Distinguished Warfare Medal?!??!?!

[masterrig 1]

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It appears to me that he wanted to do his part but injuries may have kept him from it

It appears to me he was a fucking draft dodger who could have done SOMETHING more than just make movies to boost morale (and his bank account) - his ambiguous "record" notwithstanding.

And he had a girlie name.

Smile when you say that... pilgrim!

Personally, I really don't care. I saw one or two of hia movies and thus, saw them all. I tend to agree, he could've done 'something'. USO or something like that. A lot of entertainers may not have fought on the front lines but they did something.


Chuck

[Andy9o8 0]

I think he did do some USO shows, but so what? - he wasn't Betty Grable. Some kind of service-in-uniform, for government grunt wages, while his civvie career was on hold.

[masterrig 1]

You're right.


Chuck

[aphid 0]

I may be naive, but isn't dissing the revered memories of The Duke grounds for charges of Treason down your way?

John

[masterrig 1]

Yup! Folks down in this country take him pretty serious. A little too serious.


Chuck

[winsor 186]

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While this has become way off topic... One must ask themselves why his fellow movie stars who were the Lee Marvins, Jimmy Stewarts, Audie Murphys and the like never cast the stone of "Draft Dodger" at John Wayne. There's always two sides to the coin.

"So here’s one for the “Duke,” he may not have been a military hero, but we now have proof that he did actually volunteer for service in World War II."

SOURCE: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2010/02/28/John-Wayne--World-War-II-and-the-Draft

One you do not hear much about is Aldo Ray. He survived the war after serving as a UDT diver.

My father worked a Bofors 40mm on the bow of LCIG 365, and took part in a number of invasions. You hear about a handful of islands the Marines stormed, but they took about one island a week when up to pace, IIRC.

In any event, my father once noted that the terror he felt while being just off the beach under withering fire from Japanese defenses a short distance away, and was stunned by the UDT guys who blithely zipped further toward the beach, rolled out of their little boats and did their job. He described it as the most amazing demonstration of courage he had ever seen.

Aldo Ray was one of those guys.

My father never said a kind word about John Wayne. He viewed The Duke as the worst kind of draft dodger wannabe.

FWIW, Ronald Reagan, though he never served overseas, was a Captain in the USAAF, serving from 1937 to 1945. He was a reserve officer when hostilities were declared, and called to active duty thereafter.

Though turned down for a commission by the White House, Charles Lindbergh managed to become a fighter ace, flying some 50 combat missions as a civilian "technical adviser."

My Thesis Adviser was with the Signal Corps in the Pacific. Knowing I was a Paratrooper, he told me about his experience at Fort Benning before going overseas.

It seems that Paratroopers in the vicinity of Benning made a habit of pushing leg-mobile types out of their way when walking down the street. I do not know if Dr. Beard was one of those bullied by the newly-minted Elite Troops, but he took umbrage at the practice.

In any event, there were a number of combat veterans who found themselves stateside, at Benning in particular. A couple of Paratroopers tried to push these guys out of the way - assuming their lack of swagger mean they were easy pickings - and the Paratroops were then hospitalized with severe injuries.

John Wayne had a reputation for picking fistfights with people he thought he could best. He, like the untested Paratroops, seemed both full of himself and needing to prove something.

Maybe he took a stab at being active duty; I have no first hand knowledge. However, the fact that he was a civilian who played military heroes in the movies makes him no less of a poser than Sylvester Stallone (who was 4-F, IIRC).


BSBD,

Winsor

[Andy9o8 0]

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Though turned down for a commission by the White House, Charles Lindbergh managed to become a fighter ace, flying some 50 combat missions as a civilian "technical adviser."

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Because of his trips to Nazi Germany, combined with a belief in eugenics,[107] Lindbergh was suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer.

Lindbergh's reaction to Kristallnacht was entrusted to his diary: "I do not understand these riots on the part of the Germans," he wrote. "It seems so contrary to their sense of order and intelligence. They have undoubtedly had a difficult 'Jewish problem,' but why is it necessary to handle it so unreasonably?"[108] Lindbergh had planned to move to Berlin for the winter of 1938–39, just after Kristallnacht, a time when many Americans reacted with revulsion at the barbarism. He had provisionally found a house in Wannsee, but after Nazi friends discouraged him from leasing it because it had been formerly owned by Jews,[109] it was recommended that he contact Albert Speer who said he would build the Lindberghs a house anywhere they wanted.

In his diaries, he wrote: "We must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence ... Whenever the Jewish percentage of total population becomes too high, a reaction seems to invariably occur. It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type are, I believe, an asset to any country."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh#Thoughts_on_race_and_racism

Who knows? Had his real pals won their little dust-up, they just might have considered you one of the "few of the right type", and not transformed you into macadam. Then again, with your skill set, you just might have been considered too dangerous. Eh, but he was a good pilot with guts, and he helped kill Japs (of course); so whatever.

