William S. Lind :collection (merged thread)

[TheCurmudgeon]

I thought the US differentiated between those who qualified for the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Combat Action Badge?

The infantry demanded (not in my army) that there be a difference between those who ran for cover and those who ran at (assualted) a defended active enemy position under fire IMHO quite rightly so. I was also a paratrooper with a number of 'operations jumps' under the belt and never got paid an allowance for that either - IMHO quite rightly so as parachuting was merely a means of transport and delivery into combat of my choice.

One understands and tolerates the adolescent macho strutting of young soldiers to prove who is more badass than the next. This should not extend to senior NCOs and officers, however.

But your essential point as I seem to understand it is that yes, the risk to soldiers in time of war is in a different league than those in even the most hazzardous civilian jobs. In a hazzardous job you get a big pay check commensurate with the risk. A troopie is down there near the minimum wage. What do you make of that? You look out for #1 and you do OK but if you lay it all on the line for your country you get diddly ....

When first proposed, the Combat Action Badge was the Close Combat Badge and you had to be in an armor, cav, or artillery MOS to recieve it. Rumsfeld changed that after he was confronted at a Town Hall by a female MP who had engaged the enemy several times on convoys but would not be elligable for the award because of her MOS.

As far as running for cover, I am not sure what else you want a Soldier who is not involved in identifing the POO and engaged in counterbattery fire to do in a rocket attack. I suppose they could stand in the open and look up. Not sure that is the wisest choice. You don't get a CAB for indirect fire attacks unless you are within the blast radius of the munition fired at you. I led a recon that was attacked by a command detonated IED, but the only people who got the award were the people in the vehicle that was hit.

But yes, you get my point. I don't think you can compare the two on any level. The only civilian jobs that come close are Police, Fire, and EMT personnel. It is the difference between having a duty and having a job. Hard to explain, but I know it when I see it.

On a seperate note, that female MP who stood up to the SecDef and asked a question that all the Army brass did not want asked demonstrates a level of intestinal fortitude that was quite impressinve. Reminds me of the old joke about the Marine, Army, and Air Force General standing around the flag pole talking about their subordinates courage.