thedrifter
01-31-06, 11:50 AM
The value of valor
Officers 9 times more likely to earn Bronze Star with 'V' than enlisted Marines are
By John Hoellwarth
Marine Corps Times staff writer
Marine officers who've deployed to a combat zone since Sept. 11, 2001, are nine times more likely to receive the Bronze Star with combat "V" than enlisted Marines involved in the same operations, according to Marine Corps statistics.
Roughly one in 22 officers deployed for operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have been awarded the Bronze Star with the "combat distinguishing device." Enlisted Marines are significantly less likely to be awarded the same decoration - one in 189, statistics from the Marine Corps Awards Branch show.
As far as combat decorations in general, from the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal all the way up to the Navy Cross, nearly one in three officers has been decorated for actions during combat. For enlisted troops, the number is about one in 10. All of those medals are awarded on the basis of subjective judgments made by officers.
But when it comes to the one combat medal based entirely on objective criteria - the Purple Heart - enlisted Marines are noticeably more likely to rate the medal than officers, according to Marine records. And enlisted Marines are just as likely to die in combat as officers, according to Defense Department records.
So why are so many officers getting the Bronze Star with "V"?
It has long been understood that officers were more likely to win medals for meritorious service. An officer performing his job well will have a broader impact than a lance corporal.
But the "V" was supposed to be different. If you saw a Marine wearing a Bronze Star with a "V," you knew that Marine had done something heroic, retired Sgt. Maj. Juan Duff said.
"I think he did something far beyond what he was called to do without regard to his life," said Duff, of the 1st Marine Division Association. "When you see the 'V,' you think valor. I have to go by that."
But based on conflicting statements from different sections of Corps leadership, it's unclear whether that's still true.
"The thing is, the 'V' is just not for valor. The distinguishing device is obviously authorized for wear if it's for acts or service involving direct participation in combat operation," said Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, sergeant major of the Marine Corps. "It's not specifically for valor."
Others think differently, including the head of Awards Branch.
"The Bronze Star is what it is. There is no difference in a Bronze Star with 'V' and a Bronze Star except that one is for valor," said Lt. Col. James Taylor.
"The awards have the same requirements, whether meritorious or valor. The only difference for an award with a 'V' is that there was a valorous act."
Whatever the definitions are, Estrada said he was surprised to find such a high proportion of officers was getting the Bronze Star with "V."
"If, in fact, the numbers are accurate, anyone would look at it as being surprised. That was my initial reaction," Estrada said.
Estrada said he is aware that there is a perceived inequity in the awards system despite his certainty that "there is no institutional prejudice." In his visits to the field, the issue doesn't really come up when he talks to Marines, he said.
He also said officials are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the awards process to make it better.
"We're always looking into it. We are continuously evaluating every damn thing we do as a Marine Corps. Is the system broke? I say no. Does it maybe need some tweaking? Maybe," he said. "It's going to be studied. It's going to be looked at. If we have a baby that's ugly, we're going to say it's ugly."
Just because a colonel might receive a Meritorious Service Medal at the end of his tour doesn't mean a lance corporal in the same command can realistically expect to get one upon his departure as well.
This is by design. The Marine Corps' awards manual specifically states that a Marine's level of rank and responsibility is to be taken into consideration when determining the award he rates for meritorious service. And although the awards manual states that "this should not be interpreted to preclude the award of [meritorious service decorations] to any individual, regardless of grade or rate," these factors have nonetheless been the driving forces in the stratification of awards eligibility, Taylor said.
"The level of responsibility placed on an individual is important. All ranks and grades are not equal in the eyes of the awards manual," he said. "Can a lance corporal perform sustained or an individual act of meritorious service? You bet. But is the level of responsibility important when looking at a service-related award? Yes. And the [awards manual] alludes to that."
When it comes to heroism, though, Taylor said rank has no bearing. He said valor is what puts high-level awards within reach of junior Marines who don't typically possess an award's requisite level of responsibility. Awards such as the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Bronze Star can each be awarded not only for sustained meritorious service, but for single acts of valor or heroism.
And, in the words of Lt. Gen. James Conway in awards guidance he wrote when he commanded I Marine Expeditionary Force in June 2004, "We must maintain the high standard of commendation that the Marine Corps is known for."
Until the war began, the roles were spelled out in a Dec. 23, 2000, MarAdmin message that established a Corpswide policy on the combat distinguishing device. It said that "support of combat operations, exposure to combat or service in a combat area" were insufficient to justify the "V," adding, "The Bronze 'V' is strictly limited to those cases in which the combat action is clearly heroic."
This policy changed Jan. 7, 2002, while Marines were in Afghanistan, with the adoption of a revised version of the Navy and Marine Awards Manual that seems to eliminate the requirement that the recipient of the "V" clearly showed valor.
