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the feminization of the Medal of Honor

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  • #1

    the feminization of the Medal of Honor

    ahh, a good ol' religious rightwinger. like to hear what our vets have to say about this...
    ----

    Bryan Fischer: The feminization of the Medal of Honor - RIGHTLYCONCERNED.COM

    The Medal of Honor will be awarded this afternoon to Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta for his heroism in Afghanistan, and deservedly so. He took a bullet in his protective vest as he pulled one soldier to safety, and then rescued the sergeant who was walking point and had been taken captive by two Taliban, whom Sgt. Giunta shot to free his comrade-in-arms.

    This is just the eighth Medal of Honor awarded during our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sgt. Giunta is the only one who lived long enough to receive his medal in person.

    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."

    When we think of heroism in battle, we used the think of our boys storming the beaches of Normandy under withering fire, climbing the cliffs of Pointe do Hoc while enemy soldiers fired straight down on them, and tossing grenades into pill boxes to take out gun emplacements.

    That kind of heroism has apparently become passe when it comes to awarding the Medal of Honor. We now award it only for preventing casualties, not for inflicting them.

    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.

    Jesus, in words often cited in ceremonies such as the one which will take place this afternoon, said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). So it is entirely right that we honor this kind of bravery and self-sacrifice, which is surely an imitation of the Lord of Lord and King of Kings.

    However, Jesus’ act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless - yes, meaningless - if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life.

    The significance of the cross is not just that Jesus laid down his life for us, but that he defeated the enemy of our souls in the process. It was on the cross that he crushed the head of the serpent. It was on the cross that “he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).

    The cross represented a cosmic showdown between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and our commanding general claimed the ultimate prize by defeating our unseen enemy and liberating an entire planet from his bondage.

    We rightly honor those who give up their lives to save their comrades. It’s about time we started also honoring those who kill bad guys.
    Last edited by astralis; 18 Nov 10,, 18:58.
    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
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  • #2
    Hell, it makes sense...
    Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

    Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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    • #3
      It is completely true. Of the Medal of Honor recipients in Iraq along (4 of them), 3 were for getting on a grenade and saving their buddies. 1 was for enemy-mass-casualty-production on the trigger end of a .50.

      MOH- Iraq

      Edit: Not in any shape or form taking away from the gallant effort and selflessness of the other MOH recipients--my comments are purely in relation to the topic. What makes the green grass grow?
      "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach...just make sure you thrust upward through his ribcage."

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      • #4
        Hmm....didn't know one guys blog can represent the entire religious right.

        Comment

        • #5
          didn't say it was representative, but he certainly IS a part of the religious right.
          There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

          Comment

          • #6
            "ahh, the good ol' religious right...."

            So I can take the example of that idiot that burned down about a dozen hummers to protest global warning and say, ah, good ole, liberals..." ?
            Last edited by YellowFever; 18 Nov 10,, 19:00.

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            • #7
              well, if you want to be picky about it...here, i'll edit. now back to the thread topic, plz.
              There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

              Comment

              • #8
                It's just like I said before. I don't know about all the Jesus stuff, but the purpose of war, soldiers, tanks, guns and bullets is to rain death and destruction on the enemy. In Israel saving one's friends and bringing back bodies has attained a higher status than in many other places, but that doesn't change the fact that the main purpose of war is to kill the other sonuvabitch dead
                Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
                  It's just like I said before. I don't know about all the Jesus stuff, but the purpose of war, soldiers, tanks, guns and bullets is to rain death and destruction on the enemy. In Israel saving one's friends and bringing back bodies has attained a higher status than in many other places, but that doesn't change the fact that the main purpose of war is to kill the other sonuvabitch dead
                  Agreed.

                  MOH should be awarded to person(s) displaying incredible courage and valor in service of their country, either in taking lives or saving it.

                  At the same time, this guy was stupid to write a blog like this.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    BR,

                    I don't know about all the Jesus stuff,
                    from a commentator:

                    "The author correctly notes in the bible that Jesus stabbed 11 Roman soldiers in the eyeball before giving his flesh that we may live eternally."

                    but that doesn't change the fact that the main purpose of war is to kill the other sonuvabitch dead
                    no, it's not. you're mixing up method with purpose. the main purpose of war is to achieve your political goals.

                    this is the main paragraph which is absolutely sad:

                    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.
                    So it is entirely right that we honor this kind of bravery and self-sacrifice, which is surely an imitation of the Lord of Lord and King of Kings. However, Jesus’ act of self-sacrifice would ultimately have been meaningless - yes, meaningless if he had not inflicted a mortal wound on the enemy while giving up his own life.
                    so honoring this type of sacrifice demonstrates "feminity", and he effectively says that saving life without having gunned down a few taliban as well is also meaningless.

                    yeah, okay. i say we give this guy a M-4 and a 60-lb rucksack and send him to afghanistan, perhaps he'll show us some "masculine" courage.
                    There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      It was said before, I'll repeat it. I'm not in any form, fashion or manner trying to belittle even in the least any MOH winner's actions. However, there has been a trend (shown earlier as well) that more MOH winners are winning because of heroic actions in saving others as opposed to dispatching others to an early visit to Allah.

