Insult to Injury - Marine stripped of Purple Heart

[theMileHighGuy]

You can read the full story here.

To sum it up:

A marine was wounded during the early fighting in iraq, he was awarded a purple heart and was sent home. Turns out he was run over by his own unit's A1 Abrams tank while he was taking a nap, and now they're saying that that's a different kind of wounded and he doesn't deserve the heart anymore.

Should Purple Hearts be awarded to people wounded in friendly fire? Was this just a biproduct of the rush to make the war alright in the public's eyes? (War heroes are good media)

Thoughts...

[LDB]

I disagree with the decision. Did they take away anything from Tillman after they discovered he was killed by friendly fire? I don't remember. Anyways, the guy was an American soldier and the injury was not due to inappropriate actions or goofing around. If he was goofing around or acting in a manner that was derelect of his duties then sure take it away. But that doesn't seem to be the case here.

[Zmabe]

regardless of whether he was hurt in friendly fire, he was still wounded in a battle/war zone, and isnt that what the purple heart is awarded for? i completely disagree with them takin it back.

[NJBRONCOSFAN]

I agree with Luvdem...I dont' believe that Tillman's medals were taken away after it was found out he was killed by friendly fire.

Just because this guy didn't give up an NFL career doesn't mean he didn sacrifice everything.

He should be able to keep what was given to him.

[Booher]

I agree with Luvdem...I dont' believe that Tillman's medals were taken away after it was found out he was killed by friendly fire.

Just because this guy didn't give up an NFL career doesn't mean he didn sacrifice everything.

He should be able to keep what was given to him.

Give it to em...........Hell he got run over by a damn tank man.

[NJBRONCOSFAN]

Give it to em...........Hell he got run over by a damn tank man.

Exactly!!!!!

[mattos]

bad situation all around. the brass should have been smarter then that and so if they want to uphold the "sanctity and specialness of the award" they should fire themselves - seems to me handing out medals w/o checking things out does more to harm the sanctity and specialness of the award than leaving them with a couple of guys who were injured but in a manner that doesn't quite meet the definition of the purple heart. plus, i don't think leaving these medals with the guys is going to decrease the honor of purple hearts: i doubt anyone in the future is going to say "yeah you got a purple heart, so what! that dude that got run over by a tank got one too."

one question though: how do you survive getting run over by a tank?! i guess he should be glad he was sleeping in the sand and not on some hard surface.

[theMileHighGuy]

Yeah, the dude should get a couple medals. I think it said in the article that the lower half of his body was crushed and wrapped around him, which is terribly gross to think about. I guess since nothing vital got smashed he lived through it.

[Big Buck 1981]

Everything you wanted to know about Purple Heart qualifications and more...

http://www.22ndinfantry.org/purpleheart.htm

After reading through it, it sounds like he does not qualify because of the following phrase located under Part "b." Subpart "5", Paragraph "(g)".

(5) Examples of injuries or wounds which clearly do not qualify for award of the Purple Heart are as follows:

...

(g) Accidents, to include explosive, aircraft, vehicular, and other accidental wounding not related to or caused by enemy action.

Sounds like the military is right on in this matter, unfortunate as it is for the soldier involved.

[NJBRONCOSFAN]

Everything you wanted to know about Purple Heart qualifications and more...

http://www.22ndinfantry.org/purpleheart.htm

After reading through it, it sounds like he does not qualify because of the following phrase located under Part "b." Subpart "5", Paragraph "(g)".



Sounds like the military is right on in this matter, unfortunate as it is for the soldier involved.

Unfortunately, the military is not right on...if they were right on, we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now.

Like Mattos said..."the brass should have been smarter then that and so if they want to uphold the "sanctity and specialness of the award" they should fire themselves - seems to me handing out medals w/o checking things out does more to harm the sanctity and specialness of the award than leaving them with a couple of guys who were injured but in a manner that doesn't quite meet the definition of the purple heart"

[Big Buck 1981]

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that they are both right and wrong. They were wrong to give him the medal in the first place, but like somebody mentioned about Tillman, further investigation showed that he was killed by friendly fire. At the time, prior to an in-depth investigation, perhaps it appeared as though he was deserving of the medal. Just because Tillman was killed by friendly fire would not disqualify him if the friendly fire was a result of enemy action. I don't agree with the taking something away once it's been given, but the military has to follow it's own rules. I agree, though, the people who handed the medal out without a full investigation having taken place should be reprimanded.

[rcsodak]

Kerry got to keep his.......

Kerry’s campaign has now admitted that his first Purple Heart wound may have been unintentionally self-inflicted, sustained when he exploded a hand grenade too close to shore.

Maybe the above mentioned marine should ask jfk for one of his.....if he has any left, that is....

[Alastor]

I could be mistaken, but I think the rule is "Wounded in a combat zone or operation" in order to get a heart.

I don't think the source matters - technically speaking.

That said, someone raised a good point about Tillman above, and it leads me to a bit of a rant I suppose.

When I was in the military, it seemed to me that the giving and getting of medals was very political. Sometimes they were given out for bogus reasons, or for cheesy reasons, and other times when they were really deserved they were denied.

I honestly don't put much stock in most medals, despite having a couple myself. It really is largely a game of politics in the military, and medals are but one product of that politicized environment.

Make the right friend, and they'll come in bunches. Make the wrong enemies, and you'll be lucky not to get courts-marshalled.

That's really kind of how I feel it boiled down. I absolutely don't give much credit to the medals any more, because I've seen how they were given out first-hand.

[urinal_cake]

Let him keep his medal. Why penalize him for someone else's incompitence?™

[Dream]

Yeah, from what I've heard from family and veterans in the service now; they're giving purple hearts over just about anything. My grandfather has two purple hearts and a lot of other people in my family have them and are very decorated as well.