Do you think it would cheapen the respect given to the Congressional Medal of Honor if the wearers were allowed in national college and professional sporting events for free?
I think it would be a nice sentiment.
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I think it is a wonderful sentiment. I do not think it would cheapen it.
It would not cheapen it. However it would inspire a new industry for Medal forgeries.
Seeing as how so very few MOH recipients are alive to receive this highest of honors….IMO they should never have to pay for anything ever again.
@all, would you even have the guts to charge these people if you can afford to cover them for an event? I can’t imagine people do now.
I’m with @Cruiser. I would gladly pay higher taxes if these people were able to live an easier life after doing all they’ve done. Just so it’s clear, I think all veterans should get this kind of special treatment. Signing over their bodies, minds and lives to the government has earned them a lot more than we give them now.
What cheapens it is when we fail to recognize what it is and what it represents.
I recall in the days soon after September 11, 2001, when a group of CMOH wearers was invited to the White House for some ceremony, and a veteran was not allowed to fly with the Medal on his person or in his carry-on luggage… because it was a potential weapon.
Having people with that kind of mentality and mindset in any kind of authority over us cheapens the reason they earned the Medal in the first place.
Nice idea and all, but I think it would open the proverbial can of worms.
I think it’s an odd idea. Should they also get free dry cleaning?
Is it not illegal to falsely wear awards and such if the intent is to get preferential treatment, which is really the same as doing it for monetary gain…trying to get into an event where there is an admission?. There aren’t many of these people so it should be easy enough to keep an updated registry of these patriots.
I’m pretty sure these people aren’t thinking of the perks of almost getting killed before they roll out.
Exactly, @bob_.
“I’d like to attend the __ game. Can I have seats in the first tier/best section?”
“Can I bring my wife for free?”
“I live in New York and I can’t get to the __ game in Atlanta, but my son can go. Can he use my ticket?”
“I’m not interested in sports, so could I get tickets to concerts instead?”
“If I could get into any game, then I’m entitled to $— worth of seats for the next year. Can I just have the money?”
Et cetera.
Bad idea to put a cash value on receipt of an honor for service to the nation.
I believe CMOH recipients and their children are already granted admission into the nations military colleges if they otherwise qualify. And many sports franchises already have programs to let Veterans and active duty military in free or at reduced rates.
My impression is these folks seem straight up enough to not over do it. If it is a huge venue and the take will be in the tens of thousands then letting one couple in free won’t ding their bottom line.
If they go to a small business for perks it may be asking a bit too much, unless the owner offers first. Do these people really go out of their way to make us know who they are? Or are they just regular people who don’t want to have a fuss be made of them?
@woodcutter my experience is there are both those that will take advantage and those that won’t. It depends on individual.
@bob_ @Jeruba I guess we have just gone too far by haphazardly giving out Olympic Gold medals and teacher of the year awards to high achievers so perhaps when someone goes above and beyond the call of duty defending our country we should maybe just give them an “atta boy” pat on the back while at the same time their brothers in arms they risked their lives to save are still stuck sweating it out in a foreign land so we all can sit in our homes on Fluther goofing off?
All I know is they risked their lives and most CMOH recipients gave their lives so we can have this secure safe life we all live and to me is worth a lot more than a free dry cleaning.
Hell…IMHO, every soldier who served their country deserves more on the return on their investment they have given to each and every one of us.
@Cruiser, I think the award should have every sort of respect accorded to it. Its meaning goes beyond any price and should be held in the highest esteem. I honestly think attaching trivial material benefits to it would be an insult. So I guess to the original question—yes, I would say it would cheapen it.
How in the world you interpreted my response and @bob_‘s as demeaning to the recipients of the award stretches my guessing powers too far. I am saying making it good for free football games would be demeaning to something that merits the greatest dignity.
Would it be as bad as us old pharts getting AARP discounts just for being…old?
I have a deep cultural aversion to idolising military in any form.
@Jeruba Your point is noble and taken, but at the same time to deny those of us who would offer a token of appreciation to the recipient who nearly gave his life as somehow cheapening the honor of the award is shortsighted and narrow minded at best. I have gone out of my way to shake the hand of every service man or woman and thank them for their service and I have yet to have anyone of them refuse an offer of a cup of coffee or a beer or that somehow my gesture was insulting to them.
So I really do not see how offering a CMOH recipient free admission to a sporting event is a big deal. It IMO would be more insulting to insinuate that we should not acknowledge their heroic efforts in any small way that a humble and grateful John Q citizen can.
@Cruiser, deny you the chance to offer a token of appreciation? Where did that come from?? Am I going to bind your hand so you can’t offer it to a person in uniform, or freeze your wallet so you can’t buy that beer?
There is nothing in the world to stop you or anyone else from offering all the appreciation you want to. Send them a letter. Buy them a house. Give them your seat on the bus. Organize a fund-raiser and throw them a barbecue. Or—yes—shake their hand and say thank you. That is a wonderful gesture. Was this about thanking service men and women? I’m wholeheartedly in favor of that.
