Swift Boater on McCain’s Truth Squad
John McCain's Truth Squad, formed a few months ago in order to respond to charges by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth clone Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain, is prominently featuring an actual member of the Swifties as a spokesman, CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand reports. One of the members of John McCain’s new Truth Squad — which his campaign says was launched ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 30, 2008 16:02
Heroes Real and Manufactured
Robert Kaplan describes the heroism that earned SFC Paul Smith a posthumous Medal of Honor and the two years it took his commander to get it through the system. As Colonel Smith told me, “Everyone wants to award a Medal of Honor. But everyone is even more concerned with worthiness, with getting it right.” There was a real fear that one ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 3, 2008 12:49
David Hackworth’s Legacy
Colonel David Hackworth had a legendary military career which he followed with decades as an author, commentator, and advocate for the American grunt. Like a lot of old soldiers who comment on military affairs, his views were eventually colored too much by the past and unenlightened by how modernization had rendered some old dogmas outmoded. And, like most ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 3, 2008 06:49
Criminalizing Lying about Heroism
It's against the law to falsely claim you've been awarded the Medal of Honor. The NYT's Adam Liptak has an interesting discussion of the matter. “You don’t want to stifle speech about opinions and ideas,” Mr. Missakian said. “But Congress, and rightfully so, recognized the great sacrifice that people awarded the Medal of Honor made on behalf of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 20, 2008 12:52
Kerry Takes Pickens $1 Million Swift Boat Bet
Famed oilman T. Boone Pickens has offered $1 million to anyone who can disprove claims my by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry -- and John Kerry has taken him up on it. Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 17, 2007 08:29
Quiet Heroism
On the eve of Veterans' Day, a new study sheds light on the nature of heroism. An infantryman charges a pillbox in the face of enemy fire. A firefighter rushes up the stairwell of a burning skyscraper as office workers flee. A teacher shields her student from a schoolyard gunman with her body. Heroes all. But what personal qualities made ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 11, 2007 08:59
G.I. Joe - Real Belgian Operating Entity
Fearing that the American soldier is not the ideal international marketing figure in the current climate, the makers of the forthcoming G.I. Joe movie have decided that not only is "G.I. Joe" not an American G.I., he's no longer even named "Joe." Variety reports, While some remember the character from its gung-ho fighting man '60s incarnation, he's evolved. G.I. Joe ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 29, 2007 12:26
Admiral Eugene Fluckey, Medal of Honor and Four Time Navy Cross Recipient, RIP
The word “hero” is getting attached to many things since 2001. Sometimes it isn’t just doing something as an individual, it is being the one making the decisions affecting the lives of 50 or 100 men, as well as oneself. That is what true leadership is. Rear Adm. Eugene B. Fluckey, one of the greatest naval heroes of World War ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 2, 2007 04:55
Girls Go Wild - Not Their Fault?
Garance Franke-Ruta, a senior editor at the liberal American Prospect, takes to the conservative editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to decry the "Girls Gone Wild" problem and call for a nanny state solution: "It is time to raise the age of consent from 18 to 21 -- consent, in this case, referring not to sexual relations but to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 5, 2007 08:22
Recognizing the Medal of Honor
While there are current arguments that the Medal of Honor has become a posthumous event only, sometimes bureaucracy (and stupidity, we won’t talk about the TSA here) is in the way of honoring those who have been awarded the Medal of Honor. It turns out in Oregon, there is only one Medal of Honor recipient, so it would cost ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 23, 2007 04:05
