Our fighting men and women deserve all the recognition in the world. But are we going overboard on the number of awards and decorations being given out? In youth soccer when you give a trophy to everyone, the significance of the trophy approaches zero. Have we adopted the “trophy for everyone” mentality in the military? I don’t think so, but these numbers are surprisingly high. The Army Times reports:
“Award and decoration totals for soldiers who have served, or are serving, in Iraq and Afghanistan, topped 857,000 through fiscal 2010, according to the Army’s latest medal count for the war on terrorism.
The statistics, compiled by the military awards branch of Human Resources Command, show that after nearly nine years of combat, soldiers have earned 163,564 awards for participation in Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes Afghanistan.
The award total for Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began March 15, 2003, and ended Sept. 30, stands at 693,822.
The combined total of 857,390 equates to about 48 percent of the Army medal count for World War II, 30 percent of the total for the Vietnam War and seven times the number awarded for the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War.”