                      I don't really care about the rest, Jesus, right wing religious nut, etc...
                      Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                      Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        From what I read in my newspaper, Sgt Giunta chased down 2 guys who were carrying away his buddy. He braved enemy fires, killed those 2 guys, to get his buddy back. His buddy died later, in an American field hospital. I'm not sure if that's MOH worthy, but that's definitely saving lives. He didn't know his buddies would die later (he saved at least 2 that night). He did what he could to make sure they don't fall into Taliban hands. He didn't get the medal for killing Taliban fighters. He got the medal for getting his buddies back from Talibans carrying them away.

                        Updated: Nov. 17, 2010 8:38 a.m.
                        First time Medal of Honor is given to a living person since Vietnam

                        THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

                        WASHINGTON - The nation on Tuesday saluted its first living Medal of Honor winner of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, an Iowa sergeant who retrieved a wounded comrade under gunfire as the Taliban carried the stricken soldier away.

                        For Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, the tribute to his heroism was bittersweet, because it was a bloody day in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley and the soldier he brought back later died.

                        "I would give this back in a second to have my friends with me right now," he said on the rain-soaked White House driveway after President Barack Obama hung the blue ribbon that cradled the medal around Giunta's neck.

                        Far from the perilous ridge where his unit was attacked on a moonlit night in October 2007, Giunta stood in the glittering East Room, in the company of military brass, past Medal of Honor winners, his surviving comrades and families as the president described the harrowing attack and the sergeant's actions beyond the call of duty.

                        Giunta "charged headlong into the wall of bullets," Obama said. The sergeant at first pulled a soldier with a leg wound back to safety, then sprinted ahead to find two Taliban fighters carrying his seriously wounded friend, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan, away.

                        "Sal never broke stride," Obama said. "He leapt forward. He took aim. He killed one of the insurgents and wounded the other, who ran off."

                        As bullets rained, Giunta dragged Brennan by his vest to cover and worked feverishly to stop the bleeding until the wounded Americans were flown from the ridge. Brennan and another platoon member, medic Hugo V. Mendoza, died. Five were wounded.

                        "It had been as intense and violent a fire fight as any soldier will experience,' Obama said.

                        The standards for achieving the nation's highest military honor are so high that many recipients are only so honored in death. Giunta was struck twice, one bullet hitting his body armor, the other hitting one of his weapons.

                        "I'm going to go off script here and just say, 'I really like this guy," Obama said. He had first met the soft-spoken 25-year-old in the Oval Office earlier.

                        "We all just get a sense of people and who they are," the president said. "And when you meet Sal and you meet his family, you are just absolutely convinced that this is what America is all about, and it just makes you proud."

                        Forty-two Americans died in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, a deadly sliver of Afghan real estate that insurgents use to move weapons and fighters from Pakistan.

                        U.S. troops pulled out of the perilous valley and other remote areas about seven months ago when commanders decided it was best to use forces to protect civilian population centers. That strategy was judged smarter than keeping troops in scattered isolated outposts highly exposed to attacks from Taliban, al-Qaida and other foreign fighters.

                        The area's rugged terrain, caves and trees provided cover for insurgents wanting to attack small American units patrolling the valley. But despite years of clashes and airstrikes, U.S. and Afghan forces failed to subdue the Korengal Valley - one of the most staunchly anti-American regions in Afghanistan.

                        In June 2005, three Navy SEALs were killed when their four-man team was ambushed by militants. A helicopter sent to rescue the SEALs was shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade. Sixteen American troops aboard were killed in what is one of the deadliest single attacks on the U.S. military since the war began.

                        No U.S. forces remain in the Korengal Valley itself.
                        http://www.ocregister.com/news/valle...a-wounded.html
                        Last edited by gunnut; 18 Nov 10,, 19:50.
                        "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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                        • #13
                          I would say that more Soldiers get the MoH for saving lives then for taking it might lies less in a bias in the way they are awarded but might rather come from that in my view Soldiers are often willing to take fare greater risk to save a fellow man, then taking out a random enemy. I cannot speak for the soldiers, but I do believe that for most losing a comrade is far worse then letting the enemy get away. You might get them another time, but the men you lost won't come back no matter what.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Tarek Morgen View Post
                            Soldiers are often willing to take fare greater risk to save a fellow man, then taking out a random enemy. I cannot speak for the soldiers, but I do believe that for most losing a comrade is far worse then letting the enemy get away. You might get them another time, but the men you lost won't come back no matter what.
                            This is absolutely true. In Israel it's known, if you're wounded or dead your buddies are coming after you or your body.
                            Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                            Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Okay, I'm just a civvie so I don't know how much value my opinion on this topic has but...

                              In WWII, which is what most of us have been raised to believe is "the standard" for wars, killing the enemy was hard. Every battle of Americans vs. Japanese or Germans could be lost and on the tactical level often was. In other words, victory by force was NOT a "given" and unit vs. unit combat was common.

                              In the M.E. 21st century wars that America finds herself, victory by force has never been in doubt. Everyone knows that we can erase any enemy unit we find if circumstances permit the use of massive force a la WWII standards (which as I understand is rarely the case), but the use of force has had to become more... subtle.

                              In those circumstances I think it's completely normal to find that heroic focus is more on saving our own than destroying the enemy, if you want to divide it up that way.

                              I'm sure I'm oversimplifying things in this case, but that's my opinion.

                              -dale

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