Why is Silver Medal of Valor the top award?

Started by OldSalt, March 31, 2010, 07:40:53 PM

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ltcmark

I am just glad they did not carry through with the cockades.  I cannot see myself wearing one of these.



Although the Army still uses the knots:




lordmonar

I don't know......that would look pretty sharp on the flight cap!  >:D
PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

OldSalt


Spike

Wow....I love reading history from people who have no idea what the crap they are talking about. 

Here is the United States Army Version of rank and color.  CLICK_HERE_FOR_REAL_HISTORY_INFO

Newbieontheloose..... wow, just wow! 

flyboy53

If you're still collecting information on the Medal of Valor, you should know that the first recipient of the medal was a cadet: Cadet John C. Barton of Lake Charles, La., for an act of valor in 1959 at Chennault AFB, La. He was a high school senior at the time and it was presented to him a year later when he was serving in the Air Force.

Afterward, NHQ broke the medal into two classes: siliver and bronze.

The first Bronze Medals of Valor were also presented in 1960 to four Florida Wing members: Senior Member Gerald F. Grenaw and cadets George Karl, Marvin Jewell and Robert Slaton for an emergency at a hospital during Hurricane Donna.

The first Silver Medal of Valor went to a cadet: C/SSgt. Charles Foster of Lynchburg, VA., for  a 1957 plane crash in which he saved the life of the pilot, a doctor. He pulled the pilot from the wreckage as it caught on fire. The second one went to Lt. Col. Paul Zeller of the Colorado Wing for an Air Force plane crash on or near Lowry AFB.

The youngest recipient was 14-year-old Cadet James R. Aaron of the California Wing, for a March 1962 CAP plane crash in the mountains that started as an orientation flight. He was personally decorated by Gen. Carl Spaatz.

Pretty gutsy stuff, if I don't say so myself.....

heliodoc

^^^

Yes sir ...the good old daze of CAP

Before CAP had a CAP Risk Management, ORM and Safety program....

Nowadays one may have to stand by the sidelines and not pull anyone out of a wreck or any other service just to please the corporation

The real action will be those  who do the right thing, render the service, and move out smartly

The still will be gutsy stuff in CAP, just clear the area and don't answer anyone's questions ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D

SarDragon

Quote from: Spike on April 02, 2010, 12:44:30 AM
Wow....I love reading history from people who have no idea what the crap they are talking about. 

Here is the United States Army Version of rank and color.  CLICK_HERE_FOR_REAL_HISTORY_INFO

Newbieontheloose..... wow, just wow!

Linky broky!
Dave Bowles
Maj, CAP
AT1, USN Retired
50 Year Member
Mitchell Award (unnumbered)
C/WO, CAP, Ret

Spike


Major Lord

Personally, I am going to stick with my theory that silver is just better for killing werewolves.....

Major Lord
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

Spike

Quote from: Major Lord on April 02, 2010, 01:58:57 PM
Personally, I am going to stick with my theory that silver is just better for killing werewolves.....

And those that insist "Twilight" or "New Moon" are stories about vampires and warewolves.   >:(

James Shaw

Quote from: Spike on April 02, 2010, 02:52:18 PM
Quote from: Major Lord on April 02, 2010, 01:58:57 PM
Personally, I am going to stick with my theory that silver is just better for killing werewolves.....

And those that insist "Twilight" or "New Moon" are stories about vampires and warewolves.   >:(

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: my stomach is aching from that one!!
Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - SER-SO
USCGA:2019 - BC-TDI/National Safety Team
SGAUS: 2017 - MEMS Academy State Director (Iowa)

raivo

Quote from: Major Lord on April 01, 2010, 01:48:46 AM
If Tony was still around, we would have had a Gold one by now, probably worn on a neck ribbon, possibly with a matching cape. He would be the sole recipient, for gallantry in the face of insurmountable 2B actions, fought off unsuccessfully while receiving life threatening paper cuts, and stacking the bodies of his subordinates as a shield against incoming fire.

I have Mountain Dew on my screen now. :(

CAP Member, 2000-20??
USAF Officer, 2009-2018
Recipient of a Mitchell Award Of Irrelevant Number

"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection. No inspection-ready unit has ever survived combat."

Spike

^ hahahha ahhahahha haha ahhahahahhah  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:



OldSalt

Quote from: Spike on April 02, 2010, 12:44:30 AM
Wow....I love reading history from people who have no idea what the crap they are talking about. 

Here is the United States Army Version of rank and color.  CLICK_HERE_FOR_REAL_HISTORY_INFO

Newbieontheloose..... wow, just wow!

I'm not sure here - were you flaming me or praising me with this? If flaming - the sarcasm didn't quite make it into the post - and yes, the link is broken.


raivo

It works for me, though it's extremely slow...

CAP Member, 2000-20??
USAF Officer, 2009-2018
Recipient of a Mitchell Award Of Irrelevant Number

"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection. No inspection-ready unit has ever survived combat."

Spike

Quote from: NewbieOnTheLoose on April 02, 2010, 04:36:01 PM
Quote from: Spike on April 02, 2010, 12:44:30 AM
Wow....I love reading history from people who have no idea what the crap they are talking about. 

Here is the United States Army Version of rank and color.  CLICK_HERE_FOR_REAL_HISTORY_INFO

Newbieontheloose..... wow, just wow!

I'm not sure here - were you flaming me or praising me with this? If flaming - the sarcasm didn't quite make it into the post - and yes, the link is broken.

