Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

http://news.yahoo.com/no-purple-hear...opstories.html

The Department of Defense is making it clear: The military opposes awarding Purple Hearts to the victims of the Fort Hood shooting.

A Pentagon position paper, delivered to congressional staff on Friday and obtained by ABC News, says giving the award to the Fort Hood victims could "irrevocably alter the fundamental character of this time-honored decoration" and "undermine the prosecution of Major Nidal Hasan [the alleged Fort Hood shooter] by materially and directly compromising Major Hasan's ability to receive a fair trial."

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

And how is getting shot in our on land differ from being wounded overseas?

I don't get their point, but then congress has lost touch with reality a looking time ago.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

I am thinking because he is one of our own. Makes them look bad that this guy was an officer. And nobody paid attention to the warning signs that he had mental problems.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

Do victims of terror overseas receive Purple Hearts?

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

I am not sure.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

They must be injured by enemy action to receive a Purple Heart.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/17/134604...s-for-soldiers

To receive the Purple Heart, the Army's current regulations require that a soldier be injured by enemy action and receive documented treatment from a medical officer.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

I am proud to be an American and this story does make me proud.

It would have been a knee-jerk, emotion-based response to issue the fallen Soldiers in this case a Purple Heart.

They shouldn't have died. To call it a tragedy would be a misnomer. However, they didn't earn Purple Hearts in their deaths.

Furthermore, it would indicate that Major's guilt before his trial which he is legally entitled to receive.

Then, honoring the dead with Purple Hearts could in a twisted way give credence to this Major's demented way of thinking.

He wasn't at war with his comrades and any ridicule he may have experienced, he had to know that would happen BEFORE he joined the Army. That doesn't make it right to respond the way he did, obviously. In fact, it indicts him for responding the way he did. If he uses the taunts and verbal abuse he experienced as a defense, he'll be simply strengthening his motive to respond in the twisted way he did.

I don't think he'll get the death penalty.
I'd sentence him to 100 years of hard labor.
To sentence him to death would make a hero out of him, in at least in the eyes of some idiots.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

This liberal administration has a hard time with reality. They fail to recognize the Ft. Hood shooting as a terrorist act even though the killer has proclaimed that it was.

To characterize that mass murder as "workplace violence" is a joke and that alone should have told the American people all they needed to know about this administration and why it should not have been given another 4 years. America has lost it's collective mind. Or at least 52% of the population has.

Of course it is a very old liberal Democrat tactic to think that if they say something over and over again enough times, no matter how absurd it its, people will believe it.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

There are some sideline aspects here that ought to be considered. The Purple Heart carries with it a commitment by the government to insure those harmed are cared for as long as they need care. In this case, as I understand it, because they are not designated as such, those that were wounded to the point they can no longer serve, are put out with little or no access to the care their wounds need.


I could be wrong about that, but I think I remember hearing something from one of the survivors making this case.


That being said, you bring up a very valid point that must be considered. That being designating these people as Purple Heart recipients, will in fact, look like the government is convicting Major Hasan befor his trial. I would prefer, they try him as a terrorist instead of trying him as a case of workplace violence. However, I am not sure which way is easier to get the proper convictions. I am for easy in that case.

I think we should all serve notice that once the process plays out, that these people be taken care of, and after the trial, consider changing the designation to Purple Heart.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

CC1, I tend to agree, but as I think the way true this, I have come to reject the position of the talking heads.

It is just simply easier to convict Hasan for shooting these people as Workplace Violence than it would be to get a conviction related to terrorism.

At the end of the day, I want him in jail for life, or with a death conviction. I really dont care which. if getting there is easier by doing it as Workplace Violence then by all means do that.

Then after the fact, come back and name it what it is.

My heart and head refuse to give Obama the benifit of the doubt on pretty much anything. But in this, I think this really is the right course...So long as we come back after the fact and "clean it up". Now I will say, i dont hold out hope Bammer and company will fix it. I do hope the next president will.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

NEWT!!!!

:thumbsup :thumbsup

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

If someone was making this case, they were either mistaken or purposely trying to mislead.

Any injuries that occur while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces will be fully addressed by the Armed Forces Medical Community. The injured service member will DEFINITELY be granted disability status and appropriate financial compensation for their injuries. They will receive treatment and compensation for their injuries for the rest of their lives. This is with or without receiving a Purple Heart.


At the risk of sounding crass, I don't want these victims to be awarded the Purple Heart.

I don't think it was earned in this very specific, but very tragic situation. They shouldn't have been killed, but they did not die in combat. The precedent that would be set by awarding these victims the Purple Heart would open the door for the awarding of the Purple Heart to be connected with all sorts of random acts of violence and frivolity.

The Purple Heart must be earned in the combat zone, not in garrison.

Let's find another way to honor these victims.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

But would that be the case considering that they were preparing for deployment to a combat zone, and the man who shot them was a traitor andkilled them in an openly flagrant act of treason? I think that his bringing the war to them justifies a purple heart.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

Every service member is prepping for war, from Day 1 of basic training, every time they train, every time they conduct PT.

I am sure there is a civilian lawyer that could present a very thought-provoking defense based on your questions. However, I would not say that a Purple Heart would be appropriate in this very tragic situation.

Again, the precedent set by awarding Purple Hearts to the victims in this situation would open the door for the awarding of the Purple Heart for all sorts of tragic and random acts of violence and frivolity.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

This was not a random act of violenceby a man with a grudge against the military. It was a premeditated act of terrorism conceived and carried through by a traitor to this country. He was in obvious aid to the enemies of the United States when performing this action, and we have abbundant proof of this. The man should be tried as a spy, traitor, and sabetour, in addition to the counts of murder.

Re: Make You Proud To Be An American?
 

Well Jay, we'll just have to agree to disagree, my friend.
:highfive