Bronze Star question

nddons

nddons

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Stan
My friend's son is a Major in the US Army. He returned from his probably 4th or 5th tour in Afghanistan & Iraq last winter. He then attended an Army school, and my friend saw his son in his dress blues for the first time after the graduation. He looked at his son, and said "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

On his uniform, my friend learned that his son had earned the Bronze Star during this last tour. But his son was not ready to talk about it, and my friend respects that. Still, he's worried about his son, and the circumstances surrounding this commendation.

Question: Are commendations for the Bronze or Silver Stars published anywhere? I recall seeing published Commendations for the Medal of Honor, but I can't seem to find anything on the Bronze or Silver Star.

My friend doesn't want to pry with his son, but he's a very concerned father.
 
While there are many things about a son a mother should never find out, there are a few a dad shouldn't either.
 
The circumstances behind earning the metal are very private things, he will talk about it when he is ready.

don't push.
 
Not talking about, that's how you know he truley earned it!!!
 
No there is no online database that I know of that give details for any particular service mans medals or the circumstances that they received them under.
It would be on there DD214 when he is discharged, but other than that, doubt there is anyway to find out.
 
A Bronze Star comes in two flavors, one for meritorious service in a combat zone, and one for valor (which adds a special clasp). Someone who receives one for meritorious service may not mention it, because he or she doesn't want to appear to be claiming it was for heroism under fire. Got a friend who received one for meritorious service (Army LtCol in Afghanistan) and he won't discuss it, either.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Agree with the comments about not pushing too much.

FWIW, He may not want to talk about it because of classification of the mission involved, or it may be that he doesn't feel like there is anything to talk about.

I am in no way dissing his service, but Bronze Stars these days do not necessarily have a lot of 'personal valor' attached to them that they did in the past. A lot of them are unfortunately handed out for being in the right place at the right time. For example, every CO of a ship that fired a tomahawk missile into Iraq during OIF got one.


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nddons said:
My friend's son is a Major in the US Army. He returned from his probably 4th or 5th tour in Afghanistan & Iraq last winter. He then attended an Army school, and my friend saw his son in his dress blues for the first time after the graduation. He looked at his son, and said "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

On his uniform, my friend learned that his son had earned the Bronze Star during this last tour. But his son was not ready to talk about it, and my friend respects that. Still, he's worried about his son, and the circumstances surrounding this commendation.

Question: Are commendations for the Bronze or Silver Stars published anywhere? I recall seeing published Commendations for the Medal of Honor, but I can't seem to find anything on the Bronze or Silver Star.

My friend doesn't want to pry with his son, but he's a very concerned father.
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So far as the circumstances, there will be a write-up on the written account of the award DA Form 638, Part III has 4 blocks for "achievements" for the award. These are fairly brief, and frankly only tell part of the story. That being said, as others have mentioned, it is best to not pry, and when (if) he does open up about it, let him say what he wants, and don't press for details. Chances are the circumstances are beyond personal and sensitive; circumstances which lead to such an award are usually not the sort of thing that is easy to think about, and as such takes a variable amount of time to (for lack of a better word) process.
In my own experience, I had been out of the army for a couple years before I uttered much about it to my parents, and only since my father passed has my mother learned very much of what her former infantryman experienced, and I've kept it light even still, both for my own personal reasons, and because as Henning suggested, there is a line with my mother I just will not cross in recounting the experience.
Best bet is to be patient, and to always be there, no matter the circumstances, for his son.
I hope this helps.
 
There are even cases where you don't get to wear the medal, and the award and citation are both in a classified appendix to your service record which selection boards get to see but isn't in your regular records. Not very common, but it's possible if you're in something like the Navy's SEAL Team 6 or the Army's Delta Force, or temporarily seconded to another agency of the US government.

In any event, don't press the issue -- he won't talk about it until he's ready, although that may be never. My uncle is 89, and he still won't talk about the Bronze Star he won while advancing north though Italy nearly 70 years ago, where he was one of the three men out of his original platoon's 44 to complete the trip -- the rest were casualties, KIA or WIA.
 
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Honor the son's position. Period.

Tell the father to grow a set, and respect the man he raised.
 
Ron Levy said:
There are even cases where you don't get to wear the medal, and the award and citation are both in a classified appendix to your service record which selection boards get to see but isn't in your regular records. Not very common, but it's possible if you're in something like the Navy's SEAL Team 6 or the Army's Delta Force, or temporarily seconded to another agency of the US government.

In any event, don't press the issue -- he won't talk about it until he's ready, although that may be never. My uncle is 89, and he still won't talk about the Bronze Star he won while advancing north though Italy nearly 70 years ago, where he was one of the three men out of his original platoon's 44 to complete the trip -- the rest were casualties, KIA or WIA.
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Understood. My dad landed in Normandy on D+1 and was in the Bulge, but I knew pretty much nothing about his experiences until his final 9 months of life.
 
Most of us that went in couldnt give a damn about medals or commendations anyway. Some of us did things we can't talk about to this day and we will never see a medal for.
 
Geico266 said:
Honor the son's position. Period.

Tell the father to grow a set, and respect the man he raised.
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His dad served as well, and understands. He didn't ask about the public access to the commendation, I did.

And the ribbon had the V for valor.

