Mac679
14 June 2000, 22:55
From the Daily Press:
"Vets upset Bronze Stars going to noncombatants"
By R.W. Rogers
Daily Press
Airmen based in Missouri and sailors from Naples received highly prized Bronze Star medals for their actions during the air war against Yugoslavia last year, without ever setting a boot inside a combat zone.
Technically, it's allowable, said spokesmen for both services, who defended the actions.
Morally, it's reprehensible, said local veterans, who characterized the actions as those of paper warriors reaping ill-gotten glory.
"It would be like saying that because I cut my finger on the flight line, I deserve a Purple Heart. No, I don't deserve the Purple Heart, and they don't deserve a Bronze Star," said Rick Cazenave, a Navy retiree.
The Air Force awarded 246 Bronze Stars for the Yugoslavian campaign, with 131 going to people within the combat zone and 115 going to those outside.
European Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that covers the military in Europe, reported that senior officers received most of the medals. Thirty-four enlisted airmen, most of them senior enlisted members, received the award.
"There is no precedent for awarding Bronze Stars to service members outside the combat zone," a Pentagon spokeswoman was quoted as saying last week in a Stripes story. "So, they're reviewing that whole concept."
If it were up to some Hampton Roads veterans, there would still be no precedent.
The veterans said handing out Bronze Stars for noncombat zone actions "cheapens" the medal that was instituted during World War II to recognize infantrymen in combat.
They suggested the Legion of Merit or the Defense Meritorious Service Medal as alternatives to the Bronze Star.
"It doesn't raise those who received it this time to the level of those who received it in the past. Instead it cheapens those who earned it in the past," said Cazenave, who flew the submarine-hunting P-3 Orion.
"We have small people who tried to make themselves bigger than they are," said Cazenave, 54, who has not received the medal. "It's the ultimate effrontery to all those who earned their medals the right way."
By all accounts, John J. Przybylski earned his Bronze Stars the right way -- all four of them.
He pulled two tours in Vietnam and led C Co. 2nd Battalion, 501st Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division up the infamous Hamburger Hill in May 1969.
Przybylski minces no words.
"It's flat out wrong. If the services are honest, they know it's wrong," said Przybylski, who spent 27 years in the Army. Two of his Bronze Stars were awarded for valor, meaning for action under fire in a combat zone.
Przybylski said that dozens of soldiers received the Bronze Star for fighting on Hamburger Hill and he is galled that "Air Force officers sitting in Missouri and Navy officers sitting in Naples got the same award for risking nothing."
"They are entitled to a number of medals that have nothing to do with combat," Przybylski said.
Bronze Stars went to Air Force personnel as far from the fray as Missouri, Ohio and Washington, D.C., said an Air Force spokesman. The awards were made even though the regulation governing Bronze Stars says they are not to be given for "participation in aerial flight." No one from the Air Force would explain the apparent contradiction Monday.
At least four of the Navy's 69 Bronze Stars went to staff officers in Naples, said the Stripes story.
The seven Marine Bronze Star awardees earned their medals in combat zones, according to a Marine spokesman. The Army awarded no Bronze Stars.
Don Karas, 53, a retired Army officer awarded two meritorious Bronze Stars for his Vietnam service, said he thinks awarding the medals has something to do with efforts to appease officers so they'll stay in the military. A meritorious Bronze Star is awarded for action in a combat zone but not necessarily under fire.
"My first reaction was shock and my second reaction was that it figures. Obviously they are having trouble getting and retaining quality people. I think this is just a ploy to keep people in or to entice people to come in," Karas said.
Karas echoed the sentiment of other veterans by stopping short of calling for a return of the medals.
"The people who got the medal already have them," Karas said. "I think that in the future they have to be more careful."
But, he said, "The guys and gals who are getting shot at and are still doing their jobs deserve the medals," Karas said. "Not the guy and the girl who are in Missouri."
