Obama Awards Medal Of Honor To Afghan War Vet

[jakeXT]

Saying "America is grateful for you," President Obama awarded the nation's highest military honor on Tuesday to former Army Capt. William Swenson.

The Medal of Honor is the first given to an Army officer since the Vietnam War. President Obama said Swenson braved seven hours of continuous fighting, putting his life in danger multiple times to help fallen and wounded service members, as well as his Afghan partners.

NPR's Scott Horsley filed this report for our Newscast unit:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/15/234827339/obama-awards-medal-of-honor-to-afghan-war-vet

[lonestarnot]

1. Thank you for your service Cpt. Swenson!

[krispos42]

2. Looks like he criticized the brass for not getting the fire support he needed...

...and they "lost" his paperwork.

For reasons which remain unclear, the paperwork was lost, causing a significant delay in the nomination process. Some believe that Swenson was being punished for loudly criticizing his senior officers (for not sending fire support) in an after-action investigation into the battle.[9] His case was reopened in 2011 at the urging of Marine Corps General John R. Allen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_D._Swenson#Medal_of_Honor_award

List of awards:

The U.S. Army lists[6] Swenson’s awards and decorations as including:

Combat Infantry Badge.svg Combat Infantryman Badge
Basic Parachutist Badge
Ranger Tab
10th Mountain Division CSIB
Medal of Honor
Bronze Star Medal with two bronze Oak leaf clusters
Purple Heart
Army Commendation Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Bronze star
Afghanistan Campaign Medal with one bronze Campaign star
Iraq Campaign Medal with two Campaign stars
Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Army Service Ribbon
Army Overseas Service Ribbon
NATO Medal for service with ISAF

Captain Swenson has five Overseas Service Bars.

[Victor_c3]

3. I wonder how he feels about it?

I personally would hate for anyone in my family or anyone I interact with daily to know the details behind my service awards and why they were awarded. I'm supposed to feel proud of my awards, but I mostly feel a sense of guilt and sadness and even shame. Yet, I still cling to them (i.e. my avatar on this forum) so go figure...

Anyways, I wonder how he feels about receiving a Medal of Honor and everyone knowing precisely what he did in combat.