I posted this in the Army Infantry forums and want to post it with my fellow Air Force service members so we can get the word out.

Two bills were introduced into Congress to authorize a Cold War Service Medal to eligible veterans who served during that period (1946-1991). The first is Senate bill (S. 2743). Here is a short press release:

"WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) today introduced the Cold War Service Medals Act of 2009, bipartisan legislation to authorize the secretaries of the military departments to award Cold War Service Medals to American veterans. To date, no medal exists to honor the men and women who served and defended the United States during the Cold War.

The second companion bill is in the House of Representatives. It is bill (H.R. 4051) which was introduced by Rep. Steve Israel (NY-2). It also calls for the authorization of a Cold War Service Medal to eligible service members.

For over a decade Cold War Vets have been fighting for the creation and authorization of a Cold War Service Medal to honor their service. Over the years legislation has been introduced in Congress only for it to be later stripped out in conference committee.

November 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are hoping that this legislation will finally become reality so that all Cold War Vets can receive the proper recognition they deserve.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor senate bill (S.2743) Also contact your congressman and ask them to co-sponsor house bill (H.R. 4051). We need as many co-sponsors as possible to make this a reality!

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

John

Long overdue.

Pardon me sir, but I'll pass. I don't need a medal. I know what I did & that's enough.

Having joined in 1991, I only got a taste of the Cold War. I think the vets from this victory deserve recognition. We lost many aircrew that most will never know about in this victory. It may not have involved long deployments, but endless alert cycles and SAC standards are no less consuming. When we deploy, we have to protect ourselves, and not worry about the saftey of our family so much. The cold warriors worked day and night to make sure our families were not wiped from the earth.

Rocket has posted his agenda on each branch's page. The Navy mod has already closed the topic.

If there's 3 or 4 government clerks mailing out thousands of these medals, they can take a break and skip me. The medal would just end up in a drawer somewhere.

Scpd, I'd like to ask why you consider the guy's post to be an agenda? Just because he posted that several members of congress are requesting a recognition medal for certain veterans doesn't make it HIS agenda.
Evidently you haven't checked the military history forums on Milcom or you'd know the thread starter isn't alone in this quest.
I served during this time period, enlisting in 1954 and I'm also proud of my service and I also don't need a medal to commerate my 6 years as a bomber mechanic in SAC, but if others want one that's their business and your flip assesment isn't required.
Thanks for serving.

this should have been done long time ago....being on alert 24/7 was not fun...

Esteemed Air Force Folks,

My name's USMC_Kinda_Guy, and I've posted several [hopefully] informative posts on the rather lengthy Cold War Service Medal thread that is located on the Forum's General Discussions section. My posts are meant to clear up some of the misconceptions about the proposed medal and to provide whatever information I possess in order to allay any possible concerns.

In any event, I had just cut-n-pasted from that thread my comments regarding the wisdom of smerely expanding the NDSM to the entire Cold War period and simply calling it a day. I've posted on 2 threads where the issue came up. Apparently, it hasn't come up here yet, but I'll post here also if you don't mind. It would be tragic to employ a cut-n-paste job only twice - a cut-n-paste is a terrible thing to waste. My apologies in advance if I've violated some Forum rules; my intent is to inform, and certainly not to spam.

Cordially,
USMC_Kinda_Guy

quote:
Originally posted by Dave_M:
They could just add those of us who served during the cold war to the National Defense Service Medal eligibility. That way those who served during overlap periods would already have the medal.


Dave_M,

Excellent suggestion, and one that has been made by a great many people. However, a proposal to award a NDSM to address the gaps in coverage during the Cold War peiod (1946-1991) has three major problems:

1) It would directly contravene the initial directive's/subsequent legislation's clear intent of what was envisioned as constituting a period of "national emergency." The NDSM has only been awarded for the time periods assigned to the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, and GWOT, so it seems quite evident that the concept of "national emergency" is to be equated (more or less) with what is commonly termed a "shooting war." Fair enough, and I don't think most people have a particular problem with this equation. One's only recourse would be to argue that the entire Cold War period constituted a single, overarching "shooting war," like an Orwellian concept of eternal war/conflict. Even if one could pull off the argument, there is still...

