Sorry, but I just can't agree. While PTSD sufferers deserved sympathy and proper medical care, I don't think that they deserve a medal for being unable to cope with stress.
The Purple Heart is already a fringe award, given to those who fail to get out of the way of deadly munitions. I've been pondering if the Purple Heart should be given in degrees based on the type of would and how it was inflicted. For example, a Purple Heart First Class might be awarded to a soldier wounded in direct combat with an enemy soldier, a Purple Heart Second Class awarded to those wounded indirectly, for example by shell fragments, and a Purple Heart Third Class for those who, while technically wounded, suffered no loss of blood and missed no duty because of it (the example cited in the article of burst eardrums, for example).
The proposed Black Heart is even more of a fringe award. PTSD, while a recognized medical condition, is to the military mind a failure; a failure to cope with the stress that all are expected to face. A medal should never be awarded for failure. By doing so you're demeaning all of the soldiers who didn't succumb to stress, and rewarding a condition of failure.
Why a Black Heart, anyway? Why not a Cracked Egg, for example?
1 comment:
Black Hearts is a good name for a Rock band, but not for a medal.
In fact, the only mostly black colored medal is the POW medal.
I am not implying that PTSD sufferers should not receive something, just not another ribbon. Why would someone want to have a medal that told the world that your mental health has possibly been a little fragile? I would think that the situation could be worsened, and may continue in a more negative direction.
How about we increase funding and efficiency of the VA medical system in honor of these veterans?
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