COLD WAR VICTORY MEDAL UPDATE
By Dr. Frank Tims, National Legislative Affairs Director and
Paul V. Dudkowski, National Director of Public Affairs, Cold War Veterans Association
As one of many organizations that have among its stated goals, creation of a Cold War Victory Medal, we were disappointed that the 109th Congress has again let the Veteran community down.
We can talk about our progress or we can talk about why we were unsuccessful in our campaign during the current Congress. Since we have covered those issues in the past, let’s examine the facts.
Fact 1. Despite bipartisan support in the House Armed Services Committee, efforts to include a Cold War Victory Medal in the FY 2007 National Defense Authorization Act were stymied in the House-Senate Conference. This marks the third time the medal was passed by the House of Representatives, only to vanish from the NDAA after conference.
Fact 2. Several veterans service organizations, including AMVETS, American Legion, Reserve Officers Association, Korea Defense Veterans Alliance, and the Cold War Veterans Association appealed to the House-Senate conference members to keep the medal provision in the final NDAA for 2007. In the end, two factors seemed to have contributed the most to this failure of the Congress to properly recognize Cold War service and the victory that it enabled - lack of Republican support in the Senate, and DOD opposition.
The lack of support by Republicans in the Senate appears to be purely political and is difficult to understand – Senator Lindsey Graham previously cosponsored a Cold War Victory Medal bill in the House, and Senator John Warner introduced such a bill in 1999 with powerful cosponsors. Senator Hillary Clinton introduced a Cold War Medal bill in the Senate (S.1351), which still languishes in the Armed Services Committee, and did not make it into the final NDAA for want of a Republican cosponsor. Though the medal had passed the House, it was quietly stripped out by committee staff, who did not want to go against the Pentagon’s wishes.
DoD Objections: As was the case in previous efforts, the Defense Department opposed the medal, giving two reasons for its opposition: Cost and duplication of recognition previously given. The “Cold War Recognition Certificate” was also cited. DoD’s cost objections put potential cost at “In excess of $250 million,” based on 26 million veterans potentially eligible. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the cost at $32 million over the life of the medal, and only $2 million in first year costs. Independent analyses using data from procurement sources placed the maximum likely cost at $11.4 million. DoD’s estimate assumed a unit cost of $10 per medal, compared to an actual cost of $1.41 to $1.60 for a boxed set of such medals as Korea Defense Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and similar awards.
Fact 3. The Korea Defense Service Medal, which DoD also had opposed on cost and duplication grounds, has not been the costly item DoD had predicted. As of last April, DoD had purchased a total of 192,000 KDSM medal sets, at an estimated cost of $271,000. In the three years the KDSM has been authorized, some 114,000 individuals have earned the medal through service in theater. Because these troops received their medal through normal Armed Forces supply channels, additional administrative costs of distribution were minimal. Assuming that the remaining 78,000 medals in inventory were awarded upon application, unit cost for procurement was approximately $110,000. Current estimates of annual demand for the KDSM were placed by DoD supply sources at 38,000 units, with the great majority of this earmarked for in-theater awards.
Based on DoD’s own numbers, it is clear that legacy costs (i.e., those eligible but not currently serving) for the KDSM have been minimal. Fewer than 2 percent of those eligible even bothered
to apply for the medal. Even using the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s $10 unit cost (including postage and administrative costs), this amounts to $780,000 – about three quarters of a million dollars.
What happened to the Pentagon’s expectation that the KDSM would be costly and duplicative? It was a false assumption. Anyone eligible who did not care to go through DoD’s time-consuming paperwork could spend twenty bucks and buy their own. And the 192,000 KDSM awards could hardly be said to diminish the 320,000 AFEM awards for Korea service during 1966-74.
Fact 4. Regarding the Cold War Victory Medal, the assumption that fewer than two percent of those eligible would apply is borne out by DoD’s experience with the “Cold War Recognition Certificate” and the KDSM. Even using DoD’s bloated $10 unit cost number; this experience leads to an estimate of 5.2 million dollars. The Cold War Veterans Association (CWVA) estimates that an efficient process could reduce the DoD’s realized cost to less than half that number. DoD currently places the cost of their Cold War Recognition Certificate at $2.50 plus postage and handling. The obvious solution to the cost argument is to rescind the certificate program, and substitute a more fitting Cold War Victory Medal! That would zero out the cost argument, and recognize the contribution of active military service to America’s victory in the Cold War.