The manual now reads that the "V" is authorized if the award is for "acts or services involving direct participation in combat operations. Eligibility for the combat distinguishing device shall be based solely on acts or services by individuals who are exposed to personal hazard due to direct hostile actions, and not upon the geographical area in which the acts or services are performed. Each case must be judged on its own merits."
That portion of the manual says nothing about valor or heroism, but a definition in the appendix says the "V" is for "valor in combat."
Maj. Jason Johnston, a spokesman for Marine Corps headquarters, said judging an award on its own merits means commanders can recommend that nearly anyone receive a combat "V" by expanding the definitions of phrases like "personal hazard" and "hostile actions" to accommodate Marines who have served well throughout a deployment despite having never experienced enemy contact.
"The awards manual does leave some room for 'V's on meritorious service awards," Johnston said. "It is within the realm of possibility that a 'V' might not involve valor. It might be that 100 percent of the 'V' device awards are for heroics, but they don't have to be, and so we can't characterize them in general terms."
Johnston rejected the notion that the 2002 instruction watered down the earlier rules that talked about "clearly heroic" actions.
"I wouldn't classify it as a loosening of the standards. The awards manual does exactly what it's supposed to do by putting the onus on the awarding official. It's not going to say the standards changed," Johnston said.
He said he's unsure whether the average Marine knows what the "V" means.
"I don't know if I can speak for what most Marines think. What I will say is that there may be a misperception as to what the combat 'V' device means," Johnston said. "However, if you take time to look at the manual, it becomes evident that it could be for actions that are valorous, heroic or meritorious."
Not all Marine commanders buy into this broader definition of who deserves the "V" offered by headquarters.
When Conway commanded I MEF, his guidance on medals included this about the "V":
"The criterion is in some ways similar to the CAR, with the central requirement that the Marine or sailor had to be under fire. Simply operating in the [area of operations], or within range of enemy systems, does not warrant presentation of the 'V' device."
In other words, someone has to shoot at you.
Col. Jay Bruder, chief of staff for I MEF, said it's up to commanders to make sense of the various instructions out there.
"[The awards manual is] a difficult document," he said. "It's vague. In some spots, it seems self-contradictory. It requires command interpretation."
In the Army, it should be noted, the "V" still stands for valor. "You've got to do something heroic" to get the device, said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command.
A soldier doesn't necessarily have to be shot at to get it, he said, but the regulations require that the enemy be armed and, in Arata's view, in direct conflict with the soldier.
Putting aside the lack of clarity on what the "V" really stands for, Estrada said there could be any number of reasons the totals skew toward officers. He and others say an officer's actions tend to be more visible than an enlisted man's, making the officer more likely to be written up for an award.
Another possibility, Estrada suggested, was paperwork - and who's willing to do it.
The commanding officer can't watch everybody all the time, which is why it is the duty of staff noncommissioned officers to stay on top of their Marines' performance and write awards as necessary, Estrada said.
"I won't put it all on the lieutenants and the captains. There are platoon sergeants to help, company commanders got a first sergeant that's supposed to be looking out for stuff like that," he said.
"Maybe some of them out there are not doing their jobs in that area, if this is such an issue. It's up to them. They're the ones with daily contact with the Marines more than anyone else."
The irony of officers scooping up Bronze Stars in far greater proportions than the troops they lead is that the medal was created specifically with the enlisted man in mind.
"The [Bronze Star] was created in 1944 at the direction of [Army] Gen. [George] Marshall. His intent was to have an award that could be given to the young combat soldier who bore the brunt of the fighting," said Charles Mugno, a retired Marine colonel who moved in October to head the Army's Institute of Heraldry after heading up the Awards Branch. "What's intended for the guys in the dirt is the valor part. The intent was to give them the combat 'V,' but don't forget, things evolve over time."
Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee told Marine Corps Times Nov. 3 that there is nothing about the Bronze Star with "V" that makes it an officer's award.
He was presented with the most current statistics then available, which showed officers had been given 261 Bronze Stars for valor and enlisted Marines had received only 197.
"I have not paid much attention to the separation as the statistics note," he said. "I don't deny the statistics that are there, but ... a Bronze Star is not awarded as a function of what grade you are. It's awarded by what action is taken."
The inscription on the back of the Bronze Star says "for heroic or meritorious service," and rank's bearing on eligibility really depends on which type of service is being recognized by the award. A Marine's rank and level of responsibility are supposed to factor into meritorious service awards, but valor is supposed to be blind to rank. In the case of the Bronze Star, these considerations sometimes overlap, Mugno said.
"That's the problem when you have a medal that serves two purposes," he said. "There is a misperception out there that people look at a Bronze Star as being a Bronze Star, but it's not."
Tell us what you think. E-mail us at marinelet@marinecorpstimes.com.
