For the last several weeks, I have heard lots of talk coming from Joe Biden and his continual harping about the alleged comments by President Trump several years ago in France. Frankly, I am tired of it. No less than twenty-five people physically there, including former NSA Bolton, stated clearly without equivocation that President Trump never said anything of the sort alleged by the Atlantic Magazine and Biden. That kind of direct evidence is good enough in my book.
Let’s look at Joe Biden’s comments about his son. Most civilians do not understand or, for that matter, fully appreciate the military awards system. Of note, Biden’s son, Major Beau Biden, served honorable in the Delaware Army National Guard as a lawyer. He was deployed to Iraq in 2008-2009. He could come home for a quick visit at the inauguration ceremony when Joe made Vice President of the United States, and then returned to complete his tour in Iraq. Biden continues to make a big deal out of the Bronze Star Major Biden received after his Iraq tour.
Now is education time for those that do not know what that means. A Bronze Star Medal is an award authorized by all branches of the service for Meritorious Service, or Achievement, or for Valor. It is one of several awards that are considered a multipurpose honor. In other words, you may get it for different reasons, not involving combat or for combat. The Bronze Star is only presented in a combat zone and never due to non-combat zone participation, such as in the United States, stationed in Europe, etc. There are other military awards for non-combat service. My research and Joe Biden’s own words strongly support that Major Biden received the Bronze Star for completing a tour of duty in a combat zone so that his superiors felt he should receive a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service. I leave it up to you to decide if he received the award due to his father’s position as the Vice President.
To be sure, awards in the military can be political. Unfortunately, it is typical that recognition of this nature is presented to service academy graduates, career officers, and Non-Commissioned Officers as a “favor” for promotions in the future. However, some individual soldiers richly deserve the award of a Bronze Star for outstanding service. The award typically reflects the recipient did such an exceptional job in their position that they were set apart and above their contemporaries. The way to tell the difference between a Meritorious Service/Achievement Bronze Star and a Bronze Star for Heroism is a small “V” device worn on the ribbon denoting “Valor.” If the “V” device is not part of the ribbon, rest assured the award was meritorious.
There are only three military awards for combat only heroism. The highest – The Medal of Honor, the second highest is one of the service crosses: Army-Distinguished Service Cross, Navy – Navy Cross, Air Force – Air Force Cross, and the third highest – Silver Star. These awards are never given for anything other than gallantry or heroism in action.
Some people have been conflating the Bronze Star and the Silver Star. There is no comparison as they are two distinctly different awards.
Biden, by inference, only has led people to believe his son was a “hero.” He was not. His son was brave to wear the uniform. He was brave to go to Iraq and serve his country and should be respected for his service. He never did anything to bestow the word “hero” on himself. The hero is a word overused almost to a meaningless point. Major Biden was a lawyer working in the Judge Advocate Corps in an air-conditioned office in Iraq. He had the benefit of three meals a day and a comfortable bed at night to sleep in on a secure base. Some jobs have benefits, that is reality. As far as I know, he did not have any exposure to direct combat.
The Legion of Merit is primarily an award for meritorious service presented to Lieutenant Colonels and above for doing an outstanding meritorious job over a period of years. The award is also presented to senior warrant officers and sergeant majors at retirement for their meritorious and honorable service. The award is considered a high merit award reserved for a few. I leave it up to you to formulate an opinion that Major Biden was presented the Legion of Merit after he passed away from brain cancer for merit or because his father was the Vice President.
When Joe Biden speaks from now on, listen to what he is saying and understand he is “boosting” his son to make a political point against President Trump.
EXCELLENT BROTHER!
Well said, Henry. I served four years without receiving any kind of medal. I was stationed in Alaska, there aren’t any terrorists lurking in the tundra to shoot at. However, my father won the Silver Star during WW II and deserved it. It would take a couple of pages to say why. The point is, He, my dad, deserved it, and I did not and wouldn’t fabricate a story to get it. Biden is a phony!! He has been all his life and will continue his BS for political reasons.
Rick, as you well know, military awards can used as a catalyst to launch a career or enhance a position in the wrong hands. Awards are meant to be a recognition of performance on and off the battlefield and military members should be rightfully acknowledged for their achievements. I dislike politicians that use the military awards as a political talking point to render a false perception or argument.
Thank you for the detailed and concise explanation!
Thanks for this interesting post. I will be sure to get the word out about this site 🙂 Excellent post. Cant wait to see the next blog post.
Howdy I am so glad I found your webpage, I really found you by error, while I was browsing on Google for something else, Anyways I am
here now and would just like to say thank you for
a incredible post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at
the minute but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS
feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do
keep up the fantastic b.
Politicians seem to think the population will accept claims of some personal success in the military. They are also notorious for stretching the truth and abusing the system. This is no difference. Like John Kerry and his questionable service. As I read, he was in Vietnam only so long as to earn credit for a full tour in Vietnam, to the day. His daddy was good to him. I also note that he wrote his own citations for medals and so on – a huge NO-NO. Seems his own commander didn’t see fit to write commendations for Kerry, so he wrote his own. No question there was no meritorious service on his part, only stunts for headlines. I was in Vietnam from Sep 67 to Sep 68; I was stationed at Tan Son Nhut AB, Saigon, when the TET offensive when down. I didn’t get anything special, I didn’t DO anything special – I just did my job. Guess we would be better off if kids of political officials were not allowed into combat zones so there would never be questions raised about who earned some award and who didn’t.
Well said so when soldiers whom have earned this from being in combat day to day in fear for their lives daily, when received this honor for there service in a war zone , 3,4,5,6 tours receive this it is now watered down it means nothing but a piece of medal ! The words Biden uses about his son is called stolen valor!!!! I respect his son served and god bless him he is a brother. Biden needs to stop,the world is not any better with him playing his son against the public for a pity moment it disgraceful and dishonorable . Dam I forgot Biden has no honor!!!!