LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) – The Purple Heart, formally known as the Badge of Military Merit, is conferred for exceptional bravery under fire. It’s an honor not given lightly, though more than 1.7 million medals have been granted, most of them posthumously.
The 12 active duty soldiers and one retired soldier killed at the Readiness Center at Fort Hood on November 5th were waiting for medical and dental exams on a random Thursday. They were not in the line of fire, they were not armed, and, most crucially, they were not, as far as they knew, engaged with an enemy combatant.
They, and the 30 wounded, are thus not eligible for Purple Hearts. As the National Purple Heart Roll of Honor website notes, “from 1942 on it was limited to service men and women wounded or killed in combat against the enemy.”
But, growing public opinion begs to differ about the interpretation of an enemy, and even what constitutes combat. The Civil War precedent may indicate Purple Hearts can be granted for those killed or wounded on American soil. And, as one blogger (among many) puts it, “these soldiers were killed or wounded by a known enemy terrorist! The Purple Heart honors those whose blood was shed in wartime, whether they were actively engaging the enemy or not. And Nidal Hasan is the terrorist enemy.”
Naming Hasan a terrorist and enemy combatant has a slim chance, especially among public opinion-sensitive Washington muckety mucks. If he were so designated, however, the rules which govern the granting of the medal state it can be conferred “as a result of an international terrorist attack against the United States or a foreign nation friendly to the United States, recognized as such an attack by the Secretary of the department concerned.”
At present, it’s more likely the Fort Hood dead will only be granted the Legion of Merit, an honor which does not require enemy engagement in recognition of exceptional action and sacrifice.
Another blogger looks at it this way, ” [giving the Purple Heart] is a chance to point out to General Diversity [George Casey] that if he insists that soldiers die for diversity instead of freedom, at least they should be honored for it.”
We will follow the story as it unfolds.
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Laura spent years as a Hollywood story analyst, did a big 180, and is now an entrepreneur focused on web marketing and analytics. She's also a mom of one.Laura Glendinning article archive.
