The July 4th edition of Stars & Stripes had an opinion article by Rep. Duncan Hunter in which he expressed concern that an unstated standard has been created for awarding the Medal of Honor to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan; only the dead can receive the Medal. He wrote a letter to President Obama about this and Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gail McGinn responded with a letter.

The opinion article contains part of her reply, a paraphrase then a continuation of her reply: '"Technological advancements have dramatically changed battlefield tactics, techniques and procedures. Precision-guided, stand-off weapons allow our forces to destroy known enemy positions with reduced personnel risk," according to McGinn. These factors, she goes on to say, "could reasonably explain the smaller number of Medal of Honor nominations by the Military Departments."'

I have not read Sec. McGinn's letter to Rep. Duncan. I looked for it on the net and couldn't find it so I only have this article to go on. That being said, from her tone I get the strong impression that she really believes that the wars we are in are somehow cleaner, more antiseptic and safer because of all the nifty machines we have. It is quite astonishing to me that somebody holding an opinion even close to that could get so high up in the Defense Dept.

Am I reading her meaning right? Can she really believe that? And if she does, are there many others high up in the "Gates knows my name" strata who believe as she appears to believe? I figured you guys would know.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?s...&article=63576