military Archives

Special Forces Soldier Denied Medal of Honor

July 15, 2016/in Archived Blogs

A commander’s recommendation for a Medal of Honor to be awarded to Green Beret Staff Sgt. Earl D. Plumlee has been denied.

Instead, Plumlee has been awarded a Silver Star, an award considered two levels lower.

The award recognizes Plumlee for his role in repelling a bloody Taliban attack on August 28, 2013, on Forward Operating Base Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan. The member of 1st Special Forces Group from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington is credited with killing several attackers at point-blank range, using both small arms and hand grenades, as their suicide vests detonated.

Plumlee rushed to the site of a car bombing outside the military base as Taliban attackers reportedly tried storming in through a damaged wall. Troops, including Plumlee, returned fire and helped the wounded receive medical aid. Unfortunately, Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis was killed in the attack.

Other troops received Silver Stars, including a posthumous award to Ollis.

“I think there are plenty of Medal of Honor recipients out there whose actions surpassed mine. But I think a downgrade to the Distinguished Service Cross wouldn’t have got everyone stirred up.”

The Distinguished Service Cross is one level below the Medal of Honor.

Plumlee’s recommendation was backed by senior battlefield commanders, including Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, then the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. But in May 2015, Plumlee instead received the Silver Star, prompting Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter to request an inspector general’s investigation.

One of the voting members said his decision not to recommend the Medal of Honor came down in large part to one thing: Plumlee’s rank. Because Plumlee was a staff sergeant, he was expected to be a leader once the Taliban attacked rather than “a private who would be seized by the moment and take extremely valorous and courageous action,” the board member told the inspector general, according to the report.

“One’s a leader. One’s a Soldier,” the member said, according to the report. “And so when I looked at the circumstances and, although the battle was ferocious and unfortunately a couple members were killed, I just thought that it wasn’t a sufficient level for the Medal of Honor based off of the individual and the circumstances and that, I just felt there was an expectation of a leader who did a phenomenal job, that there was something more that [the nominee] needed to have done in order to, in my mind, to make a recommendation for a Medal of Honor.”

Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith declined to answer whether it is fair that when reviewing valor award recommendations, the service may consider similar actions by soldiers of different ranks differently.

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Retired Army Vietnam Vet to Receive the Medal of Honor

July 14, 2016/in Archived Blogs

By Debbie Gregory.

A Vietnam War helicopter pilot recently selected to receive the Medal of Honor said Thursday he didn’t hesitate to volunteer leading an airborne rescue mission that saved the lives of dozens of troops despite the prospect of coming under intense enemy fire.

Retired Army Lt. Colonel Charles S. Kettles, 86, will be awarded the Medal of Honor in a ceremony on July 18, 2016. Kettles will receive the honor for conspicuous gallantry during an ambush in Vietnam.

The retired officer was an Army major and a flight commander who led a platoon of UH-1D “Huey” helicopters providing support to a 101st Airborne unit ambushed near Duc Pho in the Republic of Vietnam on May 15, 1967.

A battalion of North Vietnamese soldiers pinned down American troops there, and Kettles volunteered to lead an extraction effort.

“There wasn’t any decision to be made. We simply were going to go and pick them up,” Charles Kettles told reporters inside a Michigan National Guard building in his hometown of Ypsilanti.

Kettles returned with more reinforcements and to carry off the dead and wounded, making four trips to the hot landing zone. The last trip to rescue the last remaining soldiers was made with only his helicopter.

“The helicopter was already overweight and it flew like a two-ton truck, but we were able to get up in the air and get everyone to safety.”

Kettles was credited with saving 40 troops on the ground that day, along with four of his own crew. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions.

Lawmakers in Kettles’ home state of Michigan sought not only to upgrade his award, but also congressional action to waive the statute of limitation that bars the medal from being awarded after five years.

The Medal of Honor is the highest award bestowed upon U.S. troops. Kettles will be the 260th recipient from the Vietnam War, and only its 54th living recipient, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

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Carter’s Force of the Future Plan Faces Criticism

July 13, 2016/in Archived Blogs

By Debbie Gregory.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter proposed allowing highly skilled civilians in the middle of their careers to “lateral” into the military and become senior uniformed officers, like colonels.

In a recent speech at the Pentagon, Carter unveiled the idea as part of a far-reaching initiative to change how the military recruits and retains people with expertise in fields like cybersecurity.

“As we all know, generations change, technologies change, labor markets change,” Mr. Carter said. “That’s why one of my responsibilities now — and a job for all of us in the years ahead — is to make sure that amid all this change,” the Defense Department “continues to recruit, develop and retain the most talented men and women America has to offer.”

