Do you think it is right to give away a silver star medal?
 

I mean, I always thought those were suppossed to mean something... (they sure did in the past)

now just to take advantage of another tradgedy in order to look good for the camera this admiistration has tagged the label "HERO" to a guy that got killed by his own troops in a chaotic panic while coming under enemy fire!

I bet the former recipients of this medal are rolling over in their grave, as to how trivial it has become to recieve such a HIGH honor now days..

Call me unpatriotic if you wish, I for one however think only TRUE HERO'S should be called hero's otherwise the word is meaningless.:2 cents:

I would tend to agree.. I mean, I'm not an American, but it would only make sense to me. I don't think a lot of people are actually capable of thinking logically though.

Wow, we agree on something, :thumbsup

If I am not mistaken he was awarded the silver star for acts of bravery, without regard for his personal safety. It was friendly fire that killed him but that doesn't mean those acts didn't occur.

"Give me enough medals, and I'll win any war."
-- Napolean

Just keep honoring the soldiers. It is good for moral.

hell give em all plasma tv's when the get home

Obviously, I am against any medal give-aways (and I've been the beneficiary of a few, believe me), as passing out medals like candy makes the medals less valuable.

I wasn't there when Tillman was killed, so I can't say whether he acted in accordance with the requirements for earning the silver star. He may very well have performed heroically prior to being shot down by his own guys. Maybe he was killed by them because he was all up in the enemy's shit and his own men couldn't even tell it was him.... Who's to say?

I hope he earned it. I hope this wasn't a feel good medal. But knowing what we know about this guy, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Face it, the dude was a bad ass. He had honor, courage, and fortitude.

all good points , Buff.... but you understand why I feel that speculation is a little warrented here...right?

The first casualty in war is the truth.

What is your definition of a hero? My definition of a hero...is anyone that is serving...be it peace time...or time for combat operations...since less than 1% of the population choose to suffer the discomfort...and danger...involved in both peace time and combat operations. Medals are issued to those that perform "above and beyond" the call of duty. What exactly does this mean? While there can be many examples of this I will provide a simple one.

A squad is ordered to be on point for a Company size operation. That point squad receives machine gun fire from an enemy postion. The field of fire being layed down by the MG pins the Squad down...maybe members of the Squad have taken hits. A member of the squad sees an opportunity to flank the MG and on his own initiative decides to flank the MG and takes out the MG crew?

All he has done...in one sense...is to engage the enemy...which is his duty...so why would he be in line for a Medal...which he would be. The key words here are own initiative. He was not ordered to take out the MG. His Squad Leader was busy on the radio...attempting to call in Mortar...Artillary...or asking for available Air support. He acted on his own initiative.

I do not know what Tilman's citation reads...but I do know that being killed by friendly fire should not affect...any citation...if he acted "above and beyond" ie...his own initiative.

its publicity...

GW is taking advantage of a sad moment like he usually does...

Case in point...
9/11/20001


http://www.teenpiccentral.com/images/bush2.jpg

Believe me that its the people insist that everyone get a fucking medal. I'm sick of it. I wish we go back to the old school way of doing, where getting lost in a desert doesnt get a parade and promotion and a million dollar book deal.

I was at a fair at the beach yesterday, and they had a booth set up with a scrolling paper that people could write messages to soldiers in Iraq.

I had to capture this particular message (the one in black, top middle).

http://209.126.180.115/fair20.jpg

I can only hope it was a child that wrote it

Why?

hmmm, let's see.

"Thanks for not chickening out. hope you get a good medal and its not the purple heart for the wounded"

I would hope an adult could better express their thoughts.

I agree that all of the medals are diminishing in value and meaning now that they are giving them away "like candy" as someone said. I don't know where to find it now, but I heard some stats on the average # of medals awarded per soldier now, and how much it has increased from the past and it's kind of pathetic.

i guess it kinda depends on to who you give it

Interesting feedback, I sorta figured I would get attacked for questioning such an outlook for a so called hero...

Medals should only be given to people whio go ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY

anything else is purley political

I do not understand why you say "so called hero". Have you had an opportunity to read his citation?

Each medal has its own requirements in order to be awarded, and should only be given out if those requirements are met. Some medals, the good conduct medal for instance, are handed out just for not doing anything wrong for a certain period of time. Some are handed out just for passing a course (army achievement medal, army commendation medal). The Purple Heart is given to the wounded.

So there are some medals which are given out just for doing your assigned job.

But there are others which are awarded for valor and distinguished actions which should be reserved for what you call "above and beyond the call of duty."

I'm glad to say the Congressional Medal of Honor is given out very seldom, and it's damn hard to get it awarded to you if you're still alive, because usually your actions were so crazy that you didn't live. Check out this site if you want to read some cool stories:

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/moh1.htm

Don't get me wrong, people get awarded the CMH without dying in the act that brought the merit upon them, but look at the shit they did....

I have to question why you don't feel he is a hero. Just because he was killed by a friendly fire incident? He did not know he was being fired on by anyone other than the enemy, and acted in accordance of that belief.

Don't knock his actions just because it turned out he was being fired on by friends.