Officers 9 times more likely to earn Bronze Star with 'V' than enlisted Marines are
By John Hoellwarth
Marine Corps Times staff writer
Marine officers who've deployed to a combat zone since Sept. 11, 2001, are nine times more likely to receive the Bronze Star with combat "V" than enlisted Marines involved in the same operations, according to Marine Corps statistics.
Roughly one in 22 officers deployed for operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have been awarded the Bronze Star with the "combat distinguishing device." Enlisted Marines are significantly less likely to be awarded the same decoration - one in 189, statistics from the Marine Corps Awards Branch show.
As far as combat decorations in general, from the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal all the way up to the Navy Cross, nearly one in three officers has been decorated for actions during combat. For enlisted troops, the number is about one in 10. All of those medals are awarded on the basis of subjective judgments made by officers.
But when it comes to the one combat medal based entirely on objective criteria - the Purple Heart - enlisted Marines are noticeably more likely to rate the medal than officers, according to Marine records. And enlisted Marines are just as likely to die in combat as officers, according to Defense Department records.
So why are so many officers getting the Bronze Star with "V"?
It has long been understood that officers were more likely to win medals for meritorious service. An officer performing his job well will have a broader impact than a lance corporal.
But the "V" was supposed to be different. If you saw a Marine wearing a Bronze Star with a "V," you knew that Marine had done something heroic, retired Sgt. Maj. Juan Duff said.
"I think he did something far beyond what he was called to do without regard to his life," said Duff, of the 1st Marine Division Association. "When you see the 'V,' you think valor. I have to go by that."
But based on conflicting statements from different sections of Corps leadership, it's unclear whether that's still true.
"The thing is, the 'V' is just not for valor. The distinguishing device is obviously authorized for wear if it's for acts or service involving direct participation in combat operation," said Sgt. Maj. John Estrada, sergeant major of the Marine Corps. "It's not specifically for valor."
Others think differently, including the head of Awards Branch.
"The Bronze Star is what it is. There is no difference in a Bronze Star with 'V' and a Bronze Star except that one is for valor," said Lt. Col. James Taylor.
"The awards have the same requirements, whether meritorious or valor. The only difference for an award with a 'V' is that there was a valorous act."
Whatever the definitions are, Estrada said he was surprised to find such a high proportion of officers was getting the Bronze Star with "V."
"If, in fact, the numbers are accurate, anyone would look at it as being surprised. That was my initial reaction," Estrada said.
Estrada said he is aware that there is a perceived inequity in the awards system despite his certainty that "there is no institutional prejudice." In his visits to the field, the issue doesn't really come up when he talks to Marines, he said.
He also said officials are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the awards process to make it better.
"We're always looking into it. We are continuously evaluating every damn thing we do as a Marine Corps. Is the system broke? I say no. Does it maybe need some tweaking? Maybe," he said. "It's going to be studied. It's going to be looked at. If we have a baby that's ugly, we're going to say it's ugly."
Just because a colonel might receive a Meritorious Service Medal at the end of his tour doesn't mean a lance corporal in the same command can realistically expect to get one upon his departure as well.
This is by design. The Marine Corps' awards manual specifically states that a Marine's level of rank and responsibility is to be taken into consideration when determining the award he rates for meritorious service. And although the awards manual states that "this should not be interpreted to preclude the award of [meritorious service decorations] to any individual, regardless of grade or rate," these factors have nonetheless been the driving forces in the stratification of awards eligibility, Taylor said.
"The level of responsibility placed on an individual is important. All ranks and grades are not equal in the eyes of the awards manual," he said. "Can a lance corporal perform sustained or an individual act of meritorious service? You bet. But is the level of responsibility important when looking at a service-related award? Yes. And the [awards manual] alludes to that."
When it comes to heroism, though, Taylor said rank has no bearing. He said valor is what puts high-level awards within reach of junior Marines who don't typically possess an award's requisite level of responsibility. Awards such as the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Bronze Star can each be awarded not only for sustained meritorious service, but for single acts of valor or heroism.
And, in the words of Lt. Gen. James Conway in awards guidance he wrote when he commanded I Marine Expeditionary Force in June 2004, "We must maintain the high standard of commendation that the Marine Corps is known for."
Until the war began, the roles were spelled out in a Dec. 23, 2000, MarAdmin message that established a Corpswide policy on the combat distinguishing device. It said that "support of combat operations, exposure to combat or service in a combat area" were insufficient to justify the "V," adding, "The Bronze 'V' is strictly limited to those cases in which the combat action is clearly heroic."
This policy changed Jan. 7, 2002, while Marines were in Afghanistan, with the adoption of a revised version of the Navy and Marine Awards Manual that seems to eliminate the requirement that the recipient of the "V" clearly showed valor.
