European Stars and Stripes
June 5, 2000
Bronze Star: Top-Heavy Honor?
In airstrikes, most given to senior officers
(Second of two parts)
By Jon R. Anderson, Stars and Stripes
In Vietnam, the Bronze Star was sometimes referred to as the
"Officers' Good Conduct Medal." Often, say veterans, it was
doled out
to the brass for doing little more than their jobs. Veterans of
last
year's 78-day air blitz against Yugoslavia might say the same
thing
about the Bronze Stars awarded from their short conflict.
Of the 185 Bronze Stars awarded by the Air Force in the nine
months
since the war ended, eight out of every nine medals have gone to
officers, mostly lieutenant colonels and above. The trend in the
Navy
was largely the same. The Army, which had the most troops living
and
working in the combat zone, awarded no Bronze Stars.
"Almost anyone who was in the combat zone in Vietnam got a
Bronze
Star," said one Army general in Europe, "especially the
officers."
"It kind of meant you were there," he added, "a recognition of
what
you might call the fear factor."
Still, he said, "with all of the hullabaloo over awards after
Desert
Storm, you'd think people would be smarter about it." The
findings
are part of a Stars and Stripes review of Bronze Stars awarded
during
Operation Allied Force.
Medal for ground force
Those unfamiliar with the Bronze Star -the nation's fourth
highest
combat decoration - might make the mistake of thinking that
because
planes are piloted by officers, and this was, after all, an
"air"
campaign, that it's only natural for officers to get the most
awards.
But that's what Air Medals and Distinguished Flying Crosses are
for.
In fact, the Air Force has handed out more than 900 Air Medals
and
111 DFC's - with more pending - not to mention 13 Silver Stars.
No, the Bronze Star isn't for flying. Criteria for the medal
even
rules it out, saying, "for heroic or meritorious service not
involving participation in aerial flight." The Bronze Star was
created during World War II for folks fighting on the ground who
weren't eligible for the Air Medal and didn't quite deserve the
Silver Star.
Officials say the unique nature of Allied Force -bombing from
afar
with planes coming in sometimes as far away as the United States
-
has led to the majority of the Air Force Bronze Stars going to
people
who were never in the combat zone. That's the first time in
history
that has happened en masse like that, say medals experts and
military
historians.
Looking for answers
Air Force officials are harder pressed, however, to explain why
so
few enlisted troops got the coveted award.
"Traditionally, the Air Force gives Commendation Medals to our
young
officers and enlisted," said Lt. Col. Nancy Lee, who helped
managed
the influx of awards nominations for the Air Force in Europe
after
the conflict.
Indeed, the Air Force doled out more than 3,700 Commendation
Medals
and a whopping 10,500 of the less-prestigious Air Force
Achievement
Medal. Plus, she added, "not every commander received a Bronze
Star.
Not every wing or group commander received a Bronze Star." But a
lot
of them did.
In fact, more than half of the Bronze Stars, 102 in all, went to
commanding officers of everything from civil engineering
squadrons to
bomber wings. Of those in the enlisted ranks fortunate enough to
get
the medal, most were senior noncommissioned officers - 12 of the
25
enlisted awards went to chief master sergeants, the top of the
enlisted chain.
Where colonels were getting Bronze Stars for putting up tent
cities
in Aviano, Italy, and giving briefings at Air Force headquarters
at
Ramstein, Germany, it took getting shot at deep inside Serbia
while
rescuing downed pilots for five of the enlisted airmen to get
Bronze
Stars - four of them pinning on the "V" Device for valor, the
only
Air Force personnel to earn that right.
Specific by design
The criteria set up by a United States Air Force Europe board to
adjudicate all top-level awards for the conflict makes it hard
for
enlisted airmen to be considered. Lee explained USAFE wanted all
medal awards to be consistent. The services took a beating after
the
1991 Gulf War against Iraq for haphazard and seemingly random
awarding of top medals, and they didn't want a repeat of that.