Fact 5. The Cold War was very real. Beginning with the Truman Doctrine, born from the ashes of World War II, it became quite clear that Roosevelt and Churchill gave away too much to the Soviets. With a design on protecting their own borders, the Soviets embarked on a mission to bring all of Eastern Europe into and under their sphere of influence despite the cries from these nations to remain free and democratic. The Domino Theory or Principle said if one nation falls to communism, its neighbors would be in jeopardy and the next to fall. Both Truman and Eisenhower saw the need to project America’s determination to defend free nations, and to give others the resolve to resist Soviet pressures in Europe and other places around the globe. Truman dispatched a fleet to the Mediterranean and pledged our support to the Turks and the Greeks. Then General Eisenhower said “America’s line of defense is the Elbe River.” MacArthur said it was at the Yalu.
In 1951, Truman sent four additional Army divisions to defend Europe, as requested by Eisenhower, to provide the equivalent of six divisions. General J. Lawton Collins wrote that if we failed to stand in Korea, Europe would not have the will to defend itself. More than once, America had to prove to the Europeans that we would fight to defend Europe against the Soviets, just as we were willing to fight in Korea, Vietnam, and other places around the globe.
Eisenhower said it best – “There is but one way to avoid global war, and that is to win the Cold War.” So is there a bottom line? Was there a war, and did we win it? How will history, and future generations regard what happened, and the service of those who did their gritty and sometimes lonely duty in places and circumstances today’s youth know nothing about? The veterans who served will be relegated to the dusty realm of forgotten history.
Fact 6. In a State of the Union speech, President Bush said it – “We won the Cold War.” His father said the same thing to Congress and the American People. Former CIA Director Woolsey said it. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said of the Cold War, “It was a war, and we won it.” Time and time again, the Administration and the Congress have evoked the Cold War in speeches designed to make a point to the American people. They continue to hold up the Cold War as an example of American determination and use it to compare that determination with today’s Global War on Terror. Is our “war” and shining moment (our victory) nothing more than a convenient catch phrase? Something to be rolled out when trying to keep our interest and support for today’s conflicts?
Why should it have to be repeated -- Who would be offended by a Cold War Victory Medal? The Supreme Soviet? The Council of Ministers of the USSR? The Soviet Union? The Red Army? These entities no longer exist since the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Much of the world lives in freedom today because America cared beyond its own borders. Some have said that there were no winners – or that both sides won by avoiding annihilation. We came very close on a number of occasions, and it was America’s determination to maintain strength and a large military force that prevented a nuclear holocaust, and stopped Soviet expansion.
Fact 7. Now, about that “Certificate.” Read it. It simply says “Certificate of Recognition.” The words “military service,” “defense,” or similar terms are not there. You might have been working as a janitor at the post office (no offense to janitors or the postal service – they can get a certificate just like ours, just by applying, even if they quit and went to Canada to avoid the draft). When legislation is introduced in the next Congress, DoD will no doubt object again. They don’t really believe their own cost argument, that’s just a red herring. And they don’t really believe a Cold War Victory Medal will detract from or cheapen the AFEM, any more than the World War II Victory Medal cheapened the ETO or Asia-Pacific Medals. It’s a “Hollow Argument”. In 1951, General MacArthur, in his farewell speech to a joint session of the Congress said, “Old soldiers never die…” Of course, they do, more of them every day. Many men served with the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I. They never really knew how the French appreciated them, because they had died by the time the French government got around to bestowing the Legion of Honor on the still surviving 120 or so veterans who served with them. Some say, “Better late than never.”
But for almost all of those AEF vets, it was and will always be, “Never.” For veterans of the Cold War, “never” is unacceptable.