[winsor 186]

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Though turned down for a commission by the White House, Charles Lindbergh managed to become a fighter ace, flying some 50 combat missions as a civilian "technical adviser."

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Because of his trips to Nazi Germany, combined with a belief in eugenics,[107] Lindbergh was suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer.

Lindbergh's reaction to Kristallnacht was entrusted to his diary: "I do not understand these riots on the part of the Germans," he wrote. "It seems so contrary to their sense of order and intelligence. They have undoubtedly had a difficult 'Jewish problem,' but why is it necessary to handle it so unreasonably?"[108] Lindbergh had planned to move to Berlin for the winter of 1938–39, just after Kristallnacht, a time when many Americans reacted with revulsion at the barbarism. He had provisionally found a house in Wannsee, but after Nazi friends discouraged him from leasing it because it had been formerly owned by Jews,[109] it was recommended that he contact Albert Speer who said he would build the Lindberghs a house anywhere they wanted.

In his diaries, he wrote: "We must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence ... Whenever the Jewish percentage of total population becomes too high, a reaction seems to invariably occur. It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type are, I believe, an asset to any country."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh#Thoughts_on_race_and_racism

Who knows? Had his real pals won their little dust-up, they just might have considered you one of the "few of the right type", and not transformed you into macadam. Then again, with your skill set, you just might have been considered too dangerous. Eh, but he was a good pilot with guts, and he helped kill Japs (of course); so whatever.

So he was a nazi. Nobody's perfect.

[Bolas 5]

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So he was a nazi. Nobody's perfect.

You start one genocide...

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

Hi winsor,

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He viewed The Duke as the worst kind of draft dodger wannabe.

That has been my view for the majority of my life.

I enlisted when I was 19; I wanted to get away from home.

I served during peacetime ( in and out before VietNam got cooking ) and I am very glad of that. I truly respect those who have served in combat.

I was merely fortunate.

JerryBaumchen

[kallend 1,623]

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Hi winsor,

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He viewed The Duke as the worst kind of draft dodger wannabe.

And combining those thoughts, what about the Duke of Windsor who spent WWII safely in Bermuda while his brothers Albert, Henry and George all served (George being KIA, 1942)

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[masterrig 1]

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I think he did do some USO shows, but so what? - he wasn't Betty Grable. Some kind of service-in-uniform, for government grunt wages, while his civvie career was on hold.

All this discussionabout John Wayne, got me thinking. They could make a sequel to 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon'... 'He Wore A Yellow Streak'!


Chuck

[davjohns 1]

I never knew anything about this issue. I read the two articles. One dismisses a written application for service as a 'half-hearted effort'. Strange characterization in my book. The other article cites an application to the Naval Academy, written application for service, and a hand written letter veritably begging for help in joining. I don't know what the man's thoughts and motives were, but if he was a draft dodger, he had strange tactics.

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[masterrig 1]

Yes and I've read of deferments and not wanting to mess-up a career and so-on and so-on. I've read too where he refused to talk about it. The way I see it, we're left with our own opinions.


Chuck

[BillyVance 34]

Just came out an hour ago....

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/03/bill_proposes_moving_controver.html#incart_river_default

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[masterrig 1]

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Just came out an hour ago....

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/03/bill_proposes_moving_controver.html#incart_river_default

That'll work!


Chuck

[Gravitymaster 0]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REMOTE_WARFARE_STRESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-11-03-49-30

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AP) -- The gritty combat in Afghanistan is thousands of miles away.

But the analysts in the cavernous room at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia relive the explosions, the carnage and the vivid after-battle assessments of the bombings over and over again. The repeated exposure to death and destruction rolling across their computer screens is taking its own special toll on their lives.

The military has begun to grapple with the mental and emotional strains endured by personnel who may never come face to face with a Taliban insurgent, never dodge a roadside bomb or take fire, but who nevertheless may be responsible for taking human lives or putting their colleagues in mortal danger.

Now, for the first time, an Air Force chaplain and a psychologist are walking the floor of the operations center at Langley, offering counseling and stress relief to the airmen who scrutinize the war from afar.

Sitting at computer banks lining the expansive room, the Air Force analysts watch the video feeds streaming from surveillance drones and other military assets monitoring U.S. forces around the globe. Photos, radar data, full-motion video and electronically gathered intelligence flows across multiple screens. In 15- to 20-minute shifts, the airmen watch and interpret the information.

Through chat windows, they exchange data, update intelligence reports and talk in real time with commanders on the ground, including troops whose lives may depend on the constant and rapid flow of information they get from Langley.

For example, they may provide information that allows a commander to order an airstrike, but after the weapon is launched, the analysts might suddenly see that the insurgents are fleeing or that civilians or children are moving into the strike zone, and by then they are helpless to do anything about it.

