Posted on 11/18/2009 18:01:18
Thanks Jerry for posting this. We tend to forget that Korea and Vietnam were campaigns/theaters of the Cold War. It was a very costly war, but one that liberated millions and protected billions.
Posted on 11/18/2009 17:56:01
COLDWARRIOR,
I enjoy and am usually educated by your posts. You have more time than most that aren't recognized as veterans. It is a CRIME as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for your service to our country and ACWV. I have been recognized as a veteran, but I remember when I returned from almost four years overseas during the Cold War and being told I wasn't. I won't stop till all our honorable Cold War veterans are recognized. Leave no comrade behind. The current GWOT Service Medal does not differ between Title 10 or 32, so I hope DOD writes this properly into regulation and you qualify.
Posted on 11/18/2009 17:32:40
AIR FORCE TIMES is a good avenue as are other service and VSO papers/magazines. I have had a letter to the editor published in AF Times before. I also tipped them about the DOD Poll. But, be advised Bob Dorr fro AF and Military Times is not a friend of our cause.
Posted on 11/17/2009 19:40:59
ColdWarrior, Well the National Guard has always been treated as 2 nd Class even back to the War of Independence, when the Continentals looked down on the Militia.
Posted on 11/16/2009 17:23:50
Thanks for posting about the passing of this American Hero. It is interesting to note that no Medals Of Honor have been presented to a living recipient, who earned it after Vietnam.
Posted on 11/13/2009 16:07:13
Also note that Iraq and Afghanistan or GWOT have not been added, yet, so we shouldn't get too offended, but it is something we need to come back to at some point.
Posted on 11/13/2009 15:59:59
GOOD POSTS. At Least we can get COLD WAR added somewhere, even if it is back door. The GWOT Service Medal does not rate veterans benefits but service during this Conflict Period does give you some benefits. They could continue the GWOTSM at some point and end the Conflict Period. The GWOT Expeditionary Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, and Afghan Campaign Medals are qualifying medals.
Posted on 11/13/2009 15:47:24
Don't read too much into "SERVICE MEDAL." The GWOT SERVICE MEDAL does not have to be awarded for overseas service, nor does the ARMED FORCES SERVICE MEDAL. As far as attached VA benefits, it doesn't matter either. They will designate the qualifying awards. AFSM was originally not a qualifier...now it is. The qualifying medals are termed CAMPAIGN medals, but that does not always exist in a medals name. Except, the Purple Heart, which is classified as a personal DECORATION.
Posted on 11/12/2009 18:57:05
KAZ, I'm on the opposite corner of PA. I'm stationed at Willow Grove Air Reserve Station. Thank you for your service. Medal or not, does not take away our victory or service.
Posted on 11/12/2009 18:03:02
Just make sure you VOTE by calling or writing your Senators and Congressman, too.
Posted on 11/12/2009 06:58:40
Jerry, Good to hear. Thanks for staying in the fight during your pain. Hell, LEADING the fight, heroically !!
Posted on 11/12/2009 06:41:52
CAZMAN,
We still need you, buddy. Need your push on our Senators and Reps in Pennsylvania. Were you PA National Guard? I'm still working on pushing a PA State Cold War Medal. Presented a Foxfall Cold War Medal to some higher officials.
Posted on 11/10/2009 17:30:58
Yes, time has come for Sec. Gates to speak. Hopefully, his staffers will see the bills and take note of the CWSM being #1 on their survey, and treat it as a REAL issue that needs to be properly addressed.
Posted on 11/10/2009 17:21:06
Semper Fi, Mac. God Bless our MARINES.
Posted on 11/10/2009 17:18:42
I've been posting on various Facebook veterans sites. Several dozen have joined our ACWV Facebook site since I started. We never know were our next win will come or who will get it. It all helps. Unfortunately, many of our current veterans have always had a rich awards program. They don't understand earlier Cold War times. I worked getting a lot of WWII veterans their medals years after they thought medals didn't matter when they were young. Many skipped that part of their demobilization, because they didn't want to stand in one more line in the military while civilian life was knocking. When they had a whole life of events and wisdom to measure their military service against, they recognized that important time in their life and they wanted those medals.