Officially, the only criteria laid down by the Defense
Department and
the Air Force is that the Bronze Star is to be awarded for
heroic or
meritorious service to "any person engaged in an action against
an
enemy of the United States" or an "opposing foreign force."
But USAFE's 13-member awards board, which consisted of the top
leaders of the air campaign, followed special guide-lines. Among
them, said Lee, were three questions to be asked before a person
would be eligible for the Bronze Star, including:
*Did their action contribute significantly to the combat
operations?
*Without that person, would the operation have been as
successful?
*Were they in charge?
While a "yes" to any one of the questions would open the door to
consideration, each question also seems to have shut out
virtually
all junior and midrank enlisted. Although Lee said "none of our
decorations say anything about rank," Bronze Stars are
considered "a
more senior medal. It all has to do with span of
responsibility."
If that's the case, the span of responsibility should at least
be
mentioned in the criteria, some believe.
"Yeah, that bothers me," said one Air Force colonel, who was
ordered
to write up several of his people for Bronze Stars. "It
shouldn't
just be for officers."
Deserving recognition
For those in the Navy, the pattern was essentially the same: It
went
mostly to officers and, of those, mostly commanders. Of the 69
Bronze
Stars awarded, all but five went to officers. And again, four of
the
five enlisted had to stick their necks out to get it.
Ashore as explosive disposal experts, the sailors were
responsible
for clearing minefields and dud bombs as NATO peacekeepers first
rolled into Kosovo after the air campaign ended. They also each
won
the right to pin on the "V" Device, for valor.
The only other enlisted sailor to earn the Bronze Star was Chief
Gregory McHone. According to his citation, McHone became the
Navy's
"first chief petty officer to assume the duties as a Battle
Force
Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile Officer," overseeing more
than
150 launches of the cruise missile from 10 different platforms.
Everyone else to get the medal were the captains and executive
officers of warships and squadrons as well as mostly senior
staff
officers within a variety of Navy commands. Among the top
officers to
get the nod were Adm. Daniel Murphy, the commander of 6th Fleet,
and
Rear Adm. William W. Copeland Jr., who commanded the Theodore
Roosevelt Battle Group.
Like the Air Force, Navy officials had little to say about the
lack
of enlisted sailors among those receiving the Bronze Star.
"The awards were given to personnel," said Navy spokesman Capt.
Steve
Honda, "who were deserving of recognition for
sustained superior performance or specific meritorious
achievement
within the awards guidance spirit."
Is that to say that more enlisted sailors provided no "sustained
superior performance" or "specific meritorious achievement"?
"There
were other awards given," said Honda. "Many others."
With flying medals largely reserved for pilots, most if not all
of
the 13 Distinguished Flying Crosses went to officers as well as
the
545 Air Medals, not to mention two Silver Stars. Of the awards
Navy
officials have record of in Europe, that leaves 22 Meritorious
Service Medals, 189 Navy Commendation Medals and 265 Navy
Achievement
Medals, all split between officers and enlisted.
What kind of message?
While few people will say they like it, for most such emphasis
in
awarding officers comes as little surprise.
"It's an old perennial problem -this issue between officers and
enlisted," said Shelby Stanton, author of several books on
military
history as well as uniforms and decorations. In the end, he
says, the
unfortunate thing is the message it sends to the enlisted ranks.
"Is a junior enlisted man's valor or meritorious service any
less
than an officer's?" he asks, quoting the criteria for the Bronze
Star
from memory. "I'll tell you this: Any enlisted man dealing with
hot
ordnance on the flight line at an air base or on deck of an
aircraft
carrier is a hell of a lot more heroic than any jerk sitting
behind a
desk coordinating strike plans."
And one senior Bronze Star recipient agrees. "Frankly, I don't
think
most of the people who got it, deserved it," said the Allied
Force
veteran. "To be honest, I don't think I deserved mine."
--------------------
European Stars and Stripes
June 5, 2000
<bold><bigger>Bronze Star: Top-Heavy Honor?
