Cold War Veterans Blog

Recent Comments from Veterans about ACWV

Name: Tony Modzelewski

Email:

State: NJ

Phone:

Comment:

FYI At the 83rd National Convention of the Marine Corps League at Boston Mass.
in 2006 a resolution supporting the Cold War Victory Medal was approved by the
Resolutions Committee which I am a member.


Name: Dennis Bullis

Email:

State: WA

Phone:

Comment:

Thanks for trying to get this metal for us Veterans of the Cold War. I`ve
been waiting for this for along time. I feel cheated because we never recieved
any recognition for our service to our Country and I would serve my Country again,
proudly!! Thank you and I`am Proud to be American,Life member V.F.W Dennis L Bullis




Name: Frank Martinek

Email:

State: IL

Phone:

Comment:

I just stumbled across your website & group. As a .."Cold War Veteran.." I sometimes feel
left out and at times have not considered myself a veteran. You see I served between 1985-1989
and my active duty dates do not qualify me for the American Leigon. I participated in Team Spirit
87 & 89 in Korea but because they where deployments it doesn..'t show up on my service record. As
soon as things settle down around the house, I..'m going to join your org. Thanks for listening.








I am curious, what is there to gain by having a cold war medal?



I served in the Marines from 82 – 90 thus would qualify. Do I need a cold war medal? No I don't. My kids know that I served, my friends and family know that I served so what purpose does another medal do for me?



I do believe that we are giving out to many medals to people who are only doing their job. A medal should be for above and beyond the call of duty. With today's high quality, well educated all volunteer military, we should be given out even less medals.



Just an opinion from someone has been there, done that, and still have the tee shirts.



hanks for your e-mail, and thank you for serving our country. A medal as such is not of great value--it is simply a form of recognition. As we both know, the military has gone overboard with medals in recent years, but many served in a time in which troops were not showered with recognition. But I can also recall a time when people went into harm's way without acknowledgement -- and sometimes did not return. We also did large troop deployments overseas for which there was zero recognition (for example, NATO would have failed without American troops, and most of our 5 to 6 divisions in NATO served without recognition). Those who served in Korea had to fight DOD's opposition to a Korea Defense Service Medal, and in 2003 Congress told the pentagon to create the KDSM. If not for this, many troops who did DMZ patrols and other actions would not have had campaign credit. I am sure you know this. Only about 5 percent of the Korea defense vets bothered to apply for the KDSM -- which tells you something about DOD's inflated logic in opposing such awards..

From a personal standpoint, I think it is more important to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice of life or liberty -- such as those who were shot down or captured in hostile areas. We have done this (with some exceptions) in Korea and Vietnam wars. But There are at least 50 men buried at Arlington who were killed or captured in cold war actions. We plan to honor them at Arlington on May 1 (as we did last year) on May 1 -- at a Day of Remembrance for the Forgotten Heroes of the Cold War. We also want to honor those men who were lost at sea, such as the submarine crews of USS Scorpion and USS Thresher, and others on ships (such as USS Hobson and USS Bennington), and those ASW patrols who were lost.

Politicians like to cite the Cold War as a "war we won," but they are reluctant to acknowledge this where the troops are concerned. .Medals are a small thing, they go into a drawer, but these are remembered. You and I both know we served, and we both know it mattered. We just want our national leaders to acknowledge that "Cold War service" mattered. There are Senators and Representatives who agree that it mattered, and S.1097 now has four cosponsors.

Certainly the "PCS awards" so common now have put recognition into a "ticket punching" category -- the Cold War Service Medal is not about this, it's about remembrance.

sincerely,

Frank

Frank M. Tims, Ph.D.
Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
Regards