Posted on 11/10/2009 16:58:12
Not to beat this up, but the reserve issue is not dead. I still see a precedent set with the current Global War on Terror Service Medal. Technically, it can be awarded after 30 days of consecutive service or 60 days non-consecutive service. That can be training, Annual Training, etc. It doesn't matter if it is Title 10 or 32. A Guardsman does NOT have to be federalized. The National Defense Service Medal goes to Guardsman on title 32 also, active or inactive duty, just Honorable Service is required. Have faith. Keep in the fight. Don't give us "WEEKEND WARRIORS" a bad name. We aren't quitters.
Posted on 11/09/2009 19:17:27
I was CONUS after spending my time in West Germany 1985-1987. Might have been eating pizza, too; )
Posted on 11/09/2009 18:35:47
Let's not forget what today is. From D.O.D.:
Witnesses Recall Berlin Wall’s Fall
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2009 – A divided Berlin symbolized the Cold War.
The Berlin Wall was a concrete example of the divide between East and West, between totalitarianism and democracy, between communism and capitalism.
For millions of U.S. servicemembers, the celebratory scenes at the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, were cause for deep satisfaction.
Since World War II, millions of soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines held the line in West Germany. Their very presence was enough to secure half a continent for freedom. When the wall fell, more than 300,000 American servicemembers were in West Germany, witnessing history.
"We were watching developments for weeks as events unfolded," said Jeff Anderson a building contractor in San Antonio who was an Army infantry sergeant in the Berlin Brigade near Checkpoint Charlie at the time.
Restrictions had been loosening for weeks, he recalled, as Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Germans and other captive people streamed out of Eastern Europe to freedom in the West. After several weeks of unrest in East Germany, officials there announced that all citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.
"As soon as the East Germans made the announcement, thousands of people came down to the wall in both the East and West," Anderson said. “We weren’t sure what was happening.
"In the East, the border guards at first were pushing people back, they were trying to check identity cards,” he continued. “But then the pressure became just too much, and they just let people stream through. When they met West Berliners, it was the start of the most joyous celebration I have ever seen.”
The first wave of people came at night, and thousands more came the next day. People climbed atop the wall, and East German border guards finally knocked a hole in it to ease transit, Anderson said. Tens of thousands of people drank champagne and threw flowers. U.S. soldiers just waved everybody through. "We were as happy as they were," he said.
While the Berlin Wall was the most obvious symbol, the fence between East and West Germany was equally deadly, and opened just as quickly.
Army Lt. Col. Rich Dow works in the Joint Staff's operations section of the Pentagon now. In 1989, he was a second lieutenant platoon leader working military intelligence in the 5th Corps area of responsibility. "My job was to help stop the Soviet horde from coming through the Fulda Gap," Dow recalled with a smile.
"It was hard for us to believe it was happening, and we were all amazed at its speed," he said. "It was almost a fatalistic attitude when you consider that if we looked across the border, we saw they had a huge advantage in infantry and tanks and artillery. We fully understood that our job was to buy time until forces could come in to reinforce us."
As events proceeded, Dow and others realized just how hollow the forces were that faced West Germany. But they remained concerned about how events might play out.
“During all the changes, the idea of internal disturbances in East Germany had us all up on our guard,” he said. “We feared the Soviets were losing control and that they might do something against us unilaterally. We were probably more at higher alert because the static situation that had existed since 1961 was far more dynamic. We were very concerned about a war happening inside East Germany, and that kept us awake at night.”
But events proceeded well, and Dow and his wife actually went on a family trip to Berlin. “We stayed in West Berlin,” he said. “There were still a lot of crowds. I took a small sledgehammer out of my trunk and took out a fist-sized chunk of the wall. I still have it.”
One side of the piece of wall is decorated with graffiti; other is plain, gray concrete. “The one with the graffiti faced the West,” Dow said.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. Delbert Hoskins was based with the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor, on the Fulda Gap that Nov. 9. He, too, came away with a souvenir.
“I have strands of razor wire,” he said. “This is the kind of wire where if you grab hold and try to hoist yourself up, it will cut off your fingers.”
Hoskins said he was surprised that no massive recall of U.S. forces took place when the media reported that the wall was coming down. But the sight of East German-made cars made a distinct impression. “What I remember was the number of Trabants that suddenly were on the road,” he said.
