Mar 14, 2013
March 12, 2013
The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of millions of veterans, service members and their families, we the undersigned leaders of the nation’s largest Veterans and Military Service Organizations write to request your personal involvement to lower the Pentagon’s new Distinguished Warfare Medal on the military order of precedence. The Distinguished Warfare Medal currently ranks 9th among some five dozen active medals and ribbons — higher than the Soldier’s Medal, the Bronze Star with combat “V” device, and the Purple Heart.
No one disputes that drone
operators, cyber warriors and others are having a tremendous and immediate
impact on battlefields far away, but to create a new “war” medal that doesn’t
require physically serving in a warzone, and then to rank it above valor and
injury medals that can only be earned in combat, has created a huge morale
problem within the ranks. Tens of thousands have already spoken out in
opposition, to include Members of Congress, who have introduced bipartisan
legislation to force the Pentagon to lower the medal’s status to below the
Purple Heart.
After weeks of defending its
position, the Pentagon announced that Secretary Hagel has directed a formal
review of the medal’s ranking, and that Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dempsey
will lead the review. We view this as a very encouraging sign, but demoting the
medal below the Purple Heart is not yet a done deal, which is why we are
soliciting your personal involvement. The Pentagon has enough challenges to
overcome in the months and years ahead. They don’t need a self-inflicted morale
problem added to the list.
Respectfully,
JOHN R. "DOC"
McCAUSLIN, CMSgt, USAF (Ret.)
Chief Executive Officer
Air Force Sergeants Association
STEWART M. HICKEY
National Executive Director
AMVETS
RADM CASEY COANE, U.S. Navy
(Ret.)
Executive Director
Association of the United
States Navy
LARRY A. POLZIN
National Commander
Disabled American Veterans
MARK A. KILGORE
National President
Fleet Reserve Association
SHELTON OHERN
National Commander
Jewish War Veterans of the
U.S.A.
ROBERT S. DONAGHUE
President
Marine Corps Reserve
Association
ROBERT G. CERTAIN
Executive Director
Military Chaplains Association
of the USA
VADM NORBERT R. RYAN, USN (Ret)
President
Military Officers Association
of America
BRUCE McKENTY
National Commander
Military Order of the Purple
Heart
JACK KLIMP, Lt. Gen., U.S.
Marine Corps (Ret.)
President National
Association
for Uniformed Services
H. GENE OVERSTREET
President
Non Commissioned Officers
Association
WILLIAM M. WALKER III, Colonel,
USAF (Ret.)
President
Reserve Officers Association
JAMES E. ‘Jim’ KOUTZ
National Commander
The American Legion
RICK DELANEY
National President
The Retired Enlisted
Association
CW4 (Ret.) JACK DU TEIL
Executive Director
U.S. Army Warrant Officers
Association
RANDY REID
Executive Director
U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty
Officers Association
JOHN E. HAMILTON
Commander-in-Chief
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the
United States
JOHN ROWAN
National President/CEO
Vietnam Veterans of America