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Pilot to get Medal of Honor for Vietnam actions
Stars and Stripes ^ | February 10, 2007 | Leo Shane III

Posted on 02/10/2007 6:28:36 AM PST by Cailleach

WASHINGTON — A Vietnam veteran who flew his unarmed helicopter into heavy combat to drop supplies and evacuate wounded troops will be honored with the Medal of Honor later this month, White House officials announced Friday.

Bruce Crandall, an Army helicopter pilot, will receive the nation’s highest military honor for wartime valor from President Bush during a Feb. 26 ceremony. The award is for his actions in November 1965, when the then-major served with the Company A 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion.

According to military records, Crandall and then-Capt. Ed Freeman volunteered to fly UH-1 Hueys into battle in the Ia Drang Valley after military commanders deemed the area too dangerous for aircraft.

(Excerpt) Read more at estripes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
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To: ansel12

The 73 RIF was rough. Here but for the grace of God.

Right after Vietnam the Army stopped promoting to Major for a couple of years. There was an active list but it just stopped. The RIF looked at things a little differently. There were Captains who already had a promotion number for Major who were RIFed. I knew of two Captains who had spent a year at the Inf Advanced Course followed by two years of degree completion only to be RIFed as they got their degrees at Tampa.


21 posted on 02/10/2007 9:02:23 AM PST by leadpenny
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To: leadpenny

I meant to say, The RIF boards looked at thing a little differently.


22 posted on 02/10/2007 9:04:10 AM PST by leadpenny
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To: street_lawyer

Considering the number of helicopter pilots in the Army at that time he's lucky he made it to Lieutenant Colonel.


23 posted on 02/10/2007 9:27:20 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: A.A. Cunningham

They didn't RIF helicopter pilots. They RIFed officers who sometimes happen to be helicopter pilots.


24 posted on 02/10/2007 9:53:07 AM PST by leadpenny
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To: ansel12
"The change was instantaneous, and I was disappointed to find out that the flood of officers being discharged seemed to be mostly the aggressive warriors, and the combat commissioned types."

Thanks, we needed that.

Also need to add that the 'rising to the top' was well underway prior to '73. I think there is always an underground of time servers and ticket punching bureaucrats at work in the military and they need to undercut the others even while seeking all the ribbons and ranger tabs the doers and would be doers earned honestly.

25 posted on 02/10/2007 10:02:47 AM PST by norton
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To: GreyFriar

Thanks for the ping. Better late than never -- and he gets to wear it, which many MOH recipients don't.


26 posted on 02/10/2007 10:06:11 AM PST by zot (GWB -- the most slandered man of this decade)
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To: norton

There are always those who game the system but you can't do it for an entire career. Army Selection Boards are not perfect but they are the next best thing. I know, I worked there for a while. There are so many checks and balances that no one can be carried or screwed unfairly. Oh, and it's not "ranger tabs," it's Ranger Tab, and it's not given to anyone. It's earned.


27 posted on 02/10/2007 10:15:17 AM PST by leadpenny
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To: ansel12

"I was disappointed to find out that the flood of officers being discharged seemed to be mostly the aggressive warriors, and the combat commissioned types."

The bean counters were doing the selection, and the only curb on them was the WPPA.


28 posted on 02/10/2007 10:33:29 AM PST by dsc
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To: leadpenny

"There are so many checks and balances that no one can be carried or screwed unfairly."

If your definition of fairness is limited to "applying the same rules to everyone the same way every time," then that might be true.

However, when the rules are structurally unfair, inequities can emerge despite the equitable application thereof.

Remember what Felix Frankfurter said: There is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals. That is the Catch 22 the bean counters use to displace and dispose of warriors.


29 posted on 02/10/2007 10:41:14 AM PST by dsc
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To: leadpenny

"Selection for promotion has very little to do with the awards you have earned. They don't hurt but the boards look at efficiency reports and potential."

See, that statement contains a contradiction. The most significant indicator of potential *should be* performance in combat, of which personal awards for valor are an important indicator.

No one who has performed well, even heroically, in combat, should *ever* be passed over for someone who hasn't.


30 posted on 02/10/2007 10:45:10 AM PST by dsc
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To: ICE-FLYER

"Crandall got out but not because they tried to kick him out or any other such thing. Its not because they screwed him."

Was he on the list for 0-6 when he got out? Had he been passed over? How many times? Had someone given him a "word to the wise?"


31 posted on 02/10/2007 10:47:30 AM PST by dsc
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To: dsc

I've got to run out for a while but what you propose - combat v. non-combat - is not possible.

You're wrong about the WPPA also. You'd be amazed what I saw happen on the boards.

I'll be back.


32 posted on 02/10/2007 10:55:45 AM PST by leadpenny
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To: RaceBannon

.

This Trojan 6-India.

GARRY OWEN, Sir.

.


33 posted on 02/10/2007 11:58:34 AM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: RaceBannon

.


Trojan 6 = Lt. Col. HAL G. MOORE


Trojan 6-India = Lt. Co. HAL G. MOORE Radioman

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm
(See 1st Photo)

.


34 posted on 02/10/2007 12:16:15 PM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: All; mdcrandall; Lexington Green; Mudboy Slim; Cailleach; RaceBannon; ansel12; condi2008; ...

.

NEVER FORGET


Army Aviator to be Awarded Medal of Honor

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1782228/posts



NEVER FORGET

.


35 posted on 02/10/2007 12:43:28 PM PST by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: dsc
scum rises to the top and flushes the good people out of the military.

How do I spell Leslie Clark?

36 posted on 02/10/2007 2:30:37 PM PST by street_lawyer (Conservative Defender of the Faith)
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To: A.A. Cunningham
Considering the number of helicopter pilots in the Army at that time he's lucky he made it to Lieutenant Colonel.

Let me see if I can get my brain around this one? There were how many pilots who should have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, who got RIF'd?

37 posted on 02/10/2007 2:37:07 PM PST by street_lawyer (Conservative Defender of the Faith)
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Comment #38 Removed by Moderator

To: ICE-FLYER

Thank you for the additional information.

BTTT


39 posted on 02/10/2007 3:01:02 PM PST by onyx (DEFEAT Hillary Clinton, Marxist, student of Saul Alinsky & ally and beneficiary of Soros.)
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To: ALOHA RONNIE


BTTT


40 posted on 02/10/2007 3:01:41 PM PST by onyx (DEFEAT Hillary Clinton, Marxist, student of Saul Alinsky & ally and beneficiary of Soros.)
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