The difference between East and West Berlin when the wall was in place is something that Tara Jones, now at the Pentagon’s defense policy office, remembers.
"East Berlin was very gray. There was no color, and even the sky seemed gray," said Jones, who was in middle school in 1989 at the State’s Department’s John F. Kennedy International School in Berlin. "West Berlin was ablaze with lights. The streets were crowded, and there was a mystery associated with the city."
When the wall came down, Jones said, she was not afraid, but was astonished. “We went down to the Brandenburg Gate the next day,” she said, “and my sister and I tried to count the Trabants parked on the side of the road and just gave up.”
The day was emotional for Jones and others who witnessed it firsthand. “It was very emotional - hearing the stories of all these people who had been affected by the Iron Curtain, because that's what it literally was,” she said.
Her father, Randy Jones, was chief of the regional contracting office in Berlin. “I was on site living in Berlin when the wall came down,” he said via telephone from Austin, Texas. West Berlin was a magnet for Poles and Czechoslovaks leaving their countries. “It appeared to us that the East German border guards were being far less scrupulous in their examination of travel documents than they were in the past.”
Mostly, Jones remembers a jubilant people. “As I remember, the next day was a holiday, and we had planned to go to East Berlin, just to see the people,” he said.
The family loaded into their Jeep Cherokee with U.S. military identification and went to Checkpoint Charlie. “We processed through the American side just like we always did, but then we were surprised by being allowed to go right straight through the East German section,” he said.
The family shopped and had lunch, and about 2 p.m., Jones suggested the family head home. “We drove our way back, and it took us hours and hours to get back through,” he said. “As we neared Checkpoint Charlie, there was a wall of people clapping and cheering and seeing a car marked with a U.S. license plate, the people cheered even more loudly and yelled thank you and poured beer and champagne and flowers on the car.
“They were so happy, and I will never forget the wonderful celebrations, he said. “[The Berliners] demonstrated real gratitude and thankfulness, and it was for the American people. We just happened to be the Americans there.”
The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which formally concluded on Oct. 3, 1990.
Posted on 11/09/2009 18:16:56
I second most of what PNV just posted. LebanonGrenadaEraVet, Nobody is forgetting our reservists in this organization. Nor is our leadership paid so this forum is not critical to their survival, they are here because they believe in our cause. And I disagree that medal criteria can not change. As I mentioned before, the National Defense Medal was given out to only active duty troops during Korea and Vietnam, but was awarded to the reserve components during SWA (Kuwait) and the GWOT. Also the Vietnam Service Medal criteria was expanded over the years, Veterans of the Balkans were originally denied the AFEM and then were awarded it, etc. I have been associated with other military operations, but didn't make the cut of the criteria for a medal due to service length or geographical location. And I have been on the reverse, I qualified for an Iraq Campaign Medal, but many of my troops in Kuwait that busted their ass working with vast amounts of explosives, wore full chemical gear during missile attacks, etc didn't rate. I'll keep fighting for them as the Thailand veterans were initially denied the Vietnam Service Medal, but are now eligible. Just don't strike out at your fellow Cold War veterans out of misplaced anger.
Posted on 11/09/2009 18:05:40
LebanonGrenadaEraVet, Nobody is forgetting our reservists in this organization. Nor is our leadership paid so this forum is not critical to their survival, they are here because they believe in our cause. And I disagree that medal criteria can not change. As I mentioned before, the National Defense Medal was given out to only active duty troops during Korea and Vietnam, but was awarded to the reserve components during SWA (Kuwait) and the GWOT. Also the Vietnam Service Medal criteria was expanded over the years, Veterans of the Balkans were originally denied the AFEM and then were awarded it, etc. I have been associated with other military operations, but didn't make the cut of the criteria for a medal due to service length or geographical location. And I have been on the reverse, I qualified for an Iraq Campaign Medal, but many of my troops in Kuwait that busted their ass working with vast amounts of explosives, wore full chemical gear during missile attacks, etc didn't rate. I'll keep fighting for them as the Thailand veterans were initially denied the Vietnam Service Medal, but are now eligible. Just don't strike out at your fellow Cold War veterans out of misplaced anger.
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