Running short on purple hearts
By Steve Benen Thursday Aug 16, 2007 7:30pmNyles Reed, a 75-year-old Texan, sustained injuries during combat in Korea in 1952. Last week, the Pentagon sent him a letter to let him know he qualifies for a Purple Heart.
But the Defense Department didn’t actually give Reed a Purple Heart; it just sent him a certificate saying he’d earned one. The mailing included a notice explaining that the medal for injured troops was “out of stock.”
“I can imagine, of course, with what’s going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s a big shortage,” Reed said. “At least, I would imagine so.”
The form letter from the Navy Personnel Command told Reed he could wait 90 days and resubmit an application, or buy his own medal.
After waiting 55 years, however, Reed decided to pay $42 for his own Purple Heart and accompanying ribbon — plus state sales taxes — at a military surplus store.
We’ve apparently reached a point in which U.S. troops are injured so frequently in Iraq and Afghanistan — the number is now near 30,000 — that the military is running out of Purple Hearts. That’s stunning.
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Sickening is more like it!
it's not stunning when you think that there is absolutly no battle plan, no plan to keep the peace and no plan to get our soldiers out of harms way.
Pat Peale could whip up a batch of those medals in about 10 minutes.
Well... given how much republicants think of Purple Hearts anyway I doubt they give a shit.
Perhaps bush can send his ill gotten Purple Heart to this guy.
They had a story on NBC News about the factory which makes medals for the military and the report said that no Purple Hearts had been made for at least 50 years because there were so many made during WW2.
How about they just send out some of those Band-aids from the 2004 RNC?
i think bush gave out all the purple hearts to his donors.
made in China
Why do military surplus stores have them, but the pentagon does not? I... You know what, I'm just going to call it a day.
You know its kind of sad actually after that long our government recognizes his service this late in the game, Someone should have personally delivered a Purple Heart and apology. On a side note I wonder if the purchase could be a tax write off
XuYu @ 3:
Oh yeah...Mrs Despicable herself!
Holy Shit! I can start up a Military Medal Store and make a bundle!
I've got an idea. They should have just sold Purple Hearts on the open market all along and let the draft-dodging assholes who started this war buy them. That way, they could have given themselves military glory without having to sacrifice other people's kids. The proceeds could go toward frivolous stuff like body armor and armored Humvees.
TonyinLA @ 8:
...with lead in them.
Kevin Cleary @ 13:
Kevin! Is that you? Are you from Baltimore?
"Medals, shmedals," said an increasingly agitated Bush, "send 'em a Bush/Cheney 2008 calendar".
Oops! Sorry, wrong Kevin Cleary. :)
If that's not bad enough, they tell him he can wait 90 days AND RESUBMIT HIS APPLICATION. They don't even offer to backorder for him. The man earns a purple heart and they want him to keep resubmitting his application??? Absolutely pathetic.
As a wise, elderly Chinese woman said me after she had won a first place medal for having the fastest time in her age-division for a half-marathon..............."What good are they? -- You can't eat them!"
Peace!
Shame on them. They don't care about our soldiers, all they care about are special interest group that lobby for the continuation of the war, to make money. ------> http://www.youpolls.com
Rumor has it the pentagon is sending military representatives to the relative family homes of veterans, asking for the medals of the deceased WW1 and WW2 vets back, so they can hand them out again to the "living" survivors of this ill-conceived war.
I pray this is a sick joke and not reality, but these days I would not doubt this corrupt administration of being below anything to cover-up their crimes
What happened to the fatass thread...oops...I mean the Hassart thread?
What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBK_l2AQ4I8
dont worry the factorys in china are working overtime to restock these medals for our brave soldiers!
It makes perfect sense. How can the people running the military-industrial complex give him a heart when they have none of their own?
Why doesn't the Republican National Committee forward all of those purple heart bandaids that they used to mock John Kerry with at the 2004 Republican Convention?
-GSD
What is stunning is that the military cannot manage to keep up with the simplest of honors to its troops. What does it take to manufacture a medal?
chimp and the gang are trifling. A form letter, no medal and inadequate care.
I guess if haliburton aren't making the medals they are unavailable.
Pete @ 23:
I think it was so good i posted it the moment i saw it.