2) DoD's anticipated objections that expanding the NDSM would "cheapen" the award to those who already received it, as well as "cheapening" the other awards within the wider awards system. Certainly in the case of the NDSM, and given the context that was provided in the preceding paragraph, I would have to agree with DoD. This is working on the assumption that, even if you were not actively engaged in a shooting war, there certainly existed the possibility that you could sent to one if indeed you served during the four authorized periods for the NDSM. (As an aside, DoD's claims regarding the impact of an award on the wider awards system have always failed to convince anyone, especially since it happily went along with the plethora of medals created during the GWOT). In any event, in my humble opinion, there is simply no way you're going to get an expanded-period coverage past DoD, and even if you could...

3) It would still fail to recognize the Cold War as a unique conflict; a conflict that was waged for almost a half-century, with the approval of numerous U.S. Congresses and 9 American Presidents, which marshalled an array of military, intelligence, diplomatic and economic resources of the Western democracies in a number of treaty organizations, and which culminated in the collapse of one of the most powerful empires the world has ever seen, with the result that tens of millions of people were freed from tyranny, and the world's geo-political framework was changed as fundamentally as it had been at the end of WWII. Instead of subsuming the Cold War into an expanded, and woefully generic NDSM, it would be better to recognize the manifold accomplishments entailed in winning the Cold War with an actual Cold War Service Medal (as some of our NATO and SEATO allies are considering).

USMC_Kinda_Guy

I'm not sure of the criteria for this medal, but isn't it similar to the National Defense Medal?

Wray...

National Defense wasn't authorized for most of the cold war. It is meant to be uinique and recgnize the work these cold warriors accomplished.

I'll take one!!

I think we got a National Defense medal straight out of Lackland in the '50s. We called it the Battle of Lackland medal.
And wore it proudly.

Wasn't that due to Korean conflict?

Very short answer-yes.

FYI. I've opened a separate thread in the General Discussion Section so that all interested parties can e-mail their Senators and Representative, asking them to become cosponsors to the two pieces of Cold War Service Medal legislation.

I've placed templates that people can use for the letters; the whole process will be 5 minutes total MAX. Quick, easy, and painless. Happy lobbying, my friends.

Link to lobbying/post thread is:

http://forums.military.com/eve...1282/m/2770092832001

Note: Been having trouble with this link; since everyone knows where the General Discussion Section is, it shouldn't be a big problem.

USMC_Kinda_Guy

pretty sure there are enough people in the Air Force that look like Russian generals.

I have been waiting 45 years for the only two I was awarded during my tour of duty, 1961-65,
and never received. If I have to wait another
45 years for the new one, one might say, I am
just S.O.L..So lets go guys, let me feel good
about myself, send me all three, Ill take them.

Cold War Vet- - Old Turbo Prop

quote:

Originally posted by caninedale:
I think the vets from this victory deserve recognition. We lost many aircrew that most will never know about in this victory.

Records reveal majority of Cold War casualties occurred from 9 May 1945 to 25 April 1962. According to guidelines, in order to qualify for the Purple Heart, the individual was required to be involved with an “enemy.” The only official enemy during the period was North Korea.

In order to level the scale of recognition, I contacted an U.S. Senator for support to no avail.

The VFW was kind enough to pass a Resolution the past three conventions. It urged the President to initiate an Executive Order containing circumstances listed by Presidents Kennedy, and Reagan.

http://smg.photobucket.com/alb...rent=ColdWarR437.jpg

If anyone is interested to contact their Representative, please advise if more data is required.

Robert

So, the U2 pilot shot down and killed during the Cuban Missle crisis in Oct '62 doesn't count? That doesn't make sense, does it?

quote:

Originally posted by Robersabel:

quote:

Originally posted by caninedale:
I think the vets from this victory deserve recognition. We lost many aircrew that most will never know about in this victory.

Records reveal majority of Cold War casualties occurred from 9 May 1945 to 25 April 1962. According to guidelines, in order to qualify for the Purple Heart, the individual was required to be involved with an “enemy.” The only official enemy during the period was North Korea.

In order to level the scale of recognition, I contacted an U.S. Senator for support to no avail.

The VFW was kind enough to pass a Resolution the past three conventions. It urged the President to initiate an Executive Order containing circumstances listed by Presidents Kennedy, and Reagan.

http://smg.photobucket.com/alb...rent=ColdWarR437.jpg

If anyone is interested to contact their Representative, please advise if more data is required.

Robert

Are you taking into account the recce crews that were lost patroling the USSR boarder? Those went well into the 1970's and were classified up until very recently. I wasn't referring to a purple heart however. I was implying giving them a campaign medal they can be proud of is well deserved.