Blue in the face over a Purple Heart

clipped from www.kdhnews.com Copperas Cove man to give president his Purple Heart April 16, 2007 COPPERAS COVE – History will be made today when Copperas Cove resident Bill Thomas and his wife, Georgia, present President George W. Bush with a Purple Heart at the Oval Office. Thomas said he and his wife came up with the unprecedented idea to present the president with the Purple Heart over breakfast one morning a few months ago as they discussed the verbal attacks, both foreign and domestic, the commander in chief has withstood during his time in office. "We feel like emotional wounds and scars are as hard to carry as physical wounds," Thomas said. He has drawn criticism from some locals who have learned of his actions, Thomas said. Nevertheless, he said he earned the Purple Heart and it is his to do with it as he sees fit. "I feel the President deserved one," he said. "The bottom line is, I paid for these Purple Hearts with my blood."

Wow...where to begin?

Let us begin with Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards 11 December 2006):

The Purple Heart is awarded in the name of the President of the United States...after being wounded: (1) in any action against an enemy of the United States.

A wound is defined as an injury to any part of the body from an outside force or agent...the wound for which the award is made must have required treatment by a medical officer...

Examples of injuries or wounds which clearly do not qualify for award of the Purple Heart are as follows: (e) battle fatigue...(h) self-inflicted wounds, except when in the heat of battle and not involving gross negligence...(i) post-traumatic stress disorders.

The president was not physically wounded by the criticisms he has received. And Mr. Thomas insults all holders of the Purple Heart - more than a quarter million men and women since 1958 - by equating "foreign and domestic" critics with enemies of the United States.

Next, Army Regulation 672-8 (Manufacture, Sale, Wear, and Quality Control of Heraldic Items 27 November 1989):

[Chapter 2-7b] Mere possession by a person of any of the articles prescribed in paragraph 2 (except identification cards) is authorized provided that such possession is not used to defraud or misrepresent the identification or status of the individual concerned.

Mr. Thomas was not prohibited by law or regulation from giving his Purple Heart away. But President Bush's possession of the medal defrauds the American people by portraying the president as a war hero, and it misrepresents the president's status as someone who has physically suffered as a consequence of his own decisions.

Laura Bush:

[B]elieve me, no one suffers more than their president and I do when we watch this, and certainly the commander in chief, who has asked our military to go into harm's way.

The president has not suffered like war widows and widowers have, whose only memories of a lost spouse are a triangular folded American flag and a Purple Heart. The emotional wounds of a commander-in-chief are part of the job, and not worthy of public honoring or recognition.

As asked on Real Time with Bill Maher this week, how does one turn down an offer from a wounded Vietnam veteran to donate one of his Purple Hearts to you? What would the proper response have been? Ask yourself this, then: in a similar situation, what would Winston Churchill have done? Can you imagine Sir Winston having a photo op, focusing the nation on his own suffering, and taking the spotlight off the sacrifices of soldiers and citizens?

Class, dignity, and even common sense would have told anyone else that this is inappropriate. Mr. Thomas, if this is what you think of the Purple Heart, and the hundreds of thousands of fellow members of the Order, then you should take the two medals you have left and throw them over the fence at the White House before you go back to Texas. You earned three Purple Hearts. But you have no moral authority to be passing them around to people who have not earned them.

The only thing I can hope for is that a photo emerges from this farcical ceremony, showing Mr. Thomas pinning the Purple Heart on President Bush. Army Regulation 672-8 Chapter 2-7a:

The wearing of any decoration, service medal, badge, service ribbon, lapel button, or insignia prescribed or authorized by the DA and the Department of the Air Force by any person not properly authorized to wear such device...is prohibited [and] subject to punishment as prescribed [by 18 USC 1704; a fine, six months in jail, or both].

Come to think of it, hasn't President Bush been through this once before?

[Cross-posted at dailykos]