A flash of blue

I was back at Fort Gordon for my second round of AIT.  I had just returned from the Gulf War, spent some time in college and decided to move on.  As a way to earn money, I volunteered to go back to school for a second MOS (job) with the National Guard. 

As prior service we were granted more liberties than the new recruits there for the first time.  As veterans who had served in a war zone we were required to wear a combat patch. In the Battle Dress Uniform (or BDU’s) your unit patch is worn on the left sleeve. Everyone except new recruits not yet assigned to a unit has one.  If you have served in a war zone with a unit you wear the patch of that unit on your right sleeve.  This “combat patch” never changes and you wear it for the rest of your career.  We also wore the backwards American flag (probably the dumbest idea the Army ever had but… don’t get me started).  I think the regulations have been changed now so that everyone wears the flag patch but at the time only veterans had them. Those of us with extra patches were looked at with something approaching awe by the new guys. The older guys that were stationed state side during the war sometimes looked at those patches with annoyance because they didn’t have one.  Both of those reactions get old after a while so we tended to stick to ourselves a lot.

One evening several of us were sitting in a break area passing the time between classes and the final formation of the day.  A Staff Sergeant that we didn’t know walked into the area and asked for directions to a particular barracks.  It’s a training base so strict protocol requires that someone call out “at ease” when he enters the area and everyone stands and assumes a half-ass position of parade rest until the guy says “carry on”.   It’s really mostly for show and just part of everyday life.  The “good” ones will say, “carry on” before you even manage to get to your feet.

I was halfway out up off of the bench that I was sitting on when he said, “carry on” so I gave him a glance and started to sit back down.  He was older than most of us.  I noticed a combat patch and thought, “one of us”.  After a lot of time in the military you learn to evaluate someone in a particular way.  First you check there collar tabs to see what rank they are.  Second you notice the overall appearance. People with sharply pressed uniforms and highly polished boots like this guy either care a great deal about appearances are on some higher ups staff.  That can mean trouble so you checked for a combat patch to get an idea about whether he’s going to be a snob or not. BDU’s are a uniform.  They all look alike.  Every day, all day.  If someone is wearing something on a uniform that is different it’s immediately apparent as “not right”.  You might not know what it is at first but you always catch it.

As my eyes went from this guys collar tabs to his combat patch I caught something “not right” in his uniform.  He was wearing BDU’s (which are the camouflage uniform) but I caught a flash of blue.  There’s no color on a battle dress uniform.  There’s only one award that is worn around the neck rather than pinned on the uniform.  It all happened in less than a second.  The thought process went something like this: “Staff Seargeant”…”Sharp uniform… uh oh” …”combat patch… probably ok” …”wait… what was that… blue? ribbon? OH FUCK!”

“GROUP ATTENTION!” I shouted as I went from half-way back to seated to a fully erect position of attention.  Everyone else snapped to attention as well. It was a training command; You don’t question it, you just do it.   From the position of attention I snapped off one of the crispest salutes that I’ve ever managed to the Congressional Medal of Honor half hidden in his uniform top.  Everyone else caught it a half second behind me and did the same.  We held the salute for 3 seconds and then moved back to the position of attention.  He said, “carry on” again and someone pointed him towards the barracks that he needed.

As he walked away two new privates stared at the ribbon around his neck and kept walking towards us. One of the sergeants in our group flew over a short retaining wall and did a bit of schooling.  Those two will never make that mistake again.

The Congressional Medal of Honor can be worn with any uniform or none.  It doesn’t matter if someone is wearing it in the shower.  If you see it, you salute it.

A few other notes:

* It’s called “The Congressional Medal of Honor”, not “The CMH” or “The MOH”.  That soldier spent something of themselves and was awarded the highest recognition that our country has.  The least you can do is spend some time saying it.

* They are “recipients” not “winners”

* The Medal is awarded not “won”.

* If you weren’t awarded it, don’t wear it.  It’s a federal felony and it makes you an ass.

I had completely forgotten this story until Greybeard reminded me.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like to serve with a recipient.