</bigger></bold>In airstrikes, most given to senior officers
(Second of two parts)
By Jon R. Anderson, Stars and Stripes
In Vietnam, the Bronze Star was sometimes referred to as the
"Officers'
Good Conduct Medal." Often, say veterans, it was doled out to
the brass
for doing little more than their jobs. Veterans of last year's
78-day
air blitz against Yugoslavia might say the same thing about the
Bronze
Stars awarded from their short conflict.
Of the 185 Bronze Stars awarded by the Air Force in the nine
months
since the war ended, eight out of every nine medals have gone to
officers, mostly lieutenant colonels and above. The trend in the
Navy
was largely the same. The Army, which had the most troops living
and
working in the combat zone, awarded no Bronze Stars.
"Almost anyone who was in the combat zone in Vietnam got a
Bronze
Star," said one Army general in Europe, "especially the
officers."
"It kind of meant you were there," he added, "a recognition of
what you
might call the fear factor."
Still, he said, "with all of the hullabaloo over awards after
Desert
Storm, you'd think people would be smarter about it." The
findings are
part of a Stars and Stripes review of Bronze Stars awarded
during
Operation Allied Force.
<bold><italic>Medal for ground force
</italic></bold>Those unfamiliar with the Bronze Star -the
nation's
fourth highest combat decoration - might make the mistake of
thinking
that because planes are piloted by officers, and this was, after
all,
an "air" campaign, that it's only natural for officers to get
the most
awards. But that's what Air Medals and Distinguished Flying
Crosses are
for. In fact, the Air Force has handed out more than 900 Air
Medals and
111 DFC's - with more pending - not to mention 13 Silver Stars.
No, the Bronze Star isn't for flying. Criteria for the medal
even rules
it out, saying, "for heroic or meritorious service not involving
participation in aerial flight." The Bronze Star was created
during
World War II for folks fighting on the ground who weren't
eligible for
the Air Medal and didn't quite deserve the Silver Star.
Officials say the unique nature of Allied Force -bombing from
afar with
planes coming in sometimes as far away as the United States -
has led
to the majority of the Air Force Bronze Stars going to people
who were
never in the combat zone. That's the first time in history that
has
happened en masse like that, say medals experts and military
historians.
<bold><italic>Looking for answers
</italic></bold>Air Force officials are harder pressed, however,
to
explain why so few enlisted troops got the coveted award.
"Traditionally, the Air Force gives Commendation Medals to our
young
officers and enlisted," said Lt. Col. Nancy Lee, who helped
managed the
influx of awards nominations for the Air Force in Europe after
the
conflict.
Indeed, the Air Force doled out more than 3,700 Commendation
Medals and
a whopping 10,500 of the less-prestigious Air Force Achievement
Medal.
Plus, she added, "not every commander received a Bronze Star.
Not every
wing or group commander received a Bronze Star." But a lot of
them
did.
In fact, more than half of the Bronze Stars, 102 in all, went to
commanding officers of everything from civil engineering
squadrons to
bomber wings. Of those in the enlisted ranks fortunate enough to
get
the medal, most were senior noncommissioned officers - 12 of the
25
enlisted awards went to chief master sergeants, the top of the
enlisted
chain.
Where colonels were getting Bronze Stars for putting up tent
cities in
Aviano, Italy, and giving briefings at Air Force headquarters at
Ramstein, Germany, it took getting shot at deep inside Serbia
while
rescuing downed pilots for five of the enlisted airmen to get
Bronze
Stars - four of them pinning on the "V" Device for valor, the
only Air
Force personnel to earn that right.
<bold><italic>Specific by design
</italic></bold>The criteria set up by a United States Air Force
Europe
board to adjudicate all top-level awards for the conflict makes
it hard
for enlisted airmen to be considered. Lee explained USAFE wanted
all
medal awards to be consistent. The services took a beating after
the
1991 Gulf War against Iraq for haphazard and seemingly random
awarding
of top medals, and they didn't want a repeat of that.
