Not the Onion.
“Fox & Friends” host Pete Hegseth announced as pick for Secretary of Defense.
intercst
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Always good for a fun laugh.
He is going to go from employed to fired.
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Well, we don’t know how he’ll do as an administrator, but we do know he’s bright – Princeton, Harvard – and has been awarded not one, but two, Bronze Stars and two Army Commendation Medals.
DB2
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So? We know of a man who was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with combat “V”, and three Purple Hearts, but he was derided as a coward.
Steve
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Saying that the man is more than a suit who reads a teleprompter on TV.
DB2
And that is the problem.
None of that means spit when it comes to leading such a large department. Some ribbons (especially those without the V device) are now given out like candy.
Hawkwin
Has two Army Commendation Medals as well.
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Does that include Bronze and Silver Stars?
DB2
Bronze, yes. No idea on silver but likely to a lesser extent. My unit was “allotted” a specified number of bronze awards to give out and they started with the officers and worked their way down to the higher ranked enlisted. There was a time when units were “required” to award a certain number a year. See the last quoted site - that was my specific experience in the 90s at the end of Desert Storm - and my unit didn’t fire shot.
Another thing to remember is that when Desert Storm was over they gave these things out like candy. Units were mandated to give 15% of their troops Silver Stars and 30% Bronze Stars. That really cheapened the sacrifice of those who actually earned these awards previously.
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Not specifically related but further illustrates that the ribbons don’t mean as much as they used to.
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That is unfortunate. Of course there are examples of mass awarding of medals, but I think that is different than what you are describing. My father was on Bataan in 1942. Later in the war a Bronze Star was awarded to all there who had been in a unit that received the Presidential Unit Citation.
DB2