actually

[Feba]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

I think this is a very good thing. Extraordinary acts such as jumping on a grenade deserve to be recognized as much as someone that lives to recieve the medal.

Well, I'm a cynic, but I'd think it would be better to advocate things that don't get people killed. I think he more meant "dead guys instead of living people" though. I mean, it takes some serious guts to sacrifice your life to save others, and that should definitely be recognized; but there are also a helluva lotta people going through long term suffering for their heroism, many of them will be suffering for it for the rest of their lives. Hell, what was that statistic on PTSD in soldiers, something like 1/4 or 1/6 of the people coming back from Iraq (and presumably any other battlefield)?

If you're easily offended, ignore this.

When you jump on a grenade, you're putting much expecting to die. Soldiers being encouraged to be willing to spend their lives to protect others is somewhat noble, and definitely has saved plenty of lives. However, while that person might have been willing to sacrifice their lives, someone who has taken on injuries in other ways will likely have to go through a great deal of suffering, in many cases for the rest of their lives. Someone who chooses to sacrifice themselves will almost certainly not suffer for very long, however their friends and family almost certainly will. There are obviously some cases where if one person hadn't died, many others would've, but it's still rather dubious to set the bar for heroic recognition and reward at a person's own death.

[Cotners]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

it's still rather dubious to set the bar for heroic recognition and reward at a person's own death.

Death is not a requirement for the medal of honor. It states something to the effect that you performed some sort of heroic act that places your life in danger, and provides a posative stratigic advantage to those accomplishing the mission.

[Feba]

Re: In Honor of Our Fallen Soliders this Memorial Day...

Death is not a requirement for the medal of honor.

In theory, yes, but in practice that's not the case, at least anymore. A quick look at Wikipedia shows that all of the recent MOHs have been rewarded posthumously.