This is going to sound a little out there and very cynical, but bear with me…

There has always been an element of politics involved in the MoH because, well, its awarded by politicians. The DoD got very seriously burned when it tried to make heroes out of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman – even if it was done with the best of intentions, the reinvestigations and beating that they took in the media and public had to take their toll. I would imagine that a lot of the time and red tape forwarding narratives is because everybody who has a stake is scrubbing and screening to make sure that they don’t have a repeat of these unfortunate incidents. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but a sad commentary on the state of affairs we find ourselves in.

As for not awarding them to the living (pure cynicism ahead): If the government can’t control them, they’re not going to nominate them. God forbid that someone worthy of the Medal of Honor do something like have a Facebook page, talk to the media or worst of all criticize the war effort.

Plus, if they survived circumstances worth of the MoH, then there are probably going to be all kinds of pesky questions about PTSD, how things got to the point where MoH conditions were generated, what the enemy point of view was, etc. The media will not respect actions that stand on their own – they might respect the dead, but they will tear the living to shreds.

The bottom line is that we’re never going to see another Rodger Young. Today they would ask why his Recruiter allowed him to join the National Guard with his health problems, why he was allowed to deploy given his medical history, why there weren’t CLS qualified people on that hill, and if he used a correct escalation of force before using hand grenades to engage the machine gun position.

Maybe we should bring back the song but change it to reflect our modern times:

No, they've got no time for glory in GWOT.
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung.
But in every veteran's heart in all the military
Shines the name, shines the name of someone who should be recognized but never will.