DRUMPF's Purple Heart: He's a clod. He owns it as a gift, not as a medal. The vet is misguided.

[UTUSN]

Last edited Thu Aug 4, 2016, 05:17 PM - Edit history (1)

O.K., so that vet decided to "give" DRUMPF his Purple Heart. It's not only DRUMPF who doesn't know shit, but the Washington Post (below) doesn't either, and lots of dear civilians don't "get" military jargon/customs, either. Where the WashPo says it's "legal" for DRUMPF to "accept" it, all this means is that somebody gave him a present: Somebody who owned it decided to give it to him. It didn't have to be the Service member who originally earned it. The EARNING is totally separate from the POSSESSION of it.

So, this military member (now veteran) earned this decoration. Once it's his (or hers or whomever's), the owner can "give" it like any other possession. Who said that a physical piece of fabric ribbon and non-precious medal was imbued with some kind of magical powers? The only meaning of EARNING it is the event of earning it. The physical fabric/non-precious-metal is a knickknack commemoration or acknowledgment of the event which is OVER.

So, our dad, grandad, other relative, buddy who originally EARNED the medal can GIVE it to whomever. This has NO correlation to the recipient's having EARNED it. The "giving" of it is "legal" as the WashPo says (although without understanding what it is saying).

Now. About what is a "real" or "original" medal vs what is a "duplicate". Down below here, is a veterans website (one of thousands) that sells medals, ribbons, and countless other mugs, license plate frames, or whatever.

I think that some dear civilians imagine that the military bestows all of these knickknacks in some Richard WAGNER opera ceremony. Uh, no.

I have seven little, non-heroic decorations. You get one (National Defense Service Medal) just for signing your name on the enlistment contract during a time of "war" (non-declared or Declared). I got my Vietnam Service Medal when one of my feet set foot off the airplane onto Vietnam dirt. Plus, another and another and another (keep going) every 3 or so months when the name of the "Campaign" changed names. The Republic of South Vietnam gave all of us two of their medals for us helping out. The said Republic doesn't exist anymore, so what do these two medals mean now? And I could go on.

I am not denigrating my or anybody else's medals. Plenty of other personnel earned some HEAVY DUTY medals of personal heroism. Mine are not heroic, but they are mine.

As for which ones are "actual" or a "copy," uh, there was no ceremony for me. The only one that was presented to me was the Vietnam service one, and not in a ceremony, just, "Hey, guy, go by the Personnel office to pick up your medal." Otherwise, they told us we were entitled to certain ribbons to wear on our uniforms when we were going on Liberty out in public.

As for being "awarded" what this means is that the first one is FREE (given by the government). It is NOT made of gold or whatever precious metal. After it gets dirty or frayed, it's up to you to BUY replacements (not "duplicates&quot . They're all not-gold or whatever. All of them are exactly the same, all of the replacements BOUGHT are the same as the first one given free by the government.

As for this fellow, Lt Col Louis DORFMAN, he's a veteran. He GAVE the thing to whomever (a.k.a. DRUMPF). It is a meaningless activity. I can say Mr DORFMAN is an idiot for his admiring DRUMPF, but it's up to him.

Now: As for WEARING it (like it's EARNED) is a totally different thing, big BIG no-no. Even at the post office, I went to buy stamps and the clerk (seeing my Navy cap) offered me Purple Heart stamps. I was SHOCKED and said, "I don't have a Purple Heart!1"


[font size=5]"Just gimme a coupla aspirin. I've already got a Purple Heart."[/font]

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/03/its-legal-for-donald-trump-to-accept-a-purple-heart-how-he-handled-it-is-up-for-debate/
[font size=5]It’s [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]legal[/FONT] for Donald Trump to accept a Purple Heart. How he handled it is up for debate.[/font]

.... ... Trump drew laughs by saying he asked the veteran whether it was the “[FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]real one or a copy[/FONT],” and added that Dorfman told him it was his [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]actual[/FONT] medal. ....