The manual now reads that the "V" is authorized if the award is for "acts or services involving direct participation in combat operations. Eligibility for the combat distinguishing device shall be based solely on acts or services by individuals who are exposed to personal hazard due to direct hostile actions, and not upon the geographical area in which the acts or services are performed. Each case must be judged on its own merits."
That portion of the manual says nothing about valor or heroism, but a definition in the appendix says the "V" is for "valor in combat."
Maj. Jason Johnston, a spokesman for Marine Corps headquarters, said judging an award on its own merits means commanders can recommend that nearly anyone receive a combat "V" by expanding the definitions of phrases like "personal hazard" and "hostile actions" to accommodate Marines who have served well throughout a deployment despite having never experienced enemy contact.
"The awards manual does leave some room for 'V's on meritorious service awards," Johnston said. "It is within the realm of possibility that a 'V' might not involve valor. It might be that 100 percent of the 'V' device awards are for heroics, but they don't have to be, and so we can't characterize them in general terms."
Johnston rejected the notion that the 2002 instruction watered down the earlier rules that talked about "clearly heroic" actions.
"I wouldn't classify it as a loosening of the standards. The awards manual does exactly what it's supposed to do by putting the onus on the awarding official. It's not going to say the standards changed," Johnston said.
He said he's unsure whether the average Marine knows what the "V" means.
"I don't know if I can speak for what most Marines think. What I will say is that there may be a misperception as to what the combat 'V' device means," Johnston said. "However, if you take time to look at the manual, it becomes evident that it could be for actions that are valorous, heroic or meritorious."
Not all Marine commanders buy into this broader definition of who deserves the "V" offered by headquarters.
When Conway commanded I MEF, his guidance on medals included this about the "V":
"The criterion is in some ways similar to the CAR, with the central requirement that the Marine or sailor had to be under fire. Simply operating in the [area of operations], or within range of enemy systems, does not warrant presentation of the 'V' device."
In other words, someone has to shoot at you.
Col. Jay Bruder, chief of staff for I MEF, said it's up to commanders to make sense of the various instructions out there.
"[The awards manual is] a difficult document," he said. "It's vague. In some spots, it seems self-contradictory. It requires command interpretation."
In the Army, it should be noted, the "V" still stands for valor. "You've got to do something heroic" to get the device, said Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command.
A soldier doesn't necessarily have to be shot at to get it, he said, but the regulations require that the enemy be armed and, in Arata's view, in direct conflict with the soldier.
Putting aside the lack of clarity on what the "V" really stands for, Estrada said there could be any number of reasons the totals skew toward officers. He and others say an officer's actions tend to be more visible than an enlisted man's, making the officer more likely to be written up for an award.
Another possibility, Estrada suggested, was paperwork - and who's willing to do it.
The commanding officer can't watch everybody all the time, which is why it is the duty of staff noncommissioned officers to stay on top of their Marines' performance and write awards as necessary, Estrada said.
"I won't put it all on the lieutenants and the captains. There are platoon sergeants to help, company commanders got a first sergeant that's supposed to be looking out for stuff like that," he said.
"Maybe some of them out there are not doing their jobs in that area, if this is such an issue. It's up to them. They're the ones with daily contact with the Marines more than anyone else."
The irony of officers scooping up Bronze Stars in far greater proportions than the troops they lead is that the medal was created specifically with the enlisted man in mind.
"The [Bronze Star] was created in 1944 at the direction of [Army] Gen. [George] Marshall. His intent was to have an award that could be given to the young combat soldier who bore the brunt of the fighting," said Charles Mugno, a retired Marine colonel who moved in October to head the Army's Institute of Heraldry after heading up the Awards Branch. "What's intended for the guys in the dirt is the valor part. The intent was to give them the combat 'V,' but don't forget, things evolve over time."
Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee told Marine Corps Times Nov. 3 that there is nothing about the Bronze Star with "V" that makes it an officer's award.
He was presented with the most current statistics then available, which showed officers had been given 261 Bronze Stars for valor and enlisted Marines had received only 197.
"I have not paid much attention to the separation as the statistics note," he said. "I don't deny the statistics that are there, but ... a Bronze Star is not awarded as a function of what grade you are. It's awarded by what action is taken."
The inscription on the back of the Bronze Star says "for heroic or meritorious service," and rank's bearing on eligibility really depends on which type of service is being recognized by the award. A Marine's rank and level of responsibility are supposed to factor into meritorious service awards, but valor is supposed to be blind to rank. In the case of the Bronze Star, these considerations sometimes overlap, Mugno said.
"That's the problem when you have a medal that serves two purposes," he said. "There is a misperception out there that people look at a Bronze Star as being a Bronze Star, but it's not."
Tell us what you think. E-mail us at marinelet@marinecorpstimes.com.