The insult is implying that a price can be put on their service—and then considering the debt paid with a seat behind home plate and a free hot dog.
Requiring people who operate an enterprise for profit—a particular enterprise, such as competitive sport (and why not dry cleaning?)—to give up part of their income as a feelgood measure for the rest of us is hardly a gesture from John Q. Citizen.
Well, then, suppose it’s paid for out of public funds? Can of worms as suggested above, only from the other side: “Costs me $— to hold seats at every game…couldn’t say no to his wife, kids, cousins… those were my best seats and I would have sold them for $— ...” No end of ways to make a racket of it. Doing that and then calling it a benefit of the award seems to me simpleminded at best.
Besides (again), not everyone is keen on sports. What about something for them?
But this is a purely speculative question, I hope, and I should have known better than to tangle with it. Usually I don’t touch them.
100,000 People don’t typically go to events that are not sport, and certainly not nearly as regularly. At such events there are already color guards which I hope are not charged an entrance fee, or asked to leave after their duty is performed. This question is not “speculative” I honestly think it is something worth considering.
In truth I think that it is asking them to act like the color guard. It is asking them to show up and stand as a symbol to a group of people who have come together for an American pastime. I am not suggesting they should have to sit in a certain spot, but maybe they should be asked to wear the medal which I think is not at all showing off nor should they feel that way, they should wear it very proudly. Acknowledging them IS acknowledging all servicemen, in my opinion, because they represent the highest form of service to the country. Many Olympians compete, but only one gets the Gold. That doesn’t mean that we by so doing dishonor the other competitors!
As for superfluous relatives, or identity theft, I think those are issues that are easily overcome compared to the glorious courage these men exercised in overcoming our enemies and spitting in the face of death itself for our sakes.
But a relative or companion should certainly be allowed to accompany them. Taxpayers ought joyfully pay such a meagre expense! Furthermore, I don’t own a franchise or a ballpark but I would dare to conjecture that the men who do are of such a fine calibre that they wouldn’t mind footing the bill themselves. Many of the wealthy are virtuous, at very least superficially, and this seems a good show of patriotism.
The British have a full monarchy they pay for. I don’t think ill nor well of that. This is different because it show cases exactly what we value in our country. If anything these heroes would be doing us a favor by displaying themselves. Maybe there could be an option to pay an extra $0.25 on my ticket for the benefit of having them there, or that such a small fee would go towards a national sporting event service that was an outreach to them to do everything to make sure they got to the game, and back with a meal, etc.
Sporting events bring this country together unlike any other pastime. That is the reason for their exceptional nature.
@Jeruba Again I do see your reasoning here, but IMO the bigger outrage is to award our soldiers a bright shiny medal and then have them go to the back of the line. I think the way we don’t honor the service of our heroes let alone the cooks and dishwashers who have served our great country so we can sit here and type away spouting our opinions in the relative security of our homes is one of the greatest hypocrisies of our Nations storied history.
@Cruiser
I’ll bet that if we asked them, most CMOH awardees (and those awarded any other honor or medal as a result of their military service) would be more than happy to fade into the woodwork and take anonymous places in any line they care to be in. Many of the service people I have met and spoken to (or read about) seem to prefer relative anonymity, do not wish to speak of any of the acts that led up to or took place that resulted in their award, and simply want it over with so that they can get back to being John Doe again. To ask these people to stand as a figurehead for “all service people” would in most cases make them uncomfortable to a great degree. As it is, they know what they’ve done, their families (usually, but not always) know, and the people they served with know – and that’s where they want to leave it.
Those who prefer otherwise can have no end of speaking engagements and books, and more power to them, also.
@Cruiser, with all due respect, I think you’re answering an entirely different question from the one posed here: namely, what is a fitting way to reward the men and women who have served our country in the armed forces? A fine question, but not the one asked by the OP.
They do get a few extra perks from us, @Cruiser. (I think the pension is a little higher now than what the article said.)
—A monthly $1,000 pension from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
—A 10 percent increase in retired pay (assuming they serve 20 years).
—A special Medal of Honor travel and identification card that lets them fly for free on military aircraft.
—They can wear their uniforms whenever and wherever they want, unlike other military personnel or retirees.
—They and their dependents can buy lower-cost merchandise at military commissaries and exchanges, and play for free at military recreation sites, for the rest of their lives.
—Their children can attend U.S. military academies if they qualify.
—They can attend all Presidential inaugurations.
—Other members of the military are encouraged to salute Medal of Honor recipients, regardless of rank.
—In one of the few benefits shared by those who earned the award either dead or alive, each gets a special headstone, engraved with the medal, for his final resting place.
Read more: http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2010/09/16/medal-of-honor-hurdles-and-benefits/#ixzz1XhYBN2kw
Thanks for the thoughtful rebuttals to my posts Jellies. I suppose I am just projecting my own sense of guilt towards these brave soldiers who have done things I cannot imagine myself doing.
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