Your historical assumption post was well.....historically flawed from sentence one.  The link does work, it may be slow on computers that are only used to accessing Wikipedia for answers on everything  >:D >:D

OldSalt

Quote from: Spike on April 02, 2010, 05:19:08 PM
Your historical assumption post was well.....historically flawed from sentence one.  The link does work, it may be slow on computers that are only used to accessing Wikipedia for answers on everything  >:D >:D
Ok, looks like another "holier than thou" "CAPtalk expert". And I might add a wise-<insert other name for a donkey here> to boot. :clap:

Don't you have a day job to get back to, or is your stand-up comedy routine your only hope for success?


flyboy53

#37
Quote from: NewbieOnTheLoose on April 02, 2010, 07:36:27 PM
Quote from: Spike on April 02, 2010, 05:19:08 PM
Your historical assumption post was well.....historically flawed from sentence one.  The link does work, it may be slow on computers that are only used to accessing Wikipedia for answers on everything  >:D >:D
Ok, looks like another "holier than thou" "CAPtalk expert". And I might add a wise-<insert other name for a donkey here> to boot. :clap:

Don't you have a day job to get back to, or is your stand-up comedy routine your only hope for success?

How about if we stay on task here instead of attacking one and other and derailing the string from it's original intent.

I have a question. How many recipients are still members? Seems to me that their stories might serve as really inspirational messages for the membership as a whole. I wonder if NHQ would ever consider a booklet of some kind or add their stories to the National Museum....and one other thing I just realized. The Medal of Valor may be the highest CAP decoration, but the true highest CAP medal is the Air Medal and those 800 or so recipients.

OldSalt

#38
Quote from: flyboy1 on April 02, 2010, 10:23:10 PM
How about if we stay on task here instead of attacking one and other and derailing the string from it's original intent.
I wholeheartedly agree.

I was finally able to get into the website Spike quoted. Here is the text from it for those who can't get to it:

Silver and Gold Officer Insignia of Rank






The precedence of silver over gold in officer insignia of grade was not the result of deliberate intent, but arose from the desire to avoid unnecessary changes. Although the background discussed below is for Army insignia, the Navy and Marine Corps metal insignia of grade for officers have paralleled those of the Army. When the Air Force was established in 1947, it adopted the officers' insignia of grade already in used by the Army.
Since 1780, when insignia was embroidered on the epaulettes, the grade of general officers has been denoted by a number of silver stars. This was the beginning of the present system of officers' grade insignia. Epaulettes were specified for all officers in 1832; for the infantry they were silver and all others had gold epaulettes. In order that the rank insignia would be clearly discernible, they were of the opposite color; that is, the infantry colonels had an eagle of gold because it was placed on a silver epaulette and all other colonels had silver eagles on gold epaulettes. At that time the only grade insignia were the stars for general officers and eagles for colonels. Epaulettes for lieutenant colonels, majors, captains, and lieutenants had no insignia -- the length and size of the fringe showing the difference of grade.
Shoulder straps were adopted to replace the epaulette for field duty in 1836. The straps followed the same color combination as the epaulettes; that is, the border was gold with silver insignia for all officers except those of infantry which had silver border with gold insignia. At that time majors were authorized leaves; captains were authorized two bars and first lieutenants were authorized one bars on the shoulder straps.
In 1851, the colonel's eagle was prescribed in silver only. Apparently when it was decided to use only one color, the silver eagle was selected based on the fact that there were more colonels with the silver eagle that those with gold. At that time on the shoulder straps, lieutenant colonels wore an embroidered silver leaf; majors wore a gold embroidered leaf; and captains and first lieutenants wore gold bars. The second lieutenant had no grade insignia, but the epaulette or shoulder strap identified him as a commissioned officer.
In 1872, epaulettes were abolished for officers and replaced by shoulder knots. As the shoulder knots had no fringe, it was necessary that some change in the insignia on the dress uniform be made in order to distinguish the major from the second lieutenant. It was natural to use the gold leaf which the major had worn on the shoulder strap for the previous twenty-one years. In the same year, the bars on the shoulder straps of the captains and first lieutenants were changed from gold to silver to correspond with the silver devices of the senior officers.
The service uniform of olive drab gradually came to be used more frequently and by the time of World War I, the blue uniform was worn only in the evenings and on dress occasions. As a result, metal insignia was authorized for wear on the service uniform on the shoulder loop and on the collar of the shirt when worn without a jacket. Shortly after the United States entered World War I, only the service olive drab uniform was being worn. The need for an insignia for the second lieutenant became urgent. Among the proposals was one to authorized for that grade one bar, the first lieutenant two bars, and the captain three bars. However, the policy of making as little change as possible prevailed, and a gold bar was adopted in 1917, following the precedent previously established by the adoption of the major's insignia.
Although silver outranks gold insofar as the Armed Forces metal insignia of grade, gold can be considered as outranking silver in medals and decorations and their appurtenances. The order of precedence in establishing medals when using the same design is gold, silver and bronze. (poster's emphasis added)

This is from http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/UniformedServices/Silver_Gold_Insignia.aspx

So, not to stir the pot but it appears that Gold is the top dog of the medal world even though Silver is in the Rank world. I think someone brought up the Silver Star and Bronze Stars for comparison. While in theory the names would suggest that the Silver Star is all silver, it is really a Gold Star with a superimposed very small silver star in the center. Whereas the Bronze Star is all bronze.  ;)

I also was reading about the use of the "V" device there to denote Valor, and my idea of using it for our Medals of Valor doesn't hold water. The specific language for the use of the "V" device states that the device is worn on ribbons of medals where the act of heroism is combat related. So, since CAP does not participate in combat operations, none of our corporate medals would qualify. Air Medals awarded for CAP WWII service however, could qualify since the Air Medal is a federal award and not CAP corporate.

lordmonar

There you go comparing CAP with the real military.

If you read the regs closely you will find that we already use the Bronze V on our Disaster Service ribbon for assistance during a presidential declared disaster.

So....out goes that argument.

There is nothing really wrong with the way we do things now.
PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP