Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Pretty Cool

I hardly ever link to anything in Slate due to its mostly moonbat content but this piece is just pretty danged cool:
In the likely event that the Senate confirms Gen. David Petraeus as the CIA's next director in the coming months, he'll retire from the military and start wearing civvies to work.* This will mean hanging up one of the most decorated uniforms currently in active service. What do all those medals, ribbons, and badges mean? Hover over the highlighted sections of the photographs below to find out. 
Here's a screen-cap:


I read through the descriptions of all of Gen. Petraeus' medals and badges and it looks like Mr. Singer-Vine did his homework well.  That, in and of itself, is a rarity among journalists writing about the military these days.

(h/t: a re-tweet from blakehounshell)

14 comments:

  1. I was gonna comment on how much the uni must weigh when all of the medals are on board.
    But then I looked down and saw the v-word = scudd

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  2. Freakin' officers get 'em for breathing.

    Reminds me of a boot camp story. Upon graduation our platoon leader had more ribbons than our Senior Drill Instructor as he had been in the Air Force previously for @ ten years. (Yes, anyone who wants to transfer to the mighty Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children must attend their boot camp.) Seems he had been on one of the ships, for whatever reason a Zommie would, during the fall of Saigon. So in addition to his yrs. of AF service, dude had a real chest full. Actually a strange sight to see a new recruit with so many medals.

    Last I heard, while I was in, he became a drill instructor. He always said during particularly brutal situations, which was 95% of the time, that “Somebody is going to pay for this sh*t!”

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  3. Heh. Cool story, tim. You KNOW the proliferation of awards and decs thing is a serious hot button with me... and it has been for a long, long time. Like ever since the '90s, when this pic was taken... the one where SN1 has one more ribbon than me (the first pic, click for larger). I was a MSgt with 22 years of service and he was a first-term E-4 at the time. It's only gotten worse in the interim, at least as far as the Army and the AF are concerned.

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  4. Here goes my least favorite words... "when I was serving" ...I had a leading P.O. who was on his third enlistment. The only medal he had was a Good Conduct with a star. Talk about chintzy.
    Me, I got nothin'

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  5. One thing though, the guy has spent years and years and years in combat. They tend to break out the medals when people are shooting at you. Granted he was usually the Old Man, but they give them awards too, just not the sexy ones. Look up guys like Audie Murphy or Chesty Puller if you want to see impressive fruit salad.

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  6. When I arrived as a new Master Sergeant to my unit, I called everyone into a meeting.

    I asked how many of them received any medals in the last year - 0.

    I then asked how many medals the guy I replaced got - 3.

    Then I let them know that I was wearing my last stripe, and I didn't want or need any medals, but for them to get promoted ahead of their peers, they would need at least one 3-point medal, or 3 1-point medals, or ace their professional exam (no one ever did that).

    Well, they all said sure, sure, talk. talk. I had four 1-point medals in the system by the end of the week, and it was for the guys who gave me 10-hours of real work each week. There's always slackers and I don't award shit to slackers.

    Bottom line, paraphrasing General Patton: People say I give out too many medals. Guilty! When I go to the front and personally give a deserving man a piece of cloth, he will give me another kilometer before he is killed. I only wish I had more medals to give them.

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  7. IMHO, Petraeus earned and deserves everything he's got there. He's been in a pretty hot spot for several years and has conducted himself very well. I got a feeling the CIA will be a hot spot too. BTW, the post I did last year on Audie Murphy and his medals is my all time most looked at post. Murphy's another guy who truly earned all his decorations, many of them in battle.

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  8. Tim,
    As one of those Freakin Officers, I would offer that's not always the case. Each medal I've received since being commissioned was for my work during my entire tour.
    I've been able to get awards for my guys that were at least as high as the award I received when I left.
    Awards are good when earned, but too often are cheapened when given for simply "being there."

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  9. Skip: The Navy used to be (and largely still is) conservative about awards. I know more than a few squids with only two rows of ribbons after a full career.

    Tim: Did you screw up and capitalize your name, or is this a different Tim? Your point about Petraeus and combat zones is well taken.

    MSgt Anon: My take-away from your comment is deserving guys in combat zones earn EVERYTHING they get, especially the ones at the tip o' the spear. Good On Ya.

    Dan: Audie Murphy was one of my childhood heroes. I saw "To Hell and Back" as a first-run movie in the base theatre at Orly Field as a child and became a life-long fan.

    Sam: You're "being there" point is well taken... MORE than well-taken. It's my belief that well over half of the USAF medals these days are for just that: bein' there.

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  10. Buck,

    That’s a different Tim.

    BTW, I almost commented on that picture of you and your boys. I’ll just say…I noticed, I noticed.

    Small Tee

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  11. Ah, I thought so (re: different).

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  12. I am a different Tim. I'm an old Navy fart from the midwest. (Where you can watch kids play outdoor hockey all winter)

    An important point that most civilians have no concept of is the difference between combat medals and "I was there" ribbons. Everyone has a bunch of IWT ribbons if you spend enough time in uniform, but what separates the men from the boys are the combat V's and the medals that can only be earned the hard way (MoH, Crosses, Stars, and Hearts).

    Reading some of the comments on the original article gave me a good wake-up on how little the average civilian knows about military decorations. We need many more articles like that and more.

    When is the last time any of us read a good article about a combat decorated veteran that really explained what he (or she) did to earn their medal?

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  13. We need many more articles like that and more.

    Agreed, Tim. As far as reading about guys getting medals... that's what the milblogs are for, no? But I do get yer point.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.