For more information on the Cold War Veterans Association, please visit them online at
www.coldwarveterans.com
Paul V. Dudkowski, National Director of Public Affairs, Cold War Veterans Association
As one of many organizations that have among its stated goals, creation of a Cold War Victory Medal, we were disappointed that the 109th Congress has again let the Veteran community down.
We can talk about our progress or we can talk about why we were unsuccessful in our campaign during the current Congress. Since we have covered those issues in the past, let’s examine the facts.
Fact 1. Despite bipartisan support in the House Armed Services Committee, efforts to include a Cold War Victory Medal in the FY 2007 National Defense Authorization Act were stymied in the House-Senate Conference. This marks the third time the medal was passed by the House of Representatives, only to vanish from the NDAA after conference.
Fact 2. Several veterans service organizations, including AMVETS, American Legion, Reserve Officers Association, Korea Defense Veterans Alliance, and the Cold War Veterans Association appealed to the House-Senate conference members to keep the medal provision in the final NDAA for 2007. In the end, two factors seemed to have contributed the most to this failure of the Congress to properly recognize Cold War service and the victory that it enabled - lack of Republican support in the Senate, and DOD opposition.
The lack of support by Republicans in the Senate appears to be purely political and is difficult to understand – Senator Lindsey Graham previously cosponsored a Cold War Victory Medal bill in the House, and Senator John Warner introduced such a bill in 1999 with powerful cosponsors. Senator Hillary Clinton introduced a Cold War Medal bill in the Senate (S.1351), which still languishes in the Armed Services Committee, and did not make it into the final NDAA for want of a Republican cosponsor. Though the medal had passed the House, it was quietly stripped out by committee staff, who did not want to go against the Pentagon’s wishes.
DoD Objections: As was the case in previous efforts, the Defense Department opposed the medal, giving two reasons for its opposition: Cost and duplication of recognition previously given. The “Cold War Recognition Certificate” was also cited. DoD’s cost objections put potential cost at “In excess of $250 million,” based on 26 million veterans potentially eligible. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the cost at $32 million over the life of the medal, and only $2 million in first year costs. Independent analyses using data from procurement sources placed the maximum likely cost at $11.4 million. DoD’s estimate assumed a unit cost of $10 per medal, compared to an actual cost of $1.41 to $1.60 for a boxed set of such medals as Korea Defense Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and similar awards.
Fact 3. The Korea Defense Service Medal, which DoD also had opposed on cost and duplication grounds, has not been the costly item DoD had predicted. As of last April, DoD had purchased a total of 192,000 KDSM medal sets, at an estimated cost of $271,000. In the three years the KDSM has been authorized, some 114,000 individuals have earned the medal through service in theater. Because these troops received their medal through normal Armed Forces supply channels, additional administrative costs of distribution were minimal. Assuming that the remaining 78,000 medals in inventory were awarded upon application, unit cost for procurement was approximately $110,000. Current estimates of annual demand for the KDSM were placed by DoD supply sources at 38,000 units, with the great majority of this earmarked for in-theater awards.
Based on DoD’s own numbers, it is clear that legacy costs (i.e., those eligible but not currently serving) for the KDSM have been minimal. Fewer than 2 percent of those eligible even bothered
to apply for the medal. Even using the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s $10 unit cost (including postage and administrative costs), this amounts to $780,000 – about three quarters of a million dollars.
What happened to the Pentagon’s expectation that the KDSM would be costly and duplicative? It was a false assumption. Anyone eligible who did not care to go through DoD’s time-consuming paperwork could spend twenty bucks and buy their own. And the 192,000 KDSM awards could hardly be said to diminish the 320,000 AFEM awards for Korea service during 1966-74.
Fact 4. Regarding the Cold War Victory Medal, the assumption that fewer than two percent of those eligible would apply is borne out by DoD’s experience with the “Cold War Recognition Certificate” and the KDSM. Even using DoD’s bloated $10 unit cost number; this experience leads to an estimate of 5.2 million dollars. The Cold War Veterans Association (CWVA) estimates that an efficient process could reduce the DoD’s realized cost to less than half that number. DoD currently places the cost of their Cold War Recognition Certificate at $2.50 plus postage and handling. The obvious solution to the cost argument is to rescind the certificate program, and substitute a more fitting Cold War Victory Medal! That would zero out the cost argument, and recognize the contribution of active military service to America’s victory in the Cold War.
