[ROCKET]

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) today introduced the Cold War Service Medals Act of 2009, bipartisan legislation to authorize the secretaries of the military departments to award Cold War Service Medals to American veterans. To date, no medal exists to honor the men and women who served and defended the United States during the Cold War.

For over a decade Cold War Vets have been fighting for the creation and authorization of a Cold War Service Medal to honor their service. Over the years legislation has been introduced in Congress only for it to be later stripped out in conference committee.

November 9th of this year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are hoping that this legislation will finally become reality so that all Cold War Vets can receive the proper recognition they deserve.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to support this bill (S.2743) and to consider becoming a co-sponsor as well. It already has bipartisan support.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

John

This post has been edited by ROCKET: Nov 6 2009, 12:22 PM

[arclight]

I think this is a superb initiative! I was able to get my father-in-law a "Cold War Service" certificate, which was authorized a few years back, and having seen it when it arrived, was very much unimpressed by it. I had imagined that it would be a bit more similar to one of the typical medal award certs, but nothing of the sort. I could have made one of these on my computer, and saved all that effort.
Let's get this approved!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
Gary

[Andy Hopkins]

A bill like this has been introduced...and killed, numerous times. The last effort was led by Hillary Clinton I believe. Although the certificates are certainly uninspiring (I sent away for mine several years ago), I don't see the medal ever happening. It all comes down to $. With everything else going on in the world, why should Congress/ DoD allocate money toward a medal that will only be worn by a relatively small number of active duty personnel? Most would go to retired and discharged veterans, so in all honesty, the certificate is probably good enough. No slight intended toward Cold War vets...I am one myself, but there are better things to spend money on at the moment IMO given the current wars and economic situation...better body armor or enhanced mental health care for our troops as examples.... You never know though...these things are politically driven. The Korea Defense Service Medal, for example, was created against the wishes of DoD.

This post has been edited by Andy Hopkins: Nov 6 2009, 03:26 PM

[ROCKET]

I agree Andy...this will be an uphill battle just like all the other times but at least we have another bi-partisan bill introduced into the Senate.

Some of you folks might not know this but recently DOD Secretary, Robert Gates, conducted an online poll on the DOD website. The poll asked people to send in questions. Once the question submission cutoff was done they then had a 2 week period for folks to vote on which question was most important. Secretary Gates would then answer the top 5 most voted questions submitted.

Out of 99 questions submitted and over 40,000 votes you might be shocked at which question came in #1 above all other questions with over 83.7% of the vote. The questions was "Secretary Gates: Are you in favor of, and will you issue a Cold War Victory Medal this Year?"

There were a total of 40,000 votes submitted so there is definitely an interest in seeing the Cold War Service Medal become a reality.

So far it's been well over a month and we are still waiting on Secretary Gates to answer the top 5 questions. Many suspect that DOD was taken by surprise with the #1 question which might explain the delay in Mr. Gates' response.

John

[DwightPruitt]

This post isn't meant as sign of disrespect, but as someone that served during that time, I don't think a medal is warranted. The certificate is nice, but think about it, if you served and rated an ARCOM, MSM, etc, great. There were enough medals in the system to cover those whose service was above and beyond.

I got to wear the uniform-which is an honor itself. I got to go to Europe, drive tanks, drink copious amounts of German beer, chase German women, go to Amsterdam, and generally blow sh!t up....all on the good graces of the American Government and the DoD budget. I should be thanking you guys!

The sentiments are nice, but another medal just isn't needed.

[arclight]

This post isn't meant as sign of disrespect, but as someone that served during that time, I don't think a medal is warranted. The certificate is nice, but think about it, if you served and rated an ARCOM, MSM, etc, great. There were enough medals in the system to cover those whose service was above and beyond.

I got to wear the uniform-which is an honor itself. I got to go to Europe, drive tanks, drink copious amounts of German beer, chase German women, go to Amsterdam, and generally blow sh!t up....all on the good graces of the American Government and the DoD budget. I should be thanking you guys!

The sentiments are nice, but another medal just isn't needed.

Well, since you and Andy put it like that, I have to agree with you guys completely, especially given the current economic environment.
G

[ROCKET]

This post isn't meant as sign of disrespect, but as someone that served during that time, I don't think a medal is warranted. The certificate is nice, but think about it, if you served and rated an ARCOM, MSM, etc, great. There were enough medals in the system to cover those whose service was above and beyond.

