Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Let there be snark.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

“woke” is the new caravan.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Veteran’s Day 2020: A Long Overdue Honor

Veteran’s Day 2020: A Long Overdue Honor

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Yesterday the US Senate passed legislation providing a statutory exemption to the time limit for awarding the Medal of Honor. This exemption is for one very specific soldier: Sergeant 1st Class (SFC) Alwyn Cashe.

From The Washington Post:

The Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that clears the way for President Trump to award the nation’s highest award for valor in combat to Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, who repeatedly entered a burning vehicle in Iraq to save six fellow soldiers and an interpreter from harm and died a few weeks later.

The legislation, passed by unanimous consent, waives the legal requirement that the Medal of Honor be awarded within five years of a service member’s acts of valor. Cashe has long been considered one of the war’s great American heroes and would be the first African American to receive the award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Former defense secretary Mark T. Esper supported the move in a letter to Congress in August after years of deliberations within the Army.

The Senate bill was introduced on a bipartisan basis following the approval of similar legislation in the House last week. In both cases, lawmakers said they wanted to move quickly.

The approval of the Cashe legislation in both chambers leaves Trump’s approval as the only hurdle to Cashe receiving the award. The president has not commented on the case, but Cashe is often cited within conservative circles as worthy of the award. A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the open case, said before the legislation’s passage in the Senate that Trump would be supportive.

Cashe, 35, of Oviedo, Fla., was deployed to Samarra, Iraq, with the 3rd Infantry Division when the armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle he was in rolled over an improvised explosive device on Oct. 17, 2005. He was slightly injured by the explosion and drenched fuel, and realized the vehicle’s fuel cell had erupted and the vehicle had burst into flames.

Cashe made numerous trips into the vehicle to recover fellow soldiers, suffering burns in the process. He died about three weeks later on Nov. 5 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, which is known for its unit treating burns suffered in combat.

Cashe was initially approved for the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor in combat. His commanding officer, then-Lt. Col. Gary Brito, later said that he did not initially have a full understanding for what Cashe did and has sought an upgrade for years. Brito is now a three-star general and the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel.

“Without regard for his personal safety, Sergeant First Class Cashe rushed to the back of the vehicle, reaching into the hot flames and started pulling out his soldiers,” the Silver Star citation said. “The flames gripped his fuel soaked uniform. Flames quickly spread all over his body.”

Cashe continued to assist others, even after he was on fire, the citation said. He suffered burns over 72 percent of his body.

Cashe’s sister, Kasinal Cashe White, said in phone conference with reporters recently that she did not believe discrimination had a role in the Army’s failure to award the Medal of Honor sooner. She cited a conversation that she had with Brito, who also is Black, in 2007.

Brito, she said, told her that no one in the 3rd Infantry Division had received anything higher than the Silver Star and that he knew from the information he had at the time that Cashe merited one.

“What I feel is that the information did not get back in time,” she said.

White added that she “won’t allow anybody to make it a race thing.”

“He did what he did not because he was Black, but because he was a soldier and because he loved his men,” she said. “And I believe they loved him in return.”

I expect that if the President, in a fit of pique over how the election went, refuses to sign it, it’ll be quickly resubmitted in the next Congress and President-elect Biden will sign it and then make the award.

I did not know SFC Cashe as I didn’t go to work for the Army until 2007. However, I do have a connection to him and know of his heroism. When I deployed to Iraq in 2008 with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team/1st Armored Division (2BCT/1AD), the Iron Brigade, our operating environment (OE) included one (command) forward operating base (FOB), four combat outposts (COP), and a number of patrol bases (PB). Our armor battalion, 1st Battalion/35th Armor Regiment (Task Force Iron Knights) was located just outside of Jisr Diyala on a combat outpost that was divided into a north and south base. This base’s name is COP Cashe; specifically COP Cashe North and COP Cashe South. I spent a lot of time during my deployment working with the 1/35 Armor Soldiers, as well as their Civil Affairs Team-Alpha (CAT-A), and their National Police Training Team (NPiTT) and, as a result, spent a good amount of time living and working off of COP Cashe South. There was a large portrait of SFC Cashe in the entryway to the tactical operations center (TOC) and a description of his heroism hung beside it.

This award is well deserved and too long overdue. And it is fitting that the Senate bestirred itself to actually act on this in advance of Veterans Day.

And, so that I don’t get yelled at in the comments, here’s some appropriate Veterans Day music.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    Thanks for spotlighting this story.

    And, so that I don’t get yelled at in the comments

    Like anything can prevent that.

