Opinion: Barry Allen

I am a proud Veteran, having served four years on active duty in the Air Force, and twenty-six years in the Air Force Reserve. I was a military lawyer during my entire career and retired as a Colonel. In my civilian legal practice, I currently represent Veterans and their families in their efforts to obtain disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.  As someone who has spent much of my adult life in service with, and to, my fellow Veterans, I cannot stand idly by while one major political party candidate disrespects, demeans, disparages, and diminishes, all Veterans, let alone the recipients of the military’s highest award for valor. 

The Congressional Medal of Honor (MOH) is authorized for any military service member who, “distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: 

• While engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; 

• While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or 

• While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party." (https://www.cmohs.org/medal) 

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society is limited to recipients of the medal.  (The recipients do not describe themselves as “winners” of the medal, as the award is not a contest where someone deliberately enters with the goal of winning.) The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation supports the Society.  

“Chartered by Congress in 1958, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's membership is comprised of those who wear the Medal of Honor, our nation's highest military award for valor. As individuals who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, the Medal of Honor Recipients are committed to serving our country in peace as they did in war by championing the values of courage, sacrifice, integrity, commitment, patriotism, and citizenship.” (https://www.cmohs.org/about-the-society/overview) 

A military salute is a sign of respect. Typically, a military member who is subordinate in rank or position is the first to salute someone who is more senior, and then the more senior person “returns” the salute. However, there is a different tradition concerning Medal of Honor recipients. In that tradition, the military member or Veteran is the first to salute a Medal of Honor recipient, regardless of the rank or position of the person who salutes first, and irrespective of the recipient’s rank. For example, a Four Star General would be the first to salute a Private who is the recipient of the MOH. 

With this tradition in mind, I attended a convention of the MOH Society several years after my retirement. I was authorized by statute and regulation to wear my uniform as a retiree. More than 25 recipients of the Medal were in attendance. The emotion and honor I felt in saluting the recipients while in uniform is hard to describe; those salutes were among the most meaningful I have ever given or received. 

Donald Trump never served in the military; supposed “bone spurs” gave him a deferment. Trump knows nothing about military service or sacrifice and wouldn’t know a military tradition from a golfing tradition. He refers to Generals as “his” Generals; thinks of those who died during D-Day as “suckers” and “losers;” wanted to use the military to arrest lawful protesters; and did not want wounded Veterans in a parade he tried to organize for himself because they would “look bad.” He did not think that Sen. John McCain, who spent more than five years as a Prisoner of War, was a hero because he did not think heroes should be captured. Recently, he demeaned recipients of the Medal of Honor as people who mostly get shot up or are dead. He also said that the Presidential Medal of Freedom (which he awarded to his cronies – such as Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan - and donors, like Miriam Adelson) was equal to, even “much better” than, the Congressional Medal of Honor.