For what it's worth, Purple Heart veterans will get healthcare from the VA for free for the rest of their lives; that's full medical, dental, hearing aids, perscriptions, the whole nine yards. His letter alone would be accepted as proof at any VA. And this law just went into effect within the last few years (forget exact date) so I am hoping they don't change it.
If there were fewer gods, there would be less foxholes.
Tequila @ 25:
Touche
For what it's worth, the VA killed my (understandably depressed) veteran uncle by giving him electroshock therapy. The cure was worse than the war.
Pete @ 23:
As good as I have seen. I immediately have forwarded to many others..
Credit should be given to Gravel, Richardson and Kucinich for this powerful
video.
Manufacture of purple hearts has been discontinued because of the Bush administration's demand for more medals of freedom for his faithful followers.
Don't forget-The Switch From Individual Memorials to Group Remembrances at Fort Lewis, WA starting in June, because too many of their guys are dying...First they were scheduling them once a month: Fort Lewis shifts to group rites
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003728889_fortlewisfall...
"Fort Lewis will shift to monthly group memorials -- rather than individual services -- for fallen soldiers, a change that reflects the mounting number of deaths as the post fields more than 10,000 soldiers in Iraq."
Then in July up to weekly as needed: In policy switch, Fort Lewis OKs weekly memorial rites
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003806363_fortlewis26m....
"Fort Lewis memorial services for fallen soldiers will be held as often as once a week under a policy announced Wednesday by the post's new commander, Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby."
Nice. :roll:
►Runs-With-Dog◄ @ 31:
Which brings to mind my theory about why there are no athiests in foxholes. Athiests do not go running around trying to get killed in holy wars so they can get into heaven.
somebody please give me a medal. i am a noble subject.
sprinkle me in glory. put me in a parade. i am alive and i am real.
please acknowledge??????? anyone? hello? freedom fighter right here!
crickets chirping............................................
36 miss_kitty
No need for medals, no need for memorial services. No need for armored Humvees. No need for reason or truth or stability. No need for Constitutional rights or protections...
There is simply no need for this.
carefulwiththatAXEeugene @ 38:
You are not alone and hello. :)
validation.....anyone??? anyone?????
Christopher C. Mills @ 27:
No, what's really stunning is that despite evidence like this showing a complete lack of caring for its own military people still want to enlist! THAT'S stunning.
xoites defends Constitution
thank you thank you .......uhhhmm i never expected this... this is such a surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):)
i just want to thank the other side for giving me such a dark background to shine against.
all never forget this.........it's very special. thank you to my fans!
SpankyTheMonkey @ 42:
People do not want to enlist. Recruiters are out there pounding the pavement looking for victims. Judges are giving first time offenders a choice between prison and the military.
Maybe the Pentagon can contract with the RNC for purple band aids?
You can't have Purple Hearts and tax cuts too. Priorities, people, priorities.
Not to worry. We've got plenty of yellow ribbons!
Lots of yellow ribbons and lots of excuses. We have as many solutions as we have purple hearts. We have more injured (catastrophically) than we have awareness and we have a lot of candidates running to take the riens of power and do the exact same thing Bush is doing now.
A 21 year old looking at two stubs the rest of his life where his legs used to be so "5 Vietnam Deferments Coward Dick Cheney's" Halliburton can get no bid government contracts and Big Oil CEOs can rake in the profits....yea, looking at that purple heart the next 60 years is going to get a little old and that impressionable young kid is going to age pretty bitter realizing he was taken for a ride by adult crooks, criminals and liars.
Name a war when they didn't run out of purple hearts during the war?
antisocialist @ 51:
You don’t find it odd that he had to buy it in a surplus store
What the !!!!!!!!!! Buy one at a surplus store !!!!!!!!! I hope that he will at least be entitled to reimbursement
For the last time people. You can't have a war on an adjective. This is not a War on Terror.
In FACT, this is not a WAR at all This is an occupation.
The Repubs call it a WAR for a reason and like little brainwashed minions we do the same, why? Why? Just because that's what everyone else is doing....
Please folks, one thing we can do to infuriate these reich-wing maniacs is to not let them control and manipulate our language.
It's a #$%@! Occupation.
That is, what it is.
And when the history books look back on this - whaddya think they are gonna say? that our forces where at war in Iraq or occupying Iraq?