Rick Rogers can be reached by e-mail at rrogers@dailypress.com
"Vets upset Bronze Stars going to noncombatants"
By R.W. Rogers
Daily Press
Airmen based in Missouri and sailors from Naples received highly prized Bronze Star medals for their actions during the air war against Yugoslavia last year, without ever setting a boot inside a combat zone.
Technically, it's allowable, said spokesmen for both services, who defended the actions.
Morally, it's reprehensible, said local veterans, who characterized the actions as those of paper warriors reaping ill-gotten glory.
"It would be like saying that because I cut my finger on the flight line, I deserve a Purple Heart. No, I don't deserve the Purple Heart, and they don't deserve a Bronze Star," said Rick Cazenave, a Navy retiree.
The Air Force awarded 246 Bronze Stars for the Yugoslavian campaign, with 131 going to people within the combat zone and 115 going to those outside.
European Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that covers the military in Europe, reported that senior officers received most of the medals. Thirty-four enlisted airmen, most of them senior enlisted members, received the award.
"There is no precedent for awarding Bronze Stars to service members outside the combat zone," a Pentagon spokeswoman was quoted as saying last week in a Stripes story. "So, they're reviewing that whole concept."
If it were up to some Hampton Roads veterans, there would still be no precedent.
The veterans said handing out Bronze Stars for noncombat zone actions "cheapens" the medal that was instituted during World War II to recognize infantrymen in combat.
They suggested the Legion of Merit or the Defense Meritorious Service Medal as alternatives to the Bronze Star.
"It doesn't raise those who received it this time to the level of those who received it in the past. Instead it cheapens those who earned it in the past," said Cazenave, who flew the submarine-hunting P-3 Orion.
"We have small people who tried to make themselves bigger than they are," said Cazenave, 54, who has not received the medal. "It's the ultimate effrontery to all those who earned their medals the right way."
By all accounts, John J. Przybylski earned his Bronze Stars the right way -- all four of them.
He pulled two tours in Vietnam and led C Co. 2nd Battalion, 501st Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division up the infamous Hamburger Hill in May 1969.
Przybylski minces no words.
"It's flat out wrong. If the services are honest, they know it's wrong," said Przybylski, who spent 27 years in the Army. Two of his Bronze Stars were awarded for valor, meaning for action under fire in a combat zone.
Przybylski said that dozens of soldiers received the Bronze Star for fighting on Hamburger Hill and he is galled that "Air Force officers sitting in Missouri and Navy officers sitting in Naples got the same award for risking nothing."
"They are entitled to a number of medals that have nothing to do with combat," Przybylski said.
Bronze Stars went to Air Force personnel as far from the fray as Missouri, Ohio and Washington, D.C., said an Air Force spokesman. The awards were made even though the regulation governing Bronze Stars says they are not to be given for "participation in aerial flight." No one from the Air Force would explain the apparent contradiction Monday.
At least four of the Navy's 69 Bronze Stars went to staff officers in Naples, said the Stripes story.
The seven Marine Bronze Star awardees earned their medals in combat zones, according to a Marine spokesman. The Army awarded no Bronze Stars.
Don Karas, 53, a retired Army officer awarded two meritorious Bronze Stars for his Vietnam service, said he thinks awarding the medals has something to do with efforts to appease officers so they'll stay in the military. A meritorious Bronze Star is awarded for action in a combat zone but not necessarily under fire.
"My first reaction was shock and my second reaction was that it figures. Obviously they are having trouble getting and retaining quality people. I think this is just a ploy to keep people in or to entice people to come in," Karas said.
Karas echoed the sentiment of other veterans by stopping short of calling for a return of the medals.
"The people who got the medal already have them," Karas said. "I think that in the future they have to be more careful."
But, he said, "The guys and gals who are getting shot at and are still doing their jobs deserve the medals," Karas said. "Not the guy and the girl who are in Missouri."
Rick Rogers can be reached by e-mail at rrogers@dailypress.com