Fact 5. The Cold War was very real. Beginning with the Truman Doctrine, born from the ashes of World War II, it became quite clear that Roosevelt and Churchill gave away too much to the Soviets. With a design on protecting their own borders, the Soviets embarked on a mission to bring all of Eastern Europe into and under their sphere of influence despite the cries from these nations to remain free and democratic. The Domino Theory or Principle said if one nation falls to communism, its neighbors would be in jeopardy and the next to fall. Both Truman and Eisenhower saw the need to project America’s determination to defend free nations, and to give others the resolve to resist Soviet pressures in Europe and other places around the globe. Truman dispatched a fleet to the Mediterranean and pledged our support to the Turks and the Greeks. Then General Eisenhower said “America’s line of defense is the Elbe River.” MacArthur said it was at the Yalu.
In 1951, Truman sent four additional Army divisions to defend Europe, as requested by Eisenhower, to provide the equivalent of six divisions. General J. Lawton Collins wrote that if we failed to stand in Korea, Europe would not have the will to defend itself. More than once, America had to prove to the Europeans that we would fight to defend Europe against the Soviets, just as we were willing to fight in Korea, Vietnam, and other places around the globe.
Eisenhower said it best – “There is but one way to avoid global war, and that is to win the Cold War.” So is there a bottom line? Was there a war, and did we win it? How will history, and future generations regard what happened, and the service of those who did their gritty and sometimes lonely duty in places and circumstances today’s youth know nothing about? The veterans who served will be relegated to the dusty realm of forgotten history.
Fact 6. In a State of the Union speech, President Bush said it – “We won the Cold War.” His father said the same thing to Congress and the American People. Former CIA Director Woolsey said it. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said of the Cold War, “It was a war, and we won it.” Time and time again, the Administration and the Congress have evoked the Cold War in speeches designed to make a point to the American people. They continue to hold up the Cold War as an example of American determination and use it to compare that determination with today’s Global War on Terror. Is our “war” and shining moment (our victory) nothing more than a convenient catch phrase? Something to be rolled out when trying to keep our interest and support for today’s conflicts?
Why should it have to be repeated -- Who would be offended by a Cold War Victory Medal? The Supreme Soviet? The Council of Ministers of the USSR? The Soviet Union? The Red Army? These entities no longer exist since the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Much of the world lives in freedom today because America cared beyond its own borders. Some have said that there were no winners – or that both sides won by avoiding annihilation. We came very close on a number of occasions, and it was America’s determination to maintain strength and a large military force that prevented a nuclear holocaust, and stopped Soviet expansion.
Fact 7. Now, about that “Certificate.” Read it. It simply says “Certificate of Recognition.” The words “military service,” “defense,” or similar terms are not there. You might have been working as a janitor at the post office (no offense to janitors or the postal service – they can get a certificate just like ours, just by applying, even if they quit and went to Canada to avoid the draft). When legislation is introduced in the next Congress, DoD will no doubt object again. They don’t really believe their own cost argument, that’s just a red herring. And they don’t really believe a Cold War Victory Medal will detract from or cheapen the AFEM, any more than the World War II Victory Medal cheapened the ETO or Asia-Pacific Medals. It’s a “Hollow Argument”. In 1951, General MacArthur, in his farewell speech to a joint session of the Congress said, “Old soldiers never die…” Of course, they do, more of them every day. Many men served with the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I. They never really knew how the French appreciated them, because they had died by the time the French government got around to bestowing the Legion of Honor on the still surviving 120 or so veterans who served with them. Some say, “Better late than never.”
But for almost all of those AEF vets, it was and will always be, “Never.” For veterans of the Cold War, “never” is unacceptable.
For more information on the Cold War Veterans Association, please visit them online at
www.coldwarveterans.com
Cold War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, they are all wars, and no soldiers should be treated differently.
ReplyDeleteI hope people don't forget how scary, and uncertain the times were during the cold war, as they are today.