No, I mean if they are honest - what will they call it? A War? Or an Occupation?
You know the answer and so I now ask you to speak honestly as well.
It's an occupation, NOT a war. And so an "occupation" is what you should call it. right?
i wouldnt be surprised to hear a wingnut say:
A Soldier's Things
we have been deindustrialized so much we can't give GIs their medals while CNBC scolds anyone that's against free trade
What a great song lyric if Phil Ochs was still around.
"We're running out of Purple Hearts".
Of course if Phil Ochs was still around...
how long until this shortage is blamed on Democrats and their stance against the war?
antisocialist @ 51:
ok, show us the proof. i dont doubt it has happened but lets see the evidence.
A Chinese factory, that is a sub-sub-contractor to a sub-contractor to a contractor assigned by the Republicans at the Pentagon to provide Purple Hearts had to recall the Purple Hearts that had been ordered because of their lead content...er, or at least that's my wild guess.
Hey, if Chinese factories are now making U.S. Flags then why wouldn't some Republican have also farmed out the manufacture of Purple Hearts similarly? Cheap is cheap. Which would increase the profit of all the Republican contractors involved, although U.S. taxpayers would end up paying a whole lot more for all the Purple Hearts.
Side note: I recently went to the local VA Office to request a copy of my discharge papers (DD214). I served in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1970s. The VA counselor called up a DOD computer screen with my service record on it, and sent an electronic request to the Military Record Center. I was informed that I'd receive my DD214 in about five days. However, was I surprised when the letter arrived from the Record Center stating that they had no record that I'd ever served in the U.S. military, with an enclosed form to fill out to help them track down my "missing" records. And yet, my service information shows up in the DOD database. Strange. But the point I really want to make here is that in the past, any government envelope being used for official business had a pre-paid stamp on it, but no more. I had to buy a stamp to send off the form requesting the Record Center do a thorough records search. Of course, the board of governors at the U.S. Postal Service has been packed with Republicans, who are so, so cost conscious, they are willing to even screw veterans out of a few cents. So, I'm not surprised that the VA under the Republicans have screwed up the Purple Heart program to the extent that veterans end up having to pay for their own Purple Hearts awarded to them. In other words, was the person at the Republican-run Defense Department just jerking Mr. Reed around? If the Republican-run Defense Department had a smidgen of honor and integrity left, they'd immediately reimburse Mr. Reed for his having to pay for his own Purple Heart out of his own pocket. Which I doubt they'll do.
If Bush had an ounce of integrity, he'd send this guy the one someone gave to him for getting a nosebleed from snorting blow in Texas during Nam.
This is a truly sad portrait of the truth behind Washington's regard for vets. Mr. Reed, sounds a bit deluded with and by the US government and chose instead to buy a medal for 42$... Sad day indeed.
1952?? I'd really like to know why it's taken over half a century for this guy to get his medal in the first place.
And not that I don't think that far too many people are dying for no particularly good reason in Iraq, I don't think it's a case of so many people being wounded and dying that they can't keep up with Purple Hearts and memorial services. A hell of a lot more people died in Viet Nam, but as far as I'm aware, they didn't run out of medals and everyone who was killed in action got their own memorial service.
This isn't a case of too many too fast to keep up with demand. It's a case of a government who simply doesn't give a damn. And it's showing.
61 The Oracle
Not sure if you remember that huge fire in a miltary records warehouse in the late 1970's but it messed up a lot of vets. Get this straightened out as soon as you can.
It replaced the Army Wound Ribbon in 1932.
There is no documentation of long-term absent supply,
or until now, of servicemen required to pay for their medal.
A buddy's dad served in Africa and Italy during WWII.
But at 81 he had never received any compensation for his injuries or benefits from the VA.
Seems he was one of these guys they duped when he was discharged, or simply fell asleep when it came to what he was owed.
He had never attended briefings, had never done the paperwork. There were tons of guys like this that served in Europe and the Pacific - and perhaps Korea.
I told my buddy his dad needed to get with his congressman. Neither knew who his congressman was.
I figured out it was, get this, Rob Portman.
Portman's office got him squared away some 55 years after his discharge.
As the saying goes, "If you want something, you have to ask for it".
Think the Iraq veterans are up against it? They are.
Unless they bitch and show up at the door and on the phone and bitch some more.