Added retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey in the same MSNBC segment: “Look, a Purple Heart isn’t like an Emmy or Oscar, for God’s sakes. … There’s just been a series of babbles out of Mr. Trump that tells me he has no conception about the armed forces or what it means to serve. That certainly includes the notion of sacrifice.” ....

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/trump-purple-heart-226565#ixzz4GKQhqTIw

Following Trump's statement, NBC reporter Katy Tur tweeted that she had spoken with (Lt Col Louis) Dorfman and that he said the medal he gave to Trump was [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]a copy[/FONT] of the one awarded to him.


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[font size=5]Hey, DRUMPF, a Purple Heart costs $42.95, anybody can buy one here or thousands of other websites:[/font]
http://www.medalsofamerica.com/SubCategory--Navy-Medals-and-Ribbons--m-595

[SunSeeker]

1. A Purple Heart is a nontransferable honor. The medal is just a memento of that honor.

The medal itself does not bestow the honor. Someone awarded a Purple Heart does not lose the honor if he loses the medal or gives the medal away.

[UTUSN]

2. One of the biggest wingnut fallacies is that physical/material JUNK is the same as the IDEA.

So they think that a piece of FABRIC (the "flag&quot is the actual country itself. It's SYMBOLIC, not real. That's why burning it is a symbolic act and free speech. Plus, what does it mean when used car lots have a little U.S. flag on every used car or when mattress stores have Presidents Day sales?!1

[Freddie]

3. It's on a mantle in his family room

Next to his signed Joe DiMaggio baseball card and original Batman lunchbox. Another collector's item.

[Ilsa]

4. I simply don't understand why he gave it to him.

It seems fairly pointless, except for trump's reaction. That was telling, but not in a way Lt Col anticipated.

[Gabi Hayes]

5. my dad had 2 hearts and a bronze star. only 21 when he got em.

never talked about them but once, when I was about 13.

he got half his ass literally blown off with a hand grenade, after being hit a month before with shrapnel, then going back on patrol.

a year in the hospital, lost 90 pounds. shrapnel all up and down his back for the rest of his life....80 percent total permanent disability

the sad part of it is, he'd probably be a trump supporter today. he and my mom were both birchers, and she took me to see Goldwater during the election season......I thought that was very cool, but then I grew up and was able to comprehend reality.

FUCK YOU! bleeding coward, whose only service was that offered to you by sleazy gold diggers, who ALL hated you, because you're one of the biggest scumbags who EVER existed. and I'll bet your kids HATE your GUTS, as well. a hundred fifty million buys a lot of "love"

[Marcuse]

6. I asked my Uncle for his old bars after he made Captain.

That didn't make me a lieutenant.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. I could give Trump a copy of my college diploma

... but that doesn't mean he earned it or has transcripts to support it.

[UTUSN]

8. Myths about The Purple Heart. Plus, wingnut chickenhawks 2004 Repuke convention

wearing Band Aids with a Purple Heart on them mocking KERRY. Aren't they supposed to be hyper-pro-military and super-"patriots"?!1 Remember CHEENEE's military baiting, "Help is on the way!1"? What insufferable pricks.

Death is the ultimate criteria, along with all the horrendous physical inflictions short of death, but the way it was described to us at the word-of-mouth bottom rung of Enlisted, even a "drop of blood" would qualify, though now it's clear that non-visible wounds are included.

********QUOTE*******

http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/theheart.htm
[font size=5]Common Myths About The Purple Heart Medal[/font]

.... 3. The [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]type[/FONT] of wound/injury [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]or degree[/FONT] of wound/injury is used as a factor in authorizing the PH.

Not true. The [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]amount[/FONT]/level/[FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]degree[/FONT] of a persons wound or injury [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]is never[/FONT] a factor. When establishing the PH General George Washington made it absolutely clear that awarding/authorizing officers were [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]not[/FONT] permitted to make personal judgments based on [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]how more or less serious[/FONT] a wound or injury appeared, and that being wounded in combat -- by any degree -- was a true distinction of "military merit". ....

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