Taylor Marsh has posted a very good analysis of
Republican efforts to smear Representative Jack Murtha because of his opposition to the Iraq war. Popularly known as
“swiftboating", this tactic questions the credibility of a public figure with whom one disagrees by devaluing the critic’s military service. It was an effective tactic against John Kerry in 2004 and is now being used against John Murtha.
Since I am a veteran and a critic of the Iraq war, I guess I too may fall victim to a swiftboat attack. (Okay, I’m engaging in delusional grandiosity here. I’m not that important.) I claim some authority for having served in combat. Hell, earning those chops is probably THE reason I went to Vietnam. I sure didn’t volunteer for combat. In fact, I did what I could to avoid it. But in the end, I went. And while I was lucky as hell during my five months in the field, that experience certainly marked me for life. So, when I stand as a veteran to criticize war, I believe I have a right and a duty to do so.
Part of my iconography as an anti-war veteran are my medals. Just as John Kerry and John Murtha point to their medals as proof of their courage and patriotism, so do I. Those awards are visible proof that I served with some level of distinction and I wear a few on my now faded and frayed fatigue shirt at times. And because they are proof, critics will attempt to devalue them just as they have attempted to do with Kerry and Murtha. So let me tell you what I think about those medals.
Medals were a fact of Army life, especially for career personnel. Even giving medals to the non-career men meant something to the lifers since it enhanced their records. During my military service I was awarded a Combat Infantry Badge, a Bronze Star, an Air Medal, a Republic of Vietnam Service Medal, a Vietnam Campaign Medal, a Good Conduct Medal and a National Defense Service Medal. In many respects, all of these awards are simply for “being there”.
A Combat Infantry Badge is awarded to soldiers trained as infantrymen (military occupational specialty 11B) who serve in hostile fire situations. In Vietnam the rule was 30 days in the field or the first time under fire. Those two events occurred in my case simultaneously on 12 February 1971. It was only a few shots fired by two retreating Vietnamese who happened to stumble on to an entire infantry company but it was hostile fire.
My Bronze Star is for service, not Valor or any specific accomplishment. My unit, the 1st Cavalry Division routinely awarded Bronze Stars to commissioned and non-commissioned officers at the end of their tours; other enlisted men received Army Commendation Medals for service. When I became company clerk in June 1971, I started submitting everyone for Bronze Stars and the awards were approved. No one noticed the difference. As I said, it was routine.
Same for my Air Medal. The 1st Cavalry awarded this medal to infantrymen for 25 combat assaults via helicopter. After all, we were an airmobile unit. Never mind that the “meritorious service while engaged in aerial operations in the Republic of Vietnam” consisted entirely of sitting in a helicopter. One cynical First Sergeant called it the equivalent of a safe driving award for riding in a taxi. Regardless, I made the requisite number of assaults, so I qualified for an Air Medal.
The Good Conduct Medal was simply an award given to enlisted men who didn’t break the rules (or get caught), so that became part of everyone’s record. The other three medals simply occurred because you were in Vietnam or in military service.
These medals were not awarded in any ceremony. They all came to me in printed orders that were part of my records. When I processed out of Vietnam, a supply clerk looked at my papers and handed me the requisite boxes, much like the way I was issued equipment in basic training.
At the time the only award that meant anything to me was my Combat Infantry Badge. Even though I have spent three and a half decades questioning my willingness to follow orders to kill in a war I believed wrong, I took pride then in that accomplishment. I still do. I know that sounds weird but being part of an infantry company and surviving that ordeal has always meant a lot to me. Even when I thought the only value of my medals would be to turn them back in as a protest against the war like the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War who who particpated in
Dewey Canyon III, I knew that I would never return my CIB.
The other medals mean less. I never had the opportunity to return them and over the years I have become attached to them (or vice-versa). I wear the CIB, Bronze Star, Air Medal, and RVN Service Medal at some protests. Along with my fatigue shirt, they are visible evidence that I have served and have personal experience in combat. I make no attempt to portray myself as a hero or accomplished infantryman. I’m just another grunt who was at the end of the pipeline.
It’s always amazed me that by giving into war, I earned credibility to criticize war. I don’t think that non-combatants lack credibility; draft resisters (chickenhawks excepted) and conscientious objectors have every bit as much credibility as I do. For me, my military service only has real meaning if I stand as a witness against war.
So when the swiftboaters come for me, you know what my medals mean.