You gotta bitch people or else they'll let you pay the whole bill.
Here's a link for an informative story on production and distribution of Purple Hearts: http://hnn.us/articles/1801.html
Seems that the U.S. military had on hand about half a million Purple Hearts at the end of World War II. They had been made in anticipation of the invasion of Japan but were never used. Then the military distribution system lost 125,000 of them, lost a bunch more through mismanagement, found the missing 125,000, then ordered a small supply in 1976.
In 1999, under the Clinton administration, a new supply of Purple Hearts was ordered to make sure that enough would be on hand to meet the needs of veterans.
As of late 2003, the Pentagon still had some 120,000 Purple Hearts on hand.
So now we've run out of Purple Heart medals? Surely this can't be true of an adminstration that "supports the troops on the ground." How could this have happened? Hmm, let me see: FEMA trailers rotting in the mud, FEMA ice aimlessly crisscrossing the country, lack of adequate body armor, lack of armored Humvees, and oh yes, there's that small matter of invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and FUBARing that misbegotten mission. How COULD such an adminstration have screwed up the supply and distribution of Purple Heart medals?
At least that notorious troop-hatin' Bill Clinton made sure our veterans had enough Purple Hearts, for God's sake.
Szin @ 4:
Maybe they can rustle up some of those Purple Heart Band Aids that were so prevalemt during the republican convention that they used to mock John Kerry
I think more this is evidence of us not taking care of our own. We should do a campaign where we give out Purple Hearts because the government can't do it's job.
Maybe people will start asking WHY the government isn't doing their job if we can adequately and non-provocatively show them HOW the government isn't doing their job.
The government minted at least 500,000 Purple Hearts in anticipation of tremendous American casualties had the planned US invasions of the Japanese home islands (Operation Olympic at Kyushu in November 1945 and Operation Coronet at Honshu in March 1946) gone ahead. Because Japan surrendered before those invasions could be launched, the US government gave away those 1940-era medals instead to US casualties in the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Panama invasion and the first Gulf War. Did they really run out of all those medals for the current war or did they just get rid of a lot of them through surplus stores and eBay?
Antisocialist @51:
1.The war in Kosovo and Bosnia
2. Haiti
3. The Cold War
4. The War on Drugs
5. The war you never fought.
Need some more? Hope I've been of help, moron.
I don't understand. These patriotic citizens are lied to, to get them to go overseas and kill people, or get killed. Many get wounded, and their thanks from the government is a little piece of tin with ribbons, that can be purchased for less than $50? Does that not strike anybody, even loyal patriotic drivel followers, as bizarre?
Doggiebobo @ 34:
what! nothing for obamma or clinton im shocked !
the only medal that counts is the medal of honor,its the only one that gets you into places the others dont, and unlike the medal of freedom that bush doles out to his lackys for blowjobs well done you have to earn it , i have seven medals i earned in korea and you can throw them all on a bar counter and get a beer if you throw a dollar fifty in with them, as they say you can go to an army surplus store and get the purple heart but its a federal offence to have the medal of honor , look what kerry got for haveing four purple hearts bashed and ridiculed by these neocon druids who never got close enough to the enemy to get wounded , while i voted for kerry i wasnt happy to do it because of his stance on iraq but i thought we could change his mind once he became president , maby i was wrong but the way he threw in the towel the day after he was cheated by diebold i said fuckit im not voteing while holding my nose anymore , this next elections your last chance to regain your rights that cheny stoled from you , choose well and dont vote on looks alone!
Running out of purple heart medals is stunning equals too many purple hearts are being awarded (can we be sure of that? maybe not enough are being made) equals too many injured, therefore the war is not justified (no kidding, really?), therefore bring our troops home. It's so simple just let you elected representatives know that too many purple hearts are being awarded and they will leap into action to bring the military out of Iraq. No wait! Maybe once Dubya hears about this for the first time a light from heaven will engulf him and the orders for our troops to return to our shores will at last arrive. This story reiterates the obvious. It's like staring into the sun to confirm that it daytime. When Hillary is calling the shots what will become of C&L?
Quote: The form letter from the Navy Personnel Command told Reed he could wait 90 days and resubmit an application, or buy his own medal.