  6. 6.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I expect that if the President, in a fit of pique over how the election went, refuses to sign it,

    That was pretty much my expectation; remember what Trump thinks about our military(suckers and losers).

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    YouTube is broken.

    On Topic: Good. These are the kind of people we should use to name our bases. That’s actually how it worked for bases in Germany – no Congressional rednecks to appease.

  18. 18.

    HumboldtBlue

    Adam, isn’t the 3rd Infantry Division stationed at Benning? Fort Cashe sounds a helluva lot better.

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @HumboldtBlue: 3ID is split between Benning and Stewart. The Command Group, if I’m recalling correctly, is at Benning. I can’t remember which Soldier we’ve got lined up as the potential replacement for a renamed Benning. But trust me he is much more deserving than Benning.

  22. 22.

    David ?Booooooo!? Koch

    after years of deliberations within the Army.

    why was this an issue? It seems clear cut heroism worthy of a medal of honor.

  23. 23.

    Lyrebird

    @Omnes Omnibus: These are the kind of people we should use to name our bases.

    Hear, hear.  And thanks Adam for front-paging this news!

     

    I watched a video on Cashe’s bravery.  So sad that he lost his life, so clear that he was unshakably committed to his fellow soldiers.  (Sorry if I use the wrong vocab.)  From the video it sounded like a bunch of the others died back in TX as well, but I guess at least they got to go home and see their loved ones again.

  25. 25.

    Nobody in particular

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Base naming. Cancel Culture. The first case of “cancel culture” in the nation’s early military history occurred during the revolution when Fort Benedict Arnold reverted back to its current name and geographic locale: West Point. And it may yet still be renamed, Fort Pompeo before the eviction.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: So you’ll be attending the Million Karen March on the afternoon of 20 JAN 2021 protesting the inauguration of President Biden? There are three major concerns that the protestors want to see addressed, in addition to Trump no longer being president, are: waiters that don’t refill drinks quickly enough, those people in public spaces, and unresponsive managers.

  40. 40.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: The main thing is that they really do not want medal inflation to touch that that one.  There are time limits, witness requirements, and a bunch of other stuff and that’s before politics (both civilian and military) becomes involved.

    If you ever meet a live MOH holder, you should be amazed because the odds against surviving the kind of things you have to do for them to even talk about it are astronomical.

  43. 43.

    Victor Matheson

    @JanieM: I have played a song before class every day for the last 20 years I have been teaching. I played the Dropkick Murphy’s version of Green Fields of France this morning. (Bowie’s “Changes” was yesterday.)

  45. 45.

    FlyingToaster

    @Adam L Silverman:

    the Million Karen March

    It’s like the Million Moms, which seems to be 3 moms (more like 60, but in clusters of 3 scattered around edge cities across the country) who know a producer at FoxNews and can get on the air.

  47. 47.

    Churchy LaFemme

    Let me heartily recommend  the version of The Green Fields of France done by The Men They Couldn’t Hang. It’s not _supposed_ to be a pretty song.

  48. 48.

    Barbara

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Women named Karen were more likely to vote for Biden than women with any other name.  Barbara was second most likely . . . Maybe let’s give the Karens of the world a break from ridicule.

  51. 51.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve spent some time with Sammy Davis “The Real Forrest Gump” and he’s a really nice and funny guy. He gave a talk at a fundraiser for the nurses memorial at the Wall and told the story of his MOH. His arty unit was overrun and although he couldn’t swim, he took an air mattress and crossed a river three times to save his comrades. One of the guys he saved was at the event and hadn’t seen him since that day. He had been shot through the head and was deaf for he was standing there lip reading Sammy as he told the story. You could have heard a pin drop in a room with about 1000 well oiled vets (it was Veterans Day in DC and we’d all been at the Wall). So Sammy is winding up and it’s a really emotional time. He looks at the guy and says “you know Bob here would look a lot better but I dropped him on his face a couple of time while I carried him to safety”! I mean it brought the house down and was a great way to wind up his speech.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: He looks at the guy and says “you know Bob here would look a lot better but I dropped him on his face a couple of time while I carried him to safety”!

    Perfect.

  61. 61.

    Nobody in particular

     

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Any day now “Forrest Trump” will award himself the MOH for his repeated attempts to save himself. Pompeo will pin it on him, eventually.

  65. 65.

    Nobody in particular

    @raven: At my age and length of service I’ve been promoted to the Inner Circle of the Party. It’s very Grey up in here.