His son also lost a young Captain and best man in his wedding in a green on blue attack, and that has been trouble as well.
 
nddons said:
Well, as I mentioned, my friend saw his son in his dress blues for the first time since returning from his deployment at his graduation from a command school, I believe. I doubt he'd pin on a $22 special for that occasion.
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Please don't think I insinuated he did.

It was just a joke about the $22 price tag.
 
nddons said:
Understood. My dad landed in Normandy on D+1 and was in the Bulge, but I knew pretty much nothing about his experiences until his final 9 months of life.
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And there are people that are OBE and have earned Level 2 Iron Crosses. How would one explain that?
 
Many units award Bronze Stars now to all department heads and Platoon Sergeants and above at the end of their deployment. The only ones I respect, at all, are the ones with the V device. The naked Bronze Star has become a thing of contempt among the Combat Arms soldiers.

Good to see his wasn't naked.
 
Rigged4Flight said:
Many units award Bronze Stars now to all department heads and Platoon Sergeants and above at the end of their deployment. The only ones I respect, at all, are the ones with the V device. The naked Bronze Star has become a thing of contempt among the Combat Arms soldiers.

Good to see his wasn't naked.
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Exactly what we did. All the higher ranking staff people got Bronze Stars while everyone else got Arcoms or in my case Air Medals. Like you said, if it doesn't have a V device then it really doesn't matter. Bunch of guys got Combat Action Ribbons only because the mission commander did an offical write up. We were engaged on an LZ with Afghans returning fire. Since no write up was done no CAB was issued. I'm not big on awards or medals so I didn't care.
 
nddons said:
His son also lost a young Captain and best man in his wedding in a green on blue attack, and that has been trouble as well.
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I am very familiar with blue on blue.....but what is green on blue?



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BurtM said:
And there are people that are OBE and have earned Level 2 Iron Crosses. How would one explain that?
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One that I know of was a double agent for the Brits in WWII called Garbo. He was part of the Double Cross Operation, aka The XX Committee. The Germans thought so highly of the bad info he sent them while working for the British they awarded him the Iron Cross. Don't recall the level. After the war, the British awarded him the OBE.

Cheers
 
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I had a matter once with someone that attended the naval academy who related to me a story about his class mate that had served a few tours of duty in Viet Nam in the Marine Corp before entering the naval academy. According to this person, his class mate had earned the Navy Cross. Can you imagine some poor second class midshipman trying to "instruct" a plebe that had already earned the Navy Cross? Don't know if it's a true story, but it is amusing to think about.
 
PPC1052 said:
I had a matter once with someone that attended the naval academy who related to me a story about his class mate that had served a few tours of duty in Viet Nam in the Marine Corp before entering the naval academy. According to this person, his class mate had earned the Navy Cross. Can you imagine some poor second class midshipman trying to "instruct" a plebe that had already earned the Navy Cross? Don't know if it's a true story, but it is amusing to think about.
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It's not common practice, but there have been plenty cases of enlisted being appointed to the academy that have more medals than their instructors.

there are many cases that you get the medal or ribbon just for being there, VN was that for many. in most cases to ride the ships into the Tonkin gulf got you 2 rows.
 
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Tom-D said:
It's not common practice, but there have been plenty cases of enlisted being appointed to the academy that have more medals than their instructors.
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No doubt. But I think it's funny to think of an upper classman trying to haze a plebe with a navy cross.

2nd Class Midshipman: "Plebe, you didn't turn that corner at 90 degrees!"

Plebe (with Navy Cross): "Bite me."

2nd Class Midshipman: "Okay. Sorry. . . ."
 
Tom-D said:
there are many cases that you get the medal or ribbon just for being there, VN was that for many. in most cases to ride the ships into the Tonkin gulf got you 2 rows.
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Again, no doubt. But I doubt they award the Navy Cross to an enlisted marine for that.
 
PPC1052 said:
Again, no doubt. But I doubt they award the Navy Cross to an enlisted marine for that.
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Marines riding the ships seldom if ever got any metals that meant anything.
 
denverpilot said:
Most of the time they were just sent out to stand watch to look for the mail buoy. ;)
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Marines on ships underway do only 4 things:
Eat
Sleep
Workout in the ship's gym
Stand in lines and wait for information to be handed down

And somehow in spite of that, when you get them off the ship, they can still open up a can of whoopass in a heartbeat.


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Rigged4Flight said:
Host country "partners" firing on US.
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They have their own 'color' now?

Sad thing is, that sort of thing has been a problem in the 'stan since we first went in there. I wonder if giving them a color is somehow symbolic of realizing they will never truly be friendlies.

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Fearless Tower said:
Marines on ships underway do only 4 things:
Eat
Sleep
Workout in the ship's gym
Stand in lines and wait for information to be handed down

And somehow in spite of that, when you get them off the ship, they can still open up a can of whoopass in a heartbeat.


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I hated it when the Marines would take over our ship. They would camp out on the deck and eat us out of food in a week. Then they would blow up their little rubber boats, paint their faces, and go over bye side at night. Their extraction point was with someone else, because there was no food left. :lol:

Going over the side, at night, is something a sailor is taught means death. These Marines did it as a matter of fact. Those guys were tough leathernecks:eek:
 
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