I got to wear the uniform-which is an honor itself. I got to go to Europe, drive tanks, drink copious amounts of German beer, chase German women, go to Amsterdam, and generally blow sh!t up....all on the good graces of the American Government and the DoD budget. I should be thanking you guys!

The sentiments are nice, but another medal just isn't needed.

I respect your opinion but one also has to realize that many Cold War Vets never received any type of medal whatsoever...not even a Good Conduct Medal. By authorizing the Cold War Service Medal this would at least be a small token of recognition for those veterans who protected our nation and it's allies from Communist aggression.

Regarding the cost factor....legislatively mandated awards of medals have not historically resulted in high levels of demand based on past service. Over a three year period (2004-2006), the Korea Defense Service Medal was awarded to no more than 192,000 individuals (out of an estimated 2 million eligible) at a procurement cost of $1.41 per medal.

In other words...we are looking at an estimate of $6 million to cover the cost and distribution of the medal when compared to the number of Cold War Vets who would likely request it from DOD. That's a drop in the bucket!

John

[gwb123]

Interesting discussion, with good points on both sides.

During my tenure in the Army, decorations were reduced to a minimum. The National Defense Service Medal had been temporarily shelved. Other awards, such as the ARCOM were typically downgraded to no medal at all. If you wanted your troops to get something, you had to submit them for the next highest award, and sometimes that did not even work. So if you wanted that Motor Pool mechanic who had been busting his rear for you for the last 2 years to be awarded an ARCOM you had to write him up for a Meritorious Service Medal. It lead to a lot of inflation in award recommendation writing. Oddly though, depending on your writing skills as the recommender, sometimes the higher award actually got approved!

In the early 1980's they tried to remedy some of this by coming out with a spate of ribbons so at least you had something to wear on your official photo. This included the Army Achievement Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, etc.

So, for three years of service in Germany, you got an Overseas Service Ribbon! Same for walking the DMZ for a year in Korea.

Another problem with the Cold War years is that there were very few "campaigns", which is in marked contrast to the WWII years.

I actually left the Army with 9 years of combined active and reserve service with several ribbons, but no medals. But again, that was not all that uncommon during the late Cold War years. Now, some 22 years later, I am not exactly sure what I would wear it with!
While we may have 2 million eligible recipients, I doubt that all will come forward all at once to claim their medals. Looking at medal requests from WWI, soldiers were still filing these all the way into the 1940's. And it is up to the government how fast the fulfill these requests.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Bluehawk]

If cost were to be the main consideration, then we wouldn't be providing for the Medal of Honor either.

Anyhow, one man's opinion, Cold Warriors surely do deserve some serious recognition for doing an often boring as hell, usually lonely, almost always tedious, sometimes extremely intense, highly important and occasionally very dangerous, evidently thankless military job.

When I think of what SAC went through for so long, as one example, or those missileers sitting in cement tubes underground year after year guarded by frozen Apes... hell, if the USAF can issue a geedunk "Training" ribbon for surviving BMT, then a true Cold Warrior ought to be overdue. We're handing out "Expeditionary" medals to practically anyone who can manage to traverse the installation perimeter these days.

Congress can just deny themselves their annual automatic pay increase to make it happen.

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[m1ashooter]

Missle crew dogs don't need a medal. We have a poem and got to eat really bad food.

[DwightPruitt]

If cost were to be the main consideration, then we wouldn't be providing for the Medal of Honor either.

Anyhow, one man's opinion, Cold Warriors surely do deserve some serious recognition for doing an often boring as hell, usually lonely, almost always tedious, sometimes extremely intense, highly important and occasionally very dangerous, evidently thankless military job.

When I think of what SAC went through for so long, as one example, or those missileers sitting in cement tubes underground year after year guarded by frozen Apes... hell, if the USAF can issue a geedunk "Training" ribbon for surviving BMT, then a true Cold Warrior ought to be overdue. We're handing out "Expeditionary" medals to practically anyone who can manage to traverse the installation perimeter these days.

Congress can just deny themselves their annual automatic pay increase to make it happen.