  77. 77.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman: @?BillinGlendaleCA: So you’ll be attending the Million Karen March on the afternoon of 20 JAN 2021 protesting the inauguration of President Biden? There are three major concerns that the protestors want to see addressed, in addition to Trump no longer being president, are: waiters that don’t refill drinks quickly enough, those people in public spaces, and unresponsive manager

    Sounds dangerous because all the 9-11 and emergency numbers will be busy and nobody will be able to get through. A lot of cell phone cameras recording karens as well. Everyone’s minds are going to just burst!

  78. 78.

    Nobody in particular

    @raven: No argument there. But he’s Tom Hanks. His HBO specials as Producer have all been well done. Masterful.  I believe his first was the HBO mini-series John Adam’s, based on David McCullough’s book. It should be required viewing in every American Civics course. I’m watching it again. And Tom Ricks’ new book, First Principles (Marcus Aurelius) looks like it might be a good read, the Framers had many influences, including borrowing ideas from the Iroquois Federation. Franklin and Jefferson (myself included) were both enamored with the indigenous and First Nations societies, and even though it’s not Ricks usual beat, any enumeration of their many influences must include the Romans and Greeks. And the study of Marcus Aurelius’ First Principles made Hannibal Lecter a better character as a serial killer. But I don’t think that the Emperor had this in mind.

    There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.
    – John Adams, Letter to Jonathan Jackson, October 1780.

    Almost to a man, this was a concern of the Founders. Yet they devised a system that promotes the very thing they feared most. The law of unintended consequences strikes again. In the ’50s a French Sociologist named Duverger figured out why. It’s now known as Duverger’s Law and since the Constitution is mute on elections – with the two obvious exceptions – it is really something any state can work to ameliorate. This is the result of the way we conduct our elections: Single Member District Plurality, first past the post, winner take all. And although I’m a transplant, I can claim Mr. Hanks as a “local boy made good.”

  81. 81.

    Nobody in particular

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

     

    This might be a function and result of semantic drift and the futile nature of political labels and labeling. What they did was create political parties, though not their intent. If you read the relevant Federalist Papers that touch on this critical issue of “factionalism,” just substitute “party” for “faction.” 10 and 51, I believe. Factions arise with or without our interference – which often just makes it worse. The Athenians’ experience with democracy is illustrative, even instructive here. Ideology, any ideology, is the usual suspect, but democracy (which is not an ideology), like a sword, can cut both ways. As Winston said,

    ‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’

    Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947

  85. 85.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Yarrow:

    Yes indeed. It’s a fascinating story all around.

    I can only make the heartiest suggestion to watch.

    I first saw it on Netflix. As is my wont. I then started looking up the original stuff, the inspiration, the people, and it gets better and better.

  87. 87.

    The Pale Scot

    Adam, have read or have an opinion about Shadow State by Luke Hardy?

    This stuff can be like that conspiracy board meme. Not sure if it’s just me getting old but I haven’t been able to pull all the threads together so I can explain it to other people

  90. 90.

    The Pale Scot

    Forgot to put up Liam Clancy’s Band Played Waltzing Matilda, ANZAC landing at Gallipoli

     

    And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay

    I looked at the place where me legs used to be.

    And thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me

    To grieve and to mourn and to pity.

  95. 95.

    Nobody in particular

    @The Pale Scot:

     

    I would read this book, and be curious to hear Adam’s take, also. Perhaps you already have. As a casual observer, I’d suggest it is an evolution in the nature of conflict. Or war.

    If Clausewitz is correct – and I find it helps me make sense of this confounding world – simply stated, War is politics carried on by other means and methods.

    Consider the outrage of the Redcoats when American colonists fought more like “indians” than gentlemen. Everything evolves and changes and the line between “politics” and “conlict” just becomes more difficult to plot. Few Americans today realize we were attacked, are in a state of war with oligarchs near and abroad, some right here. That line was never really there. “We” put it there to assuage our fears and continue to dream of possible utopias. It is less expensive to wage war this way, less lethal, loud.

    Apparently, Americans are going to understand we are at war when Putin flies an aircraft into their own homes.

    PEACE, n. In international affairs, a period of cheating between two periods of fighting.

    Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

  96. 96.

    germy

    If a South American leader had refused to accept the results of a an election, said the crazy sh*t Trump says, was building a wall around the WH, firing officials and getting party loyalists to go along with his lies, the CIA would be sending guns & advisors to the opposition.

    — NoelCaslerComedy (@CaslerNoel) November 12, 2020

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