Editorials

What's appropriate

How about just follow the law—and soon?

For more than five years now, the families of two soldiers struck down on duty in Little Rock have been waiting for their sons' Purple Hearts--but for more than five years now, the Department of Defense has dragged its boots. Its response to this clear duty has been not just slow but recalcitrant, maybe even unlawful.

Some of us were puzzled and irritated when the news came out that the Pentagon had no plans to give Purple Hearts to Privates William Long and Quinton Ezeagwula, who were shot by some kind of nut in the summer of 2009. Their offense? Being in the uniform of their country in front of a Little Rock recruiting center.

Private Long was sentenced to death for his service. Private Ezeagwula was wounded but survived. (Their assailant is doing life in prison, which may be the only fitting thing about this whole sad story.)

This might have been a story only of statewide interest until, a few months later, another nut case shot up Fort Hood, killing 13 and wounding 32. The folks with stars and birds on their shoulders at Defense decided those victims didn't deserve Purple Hearts, either. That's when denying the deserving of their Purple Hearts became a story of national interest. And outrage. As it should have.

Here's the Pentagon's "thinking" on the matter: The soldiers in both rampages weren't in combat. The rules say Purple Hearts must be given only to those killed or wounded in combat. Therefore, no medals, no accompanying benefits. That's some logic from the brass, who have a lot of it.

Don't tell us that these soldiers weren't killed in combat. They might not have been in Iraq or Afghanistan, but they were definitely in combat. Even if they may not have realized it at the time. That's the nature of this asymmetrical war we're fighting against terror around the world--the enemy deliberately seeks out the unsuspecting to ambush.

And the killers in both these cases were Islamic terrorists, all right. The one at Fort Hood shouted Allahu Akbar! as he shot up his comrades. The killer in Little Rock wrote to the judge in his case saying he was sent by al-Qaida. They might as well both have confessed. And not to a charge of Workplace Violence or some other euphemistic label the Pentagon might prefer to Killed In Action.

After the press, people and pols blew some gaskets about the matter, Congress went to work. (No, really!) In the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, the legislative branch required the Defense Department to revisit both shootings, review requirements for the Purple Heart, and report back to Congress within 180 days after the act became law. Those 180 days have come and gone, and still no report to Congress. So much for obeying orders.

Why? In a letter to a few committee chairmen, the Defense Department wrote that it would be "more appropriate" to reconsider the rules for Purple Hearts in a broader review of all military awards planned for next year.

Federal law, shmederal law. Who does Congress think it is, anyway? Better it should mind its own business, right? And just hand money to the Pentagon, no requirements attached.

Maybe what would be "more appropriate" is if the Pentagon were to just follow the law. (Our emphasis.)

We'll take our cue from an Arkansas congressman who's also a colonel in the Reserves. His name is Tim Griffin, and this is what he said about this inexcusable delay and maybe even defiance of the law:

"How hard is this? You have tens of thousands of people working in the Pentagon, and you can't get this report done? It's just ridiculous." And maybe illegal. The website the White House keeps says the president signed the act back in December. That makes it the law.

But still no report, no medals, no benefits for the wounded or family of those killed. Note to the brass at the Pentagon: You don't get to make your own rules any more than the rest of us do. Get with the program, soldiers. And with the law. This is the Army, not some optional exercise. Or it's supposed to be, anyway. What this performance is, is a sad excuse for soldiering.

As a drill sergeant once informed us, again and again and again: Move It!

Editorial on 09/14/2014

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