Excellent post, and although I don't think you meant it to, it makes the point I was trying to make. Does one deserve a medal for being bored? Lonely? Cold? Hungry? Nope. Let medals mean something, stand for something...something besides just being there during a certain time in history. Do we as a military need a ribbon for simply graduating basic training? For serving overseas in a non-combat theater? In my estimation no.

John, all due respect, but some Cold War troops not getting medals is a rather poor reason to issue one, and actually cheapens the medals given to deserving troops.

I've always been impressed by this portrait of Dwight Eisenhower as Chief of Staff. At this point, he was a General of the Army, had been instrumental in the defeat of Nazi Germany in two theaters of war and had countless orders and decorations bestowed on him by his country and allies, yet never truly saw combat. He chose to wear three ribbons.

Good enough for Ike, good enough for me.

[ROCKET]

Apparently a similar bill will be introduced into the House of Representatives as well. Once the official press release comes out (likely tomorrow due to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall) I will pass along the bill number so folks can try to contact their congressman and ask them to co-sponsor and support this bill.

Thanks to all who have shown their support!

John

[ROCKET]

I just found out that a campanion bill was introduced into the house on November 6th by New York Representative Steve Israel (NY-2). The bill is H.R. 4051 and it reads:

"To amend 10, United States Code to provide for the award of a military service medal to members of the Armed Forces who served honorably during the Cold War, and for other purposes."

I'd like to ask folks to please contact their congressman and ask them to co-sponsor and support this bill (H.R. 4051) in Congress.

Thanks!

John

This post has been edited by ROCKET: Nov 9 2009, 06:31 AM

[seanmc1114]

Some of you folks might not know this but recently DOD Secretary, Robert Gates, conducted an online poll on the DOD website. The poll asked people to send in questions. Once the question submission cutoff was done they then had a 2 week period for folks to vote on which question was most important. Secretary Gates would then answer the top 5 most voted questions submitted.

Out of 99 questions submitted and over 40,000 votes you might be shocked at which question came in #1 above all other questions with over 83.7% of the vote. The questions was "Secretary Gates: Are you in favor of, and will you issue a Cold War Victory Medal this Year?"

I think the idea of a Cold War Service Medal is great but I like the idea reflected in the DOD question even better - a Cold War Victory Medal.

I think some people have equated the National Defense Service Medal with recognition of Cold War service but it only covered certain specific periods rather that the entire Cold War period, basically 1946 - 1990. I know I have heard my father refer to the NDSM as the "I was alive in '65" ribbon from his Vietnam days and the World War II Victory Medal could be called the "I was alive in '45" medal.

I guess a great example of the type of service the Cold War medal should recognize is Elvis Presley. Remember, he didn't join the Army - he was drafted back in the late '50's when the threat of war with the Soviet Union was considered so real that the U.S. was still conscripting young men to serve. After basic training he was sent to the "front lines" of Germany where he served in an armored unit for a year and a half before being discharged. For his two years' service in the Army. the only ribbon he rated was a Good Conduct Medal which really didn't recognize the type of service he had but the nature of that service. Nowadays, I think soldiers coming out of basic training are immediately entitled to the National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Global War On Terrorism Service Medal. I definitely feel the Cold Warriors deserve at least equal recognition.

[gwb123]

"Nope. Let medals mean something, stand for something...something besides just being there during a certain time in history."

"Being there during a certain time in history" would be the very definition of a campaign medal.

The US Military offers medals for three basic reasons: achievement, valor and campaigns.

Not everyone who contributed to a successful campaign was necessarily in harms way, or in the case of the Cold War even overseas.

But I think if you ask most veterans of that period they would tell you there was something special about that time. In a way you could consider it one of the longest running campaigns in US History. There was a goal, an objective and resources were applied. And there was a cost as well.

I think the period should be commemorated.

I also think our military personnel are quite capable of understanding the difference between medals for achievement, valor and a campaign, and will render the respect due to each accordingly.

[JimmCapp]

Did everyone who served then have a fake Russian officer come in and bad mouth them during basic training?
I think it was supposed to get us fired up, and a few people did, but it was easy to tell it was a set up by the smirks on the drill sergeants' faces.

On a side note I remember my grandfather calling the Good Conduct Medal the "Spam ribbon" because all you had to do to get it was eat your spam.