"If you have a 21-year-old playing a video game, when the game is over they start again. Here, if they miss a bad guy, that's what they carry with them," said Air Force Maj. Shauna Sperry, a psychologist who has just begun working with the air wing.

They also often have to go over video of an incident repeatedly to assess the battle damage.

"It's not a video game, it's real," said Capt. Robert Duplease, the chaplain assigned to the 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group. "It's repeated exposure to destruction and warfare. They see it, rewind it, see it, rewind it."

The reality is spelled out in the list of daily mission assignments displayed on a multicolored chart cluttered with boxes, letters and numbers: where the missions are, what type of aircraft or sensors are being used, and which team of airmen is assigned to monitor each one. Two to seven analysts make up the teams that work at each workstation.

"Here at Langley, there's nothing coming over the wall at us. That's a fact. No one with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) is shooting at us, no mortars are coming in," Duplease said. "But they'll see something in a video feed that maybe they can't do anything to prevent. They have no power to intervene, but they have the repeated visual exposure to these things. They're constantly immersed in carnage, but it's not a video game. It's real."

According to Duplease, the analysts may also have to cope with feelings of helplessness, frustration and regret watching an operation on the ground and see something happen - or see someone injured hurt or killed - and they couldn't do anything to prevent it.

The airmen at Langley can't talk publicly about the details of their work because it's classified.

"The stuff they're watching is crazier than the news cycle," Duplease said. "Life outside of here goes on, but life behind the veil is totally different and adjustments have to be made. Sometimes they have trouble with those adjustments."

In fact, Sperry and Duplease suggested that not being on the front lines may actually contribute to the stress.

"They are electronically in the fight in the deployed area every minute," Sperry said. "They make life and death decisions every day, then they go home and have to play mom or dad ... Sometimes things can be depressing for them."

Troops fighting in Afghanistan, for example, only have to focus on the combat jobs they are doing, Duplease said. The airmen, on the other hand, spend 12 hours immersed in the fight, then go home to what are supposed to be normal lives. But they often can't talk about what they did or saw all day because the operations are classified.

There is a slowly emerging recognition within the military that those combined pressures affect the troops who battle the war from afar in some of the same ways that strain forces on the front lines. The most recent public acknowledgement of the issue came recently when the Pentagon created a new medal for remote warfare personnel. But that has caused some resentment among traditional warriors because it is ranked above the Purple Heart or Bronze Star.

The idea to put a chaplain inside the center came from unit commander Col. Mike Shortsleeve and other leaders who noticed that some members of the wing were having problems sleeping and that smoking, alcohol and behavioral issues were increasing. In surveys, airmen also suggested there was a need for having a chaplain in the unit.

According to Duplease and Sperry, moving around the operations center during each day's 12-hour shifts helps get the troops more comfortable with their presence and encourage them to reach out for help. Duplease, who said he also attended mission briefings, said slowly people began to approach him and after about two months, the interactions really began to pick up.

Many of the analysts are as young as 21, and may not yet have developed the ability to deal with the stress. And they worry that revealing their problems could prompt commanders to take away their security clearances or hurt their promotion opportunities.

In response, Duplease and Sperry created sleep classes and counseling sessions, and they have scheduled retreats for married couples and singles to help instill relationship and coping skills. They also are assuring the airmen that to date no one there has lost his or her security clearance as a result of seeking any counseling or assistance.

The success of the Langley program has prompted the Air Force to look at ways to replicate it at other locations around the country.

"We are trying to be proactive rather than reactive," said Duplease. "We want to get ahead of things before become major issues."

[BillyVance 34]

Interesting point of view. Never thought of it like that. I can't imagine being at the computer helping forces with info on targeting and shit goes wrong and the wrong people gets killed, right there on the screen in front of you, for example...

I wouldn't want to be that guy.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[BIGUN 1,051]

From Post #27:

The issue is not the medal.
The issue is it's ranking above the BS(V) or SS(V)

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[Gravitymaster 0]

The point of my post is there is obviously more mental anguish involved that you previously understood or you and others would not have been so demeaning towards them.

What would John Wayne say?

[sfzombie 3]

screw john wayne (in this case, i like him otherwise). what would patton say?

http://kitswv.com

[BillyVance 34]

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screw john wayne (in this case, i like him otherwise). what would patton say?

He said this: "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[BIGUN 1,051]

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The point of my post is there is obviously more mental anguish involved that you previously understood or you and others would not have been so demeaning towards them.

What would John Wayne say?

"Get off your butts and join the Marines!"

More mental anguish than I previously understood..

.Gimmie a break.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[Gravitymaster 0]

Cold

[oldwomanc6 38]

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Cold

Not colder than a foxhole.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9