June 2014 - Argghhh!

Our opening Medal today, from the interim period of 1871-1898, is an award that today would not be a Medal of Honor. In this case, it would be the Navy and Marine Corps Medal , the highest award given in the Naval service for heroism not involving direct combat with an armed enemy. The Army equivalent is the Soldier's Medal , the Air Force is the Airman's Medal , and the Coast Guard awards the Coast Guard Medal. FASSEUR, ISAAC L. Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1860...

To go from a Fighter Wing to an ISR wing - except, in fact, the 188th started life as a reconnaissance unit. But still, to go from A-10s to RQ-9 Reapers (i.e., piloted aircraft to UAS) has got to sting. A pair of U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft assigned to the 188th Fighter Wing, Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Fort Smith, Ark., fly in formation over Kansas, June 7, 2014. The aircraft were the final two A-10s to depart Fort Smith as the 188th transitions from a fighter mission to an intelligence...

22 October, 2012, Organizing for America Truth Team tweets: "From al-Qaeda to Russia to Iraq, Mitt Romney has not demonstrated that he meets the threshold to be Commander in Chief." There - fixed it for ya: "From al-Qaeda to Russia to Iraq, Mitt Romney Barack Obama has not demonstrated that he meets the threshold to be Commander in Chief:"

"Fat, stupid, and lazy is no way to go through life, boy." Unless you're Harold Strausbaugh and the Southern Ohio Monument Company. Herman “Jr.” Strausbaugh, a Korean War veteran who was the driving force behind the fundraising effort to build the memorial, has defended the inclusion of only 18 names on the monument. The memorial committee relied on a government list of casualties when deciding which names would appear on the granite footer at the bottom of the memorial...

This is a very busy day for the Medal. 21 awards, most from the era before WWI, when the criteria for award was a lot looser and less consistent. First up - the Civil War Today's Medals will attract the attention of regular reader JTG, as they start with the Battle of Trevilian Station, the largest all-cavalry fight of the Civil War, and JTG has a connection to one of the Confederates who fought there. General Wade Hampton, awakened the morning of the battle by the blare of Union bugles, noted...

They're both high-mileage, and probably both have replacement parts keeping 'em going. Bill Prindible, a veteran U.S. Army pilot who flew on D-Day, takes the controls of a C-47 Skytrain aircraft during a flight over Normandy, France, June 5, 2014, as part of the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. The morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces conducted a massive airborne assault and amphibious landing in the Normandy region of France. The invasion marked the beginning of the final...

It's not unusual in wartime for the Medal of Honor to be presented by someone other than the President. Well, not unusual for Korea and earlier. For Vietnam-era awards and later, it's pretty much been a Presidential moment. Except for one. Navy Captain William McGonagle, who earned his Medal of Honor 8 June, 1967. Captain McGonagle received his Medal from the Secretary of the Navy in a little noted ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard. On the official US government website for the Medal of...

Clearly, the National Security Advisor knows a meaning for the word "Honorable" that is unknown to Sergeant Bergdahl's fellow platoon members, or the rest of us who took the oath of enlistment. Ours is mired in a 19th Century concept of honor. We should clearly take instruction from our betters on this. From now on, I shall refer to the VA and IRS persons under the lens in their respective scandals as "the Honorable Mr This," or "The Honorable Ms. That," as that...