If that letter said he could buy one from the military, and not just track one down at a surplus store as he did, that means they aren't really backordered. They're just penny-pinching to the point of obscenity.
I haven't seen very many posts discussing this in the context of the "support the troops" trope that the administration bandies about so frequently. Seems like a fine news item to resurrect the Walter Reed scandal and others. They have their "support the troops" talking points; we have the facts. This is one of them.
Blood is no longer worth 30 pieces of silver. How sad.
Like others, I am appalled this man had to buy his medal from a surplus store. And how can they be surplus if the armed forces ran out? Maybe they got a bit cocky during the Clinton years and thought that the days of mass casualties in war were over.
This was a newsworthy item, however, the only reason this story made it into the Houston Chronicle was to get good press for John (boxturtle) Cornyn, up for re-election in 2008.
The contrast of this man's humbleness versus our government's callous bureaucracy perfectly exemplifies why our troops are the heroes
and our government is out to fucking lunch on another planet.
If you read the story in the Houston Chronical, you will see the last line in the article is:
"For his part, Reed is simply happy he finally received recognition for what happened to him that day. "That's why I am so grateful to Sen. Cornyn."
This man is going to vote Rethuglican again. He's grateful to Cornyn for making it possible to BUY THE MEDAL FOR HIMSELF !
Cornyn ought to have bought the medal and pinned it on this veteran himself.!
I am so tired of the stupidity of it all. The vicitims and the perpe-traitors and how the circle remains unbroken and the unwitting (or dimwitted) vicitms being victimized all over again.
Dumbya sure didnt' run out of medals for all his crooked, criminal friends that work for him. This is absolutely disgusting that this hero has to buy his own purple heart.
leslie @ 82:
you said it what fools some mortals be!
The guy had to pay for his own purple heart? He gets injured for our country, and the country won't even buy him a friggin' medal?
Enough, already. First, let's take the cost of the medals out of Tony Snowjobs salary and Deadeye Dick's profits from Haliburton. Then let's get rid of the fucking lowlifes in the admin and send them over to Iraq.
How incompetent and dishonest is the Bush Adminstration when it comes to taking care of American troops? Here's the situation as of December, 2003:
"Remarkably, some 120,000 Purple Hearts are still in the hands of the Armed Services and are not only stocked at military supply depots, but also kept with major combat units and at field hospitals so they can be awarded without delay." (source: http://hnn.us/articles/1801.html )
Got that? The U.S. military had 120,000 Purple heart medals in late 2003, and 3 1/2 years later can't supply even one(!) to a Korean War vet.
Members of the American armed forces make excellent props for a Bush speech, but when it comes to taking care of an actual, living veteran, sorry, you can check back in 90 days or pony up the cash for your Purple Heart.
I got the same thing. Last spring I was notified that I would receive an award, medal, for my service during the debacle of Viet Nam.
A month later I was informed that the "budget" did not allow it.
It's okay. I have not worn a uniform in over thirty years and one more medal won't make a difference in my attitude toward this administration. I will say, though, that the old GI bill helped me attain a Ph.D. I'll give them that.
This is just another indicator that this administration cannot do anything correctly.
Jv.
[...] serving their country and getting wounded and the government can't even give them the damn medal. Crooks and Liars
Lets face it guys as someone who's spent a lot of time in Afghan and other warzones you americans dish out medals for looking at warzones on the map or flying over said countrys.
What a traitor is Bush and Cheney and all their crony gang of liars who cheated and lied their way into making billions for Halliburton and KBR and screwing America. We'll be paying for 100 years in the screwed up world they've helped to create. They'll be considered the worst administration in US history.
Wait, wait, wait. How _effing_ hard can it be for the goddamned Pentagon to rassle-up a few thousand stinking medals, them of the multi-billion dollar budgets? Something doesn't smell right here. What did they do, order the purple hearts from the company supplying them with body armor?
Running short on purple hearts
[...]Nyles Reed, a 75-year-old Texan, sustained injuries during combat in Korea in 1952. Last week, the Pentagon sent him a letter to let him know he qualifies for a Purple Heart. But the Defense Department didn?t actually give Reed a Purple Heart; it...
Szin @ 4:
When did Bush W. get a Purple Heart???
MrMtyzptlk @ 30:
If Walter Reed hadn't happened I'd be more optimistic about his chances.
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