Posted on 11/18/2003 12:10:52 AM PST by nickcarraway
A month ago I was on board the USS Ronald Reagan when a young sailor came up to me and asked me if I would consider introducing a bill to create an award in the form of a service medal for those who, like his dad, had served the nation during the Cold War. He told me about his dad's commitment to safeguarding the nation during those years and how much he would appreciate some gesture of recognition for the effort. I told him I would, indeed, see what could be done.
When I returned to Washington I asked my staff to begin researching the feasibility of such an award. We found that in the past, other members had introduced similar bills and that there was a certificate a veteran could obtain which recognized service in the armed forces during the Cold War. I drafted a bill, introduced it, and seven other members asked to be co-sponsors almost immediately.
For introducing this bill, Bill Johnson, a "columnist" for the Rocky Mountain News, called me "weaselly" in a piece he wrote last week. The vitriol he spews is something that goes with the territory in my business and I'm sure we'll be seeing it again in the pages of this paper for as long as we both keep the jobs we now have.
In the total scheme of things, though, the issue of doing something to recognize the service of those who served in what one former FBI director called "the Third World War" certainly deserves a bit more of a rational discussion than Johnson is evidently capable of providing.
The Cold War period was a unique period in American history. It embodied the epic struggle between liberty and oppression, freedom and tyranny, rights and repression, good and evil. It was a struggle with real-life dangers and consequences that shaped the lives of three generations of Americans. The military men and women who achieved victory in this war helped to banish the bankrupt ideology of communism to the dustbin of history. And for that, they deserve our thanks and recognition.
We must also remember that the Cold War wasn't always "cold," and that the relative peace most Americans enjoyed wasn't always as "peaceful" as it seemed. A number of American servicemen who served during the Cold War never made it home, dying in skirmishes along the frontiers, downed in planes that never returned from their missions, or sunk with submarines that disappeared into the icy depths of the sea.
Now, everyone can make a decision as to whether the nation should take the step of recognizing the importance of the service of the men and women who helped make it possible for the West to prevail in the contest of wills that threatened civilization itself. To become law, my bill will need the support of veterans organizations and many Americans who will take the time to press for its passage. It may get neither and become nothing more than an extremely tiny blip on the radar screen of a few policy wonks and a columnist with an attitude.
Either way, I certainly do not feel I owe anyone an apology for introducing it. I am happy to have done so if for no other reason than to let that young sailor on the Reagan know that there are folks who think his dad and millions of others did something that warrants at least a small piece of metal on a ribbon and a handshake.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, is in his third term in the U.S. House and represents the state's 6th Congressional District.
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