Upon video review, Medal of Honor winner's story falls apart

http://news.msn.com/us/videos-contradict-medal-of-honor-winners-account

Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer won the award for heroism in a 2009 battle in Afghanistan, and he wrote a memoir called "Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War." He describes switching from machine gun to rifle and back as he mows down the Taliban.

Oops. Medevac videos show no Taliban anywhere in the area at the time. And McClatchy has been doing an entire series on who got but didn't deserve a medal, and who deserved but didn't get a medal, in what is quickly becoming an embarrassing and controversial episode for all involved.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/medal/

Meyer's response: "I wrote my book to the best of my recollection of what happened. And if that's not it, then that's not it."

Sounds like some folks went whole hog on a narrative here.

 

We need to stop honoring people who claim they committed murder
.

 

There was a strong political push inside the Pentagon a few years back to get more Medal of Honor recipient from Iraq and Afghanistan. Makes it real easy to pass a story up the ladder without the usual level of scrutiny.

What a shame. Sounds like there was an actual deserving Medal of Honor recipient on the same day, too.

 

I've followed the case a bit. A couple thoughts:

1. What buck said -- there was an uproar a few years ago about how few living service members were receiving the Medal of Honor. Meyer was the first living MoH recipient from the Corps since Vietnam.

2. Meyer at first was pretty humble about it. He pretty much said he didn't deserve the award, and gave Will Swenson a lot of the credit for surviving the firefight.

2a. I'm thinking a lot of this narrative has been formed by DoD for multiple reasons, very high up on that list is developing "heroes" from these conflicts to remove the stain of Abu Ghraib, urinating on a Taliban corpse, etc. It's the same reason the Jessica Lynch rescue mission was embellished to high heaven. Did DoD write the book for Meyer? Maybe not that far, but certainly officials put bugs into his ear on what would sound nice.

 

Cross thread?

 

This isn't really new news. I think it's pretty well accepted what they say happened and what happened are not the same.
In fact, a McClatchy reporter has been on this story for more than two years.


http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/posts/3220078/

 

If you're going to rescind Medals of Honor, a good place to start might be with the ones awarded for actions at Wounded Knee:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/18/massacre-wounded-knee-medals-honor-rescinded

Maybe Bob Costas can spearhead the movement.

 

Of all the things that conservatives lose their shit over, the Redskins thing - Native American nicknames, in general, really - is one of the most puzzling to me.

The New York Niggers would be OK with you, too, I guess?

 

No. The name should be changed. It's stupid.

 

OK. Fair enough. I just am reminded of the ridiculous explosion of hostility at Costas the other night for a pretty tame commentary.

 

It's just not a very heroic stance. "I'm against a racist name, and you should be too!"

Yeah, let's all give Bob a medal. It's like how Princess Diana was against land mines. Se really took a controversial stand on that one, going up against the big pro-land mine movement.

It's simplistic. No heavy lifting is required.

 

That's not why people lost their shit, though. They lost it because he was: (1) Being "politically correct1111!!!"; (2) Not "talking about sports111!!!!"

I mean, look at the thread about it here before a moderator heroically locked it to protect us from civil debate.