Officially, the
only criteria laid down by the Defense Department and the Air
Force is
that the Bronze Star is to be awarded for heroic or meritorious
service
to "any person engaged in an action against an enemy of the
United
States" or an "opposing foreign force."
But USAFE's 13-member awards board, which consisted of the top
leaders
of the air campaign, followed special guide-lines. Among them,
said
Lee, were three questions to be asked before a person would be
eligible
for the Bronze Star, including:
*Did their action contribute significantly to the combat
operations?
*Without that person, would the operation have been as
successful?
*Were they in charge?
While a "yes" to any one of the questions would open the door to
consideration, each question also seems to have shut out
virtually all
junior and midrank enlisted. Although Lee said "none of our
decorations
say anything about rank," Bronze Stars are considered "a more
senior
medal. It all has to do with span of responsibility."
If that's the case, the span of responsibility should at least
be
mentioned in the criteria, some believe.
"Yeah, that bothers me," said one Air Force colonel, who was
ordered to
write up several of his people for Bronze Stars. "It shouldn't
just be
for officers."
<bold><italic>Deserving recognition
</italic></bold>For those in the Navy, the pattern was
essentially the
same: It went mostly to officers and, of those, mostly
commanders. Of
the 69 Bronze Stars awarded, all but five went to officers. And
again,
four of the five enlisted had to stick their necks out to get
it.
Ashore as explosive disposal experts, the sailors were
responsible for
clearing minefields and dud bombs as NATO peacekeepers first
rolled
into Kosovo after the air campaign ended. They also each won the
right
to pin on the "V" Device, for valor.
The only other enlisted sailor to earn the Bronze Star was Chief
Gregory McHone. According to his citation, McHone became the
Navy's
"first chief petty officer to assume the duties as a Battle
Force
Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile Officer," overseeing more
than 150
launches of the cruise missile from 10 different platforms.
Everyone else to get the medal were the captains and executive
officers
of warships and squadrons as well as mostly senior staff
officers
within a variety of Navy commands. Among the top officers to get
the
nod were Adm. Daniel Murphy, the commander of 6th Fleet, and
Rear Adm.
William W. Copeland Jr., who commanded the Theodore Roosevelt
Battle
Group.
Like the Air Force, Navy officials had little to say about the
lack of
enlisted sailors among those receiving the Bronze Star.
"The awards were given to personnel," said Navy spokesman Capt.
Steve
Honda, "who were deserving of recognition for
sustained superior performance or specific meritorious
achievement
within the awards guidance spirit."
Is that to say that more enlisted sailors provided no "sustained
superior performance" or "specific meritorious achievement"?
"There
were other awards given," said Honda. "Many others."
With flying medals largely reserved for pilots, most if not all
of the
13 Distinguished Flying Crosses went to officers as well as the
545 Air
Medals, not to mention two Silver Stars. Of the awards Navy
officials
have record of in Europe, that leaves 22 Meritorious Service
Medals,
189 Navy Commendation Medals and 265 Navy Achievement Medals,
all split
between officers and enlisted.
<bold><italic>What kind of message?
</italic></bold>While few people will say they like it, for most
such
emphasis in awarding officers comes as little surprise.
"It's an old perennial problem -this issue between officers and
enlisted," said Shelby Stanton, author of several books on
military
history as well as uniforms and decorations. In the end, he
says, the
unfortunate thing is the message it sends to the enlisted ranks.
"Is a junior enlisted man's valor or meritorious service any
less than
an officer's?" he asks, quoting the criteria for the Bronze Star
from
memory. "I'll tell you this: Any enlisted man dealing with hot
ordnance
on the flight line at an air base or on deck of an aircraft
carrier is
a hell of a lot more heroic than any jerk sitting behind a desk
coordinating strike plans."
And one senior Bronze Star recipient agrees. "Frankly, I don't
think
most of the people who got it, deserved it," said the Allied
Force
veteran. "To be honest, I don't think I deserved mine."
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