The proposals — known as Force of the Future — would require congressional approval, and officials on Capitol Hill quickly cast doubt on whether legislation could be passed before January, when President Obama’s term will end and Carter is likely to be replaced.

The idea is controversial, to say the very least. And while it’s not universally embraced, there is interest in Congress and among some of the military’s uniformed leaders in exploring how the services could apply this concept to the enlisted force.

The Force of the Future’s goal is to help the military bring in more top talent, especially for high-tech career fields focused on cyber warfare and space.

The downside?

The potential civilian leaders would “enter a culture they don’t know, understand or potentially appreciate,” said Dakota Wood, a retired Marine officer and military expert at the Heritage Foundation. “The Marines around them will likely be challenged to appreciate them as they would a fellow Marine.”

If approved by Congress, the individual military services would be allowed to expand lateral entry up to the rank of colonel, or in the case of the Navy, up to captain.

While the Marine Corps appears to be the most skeptical, the Navy is the most enthusiastic about Carter’s proposal. The Army and Air Force say they will consider high-level lateral entries if the change is approved. Individual military services would work out the details for themselves.

Critics argue that those with prior military experience are the best candidates for leadership because they are familiar with military culture, and would acclimate and find acceptance from the rank and file far more quickly.

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Provision Scales Back Federal Job Preferences for Veterans

July 12, 2016/in Employment, Jobs, Military Veteran, Veteran Employment, Veteran News

By Debbie Gregory.

Congress has stepped into a sensitive issue that’s been quietly roiling the hiring system for federal jobs: the Obama administration’s push to give preference to veterans.

While former service members would still go to the head of the hiring line, a little-noticed provision of the new defense bill recently passed by the Senate would eliminate the preference veterans get once they are in the government and apply for another federal job.

Top defense officials pressed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for the change in order to ensure that qualified non-veterans are considered equally with veterans for specialized, hard-to-fill positions.

The provision would affect thousands of veterans, many of whom get a foot in the door with an entry-level position and then seek jobs at other agencies.

The provision has been fiercely opposed by leading service organizations, which had no idea until the legislation was on the floor that the Senate was moving to chip away at the government’s most visible effort to reward military service.

“Is Congress now starting to dial back the goodwill the country’s shown toward veterans’ employment?” asked Lauren Augustine, senior legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an advocacy group. “Are we now going to set a bad example to the private sector by limiting veterans preference in government?”

In 2009, Obama boosted the extra hiring credits given to veterans to give them a greater edge in getting federal jobs.

But the down-side to the policy has been that qualified non-veterans are getting shut out of federal jobs in deference to those who served, but may not be as qualified.

In 2014, almost half of those hired in full-time, permanent federal jobs were veterans. The figures for 2015 have not yet been released.

A spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee said the committee has not taken a position on the issue.

McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said last week that he does not think the Senate provision hurts veterans’ preference but instead “balances the goals of rewarding those who are eligible for a federal hiring advantage with the needs of the federal government and notably the Department of Defense to attract and hire the best talent for a variety of important national security jobs.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve, and their families.

How Will the UK’s Exit from the EU Affect U.S. Defense?

July 9, 2016/in Government, Military News

By Debbie Gregory.

With Britain voting to leave the European Union (EU), many in the defense sector are wondering how the decision will affect the U.S.

Pro-defense Prime Minister David Cameron announced his decision to resign after voters rejected his pleas for the UK to remain a member of the 28 nation EU.

The EU was founded as an economic organization to create a common European market, in the decades since it has taken up additional missions in the social and security arenas, such as participating in peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions.

The exit decision has opened up the possibility that the pro-European Scottish government will seek to call another referendum on whether the country should break away from the union with the rest of the UK. A breakaway by Scotland would have a profound effect on military capabilities; Britain would lose its only nuclear submarine base, located at Faslane, Scotland.

U.S. leaders will surely continue to seek to sustain a close special relationship with the U.K. in the security and defense arena. Close cooperation on intelligence, nuclear issues, special forces and critical overseas counterterrorism operations and other issues is certain to continue.

With that said, Brexit could decrease American influence over its non-British allies in Europe.

Many U.S. officials believe that having the UK, one of America’s closest partners, has helped align the European Union more directly with U.S. foreign policy objectives, such as the EU participating in the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw.

When asked if Brexit would weaken NATO, Secretary of State John Kerry responded, “No, I think it will strengthen NATO.”

The U.S. and Putin have publicly said they do not expect Brexit to affect existing sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans on certain officials. Britain, along with the nations of Eastern Europe, has been among the strongest voices to keep the sanctions in place.

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