[JohnPBailey]

For example, what is the highest award for valor known to have been awarded to an Army motor pool mechanic, an aircraft mechanic, a retention NCO, a supply personnel, a cook, a drill sergeant, a chaplain, a medic or an MP?

It would be interesting to see a compiled list of American military awards for valor including Medal of Honor on the basis of:

-war/event/era
-service branch
-MOS/trade
-rank/pay grade
-position/status (commander, drill sergeant, supply sergeant, squad leader, section sergeant, etc.)

 

[akguy59]

Multiple medics and corpsmen have been awarded the MOH.

 

[cityborncountrylivin]

Didn't a Dentist win it?

 

[Diesel McBadass]

Didn't a Dentist win it?

3 dentists have received the Medal of Honor, Captain Benjamin Solomon being the most famous case.

 

[Bren]

For example, what is the highest award for valor known to have been awarded to an Army motor pool mechanic, an aircraft mechanic, a retention NCO, a supply personnel, a cook, a drill sergeant, a chaplain, a medic or an MP?

It would be interesting to see a compiled list of American military awards for valor including Medal of Honor on the basis of:

-war/event/era
-service branch
-MOS/trade
-rank/pay grade
-position/status (commander, drill sergeant, supply sergeant, squad leader, section sergeant, etc.)

Sure they have. Chaplains are the most non-combat of non-combat MOSs. They aren't even allowed to be in charge of combat troops outside of combat. They have been awarded 9 medals of honor, plus distinguished service crosses, silver stars, bronze stars, etc.

A Kentucky National Guard MP was the first woman to get a Silver Star since World War II and the first ever for combat, Nurses got several silver stars in WW I and WW II. A female medic got one in Afghanistan in 2007. The first woman to receive both the Silver Star and the Purple Heart was an Army nurse.

The only Navy Seabee to get the Medal of Honor was Construction Mechanic Third Class Marvin Shields.

 

[tokuno]

The Hacksaw Ridge guy, Desmond Doss earned the MOH. He was a medic, but don't know if he qualifies as "non combat", though.
Two of my kids are non-combat Marines - musicians. That MOS has been deployed before, and it's my fervent prayer that they're never put in position to be awarded combat recognition.

 

[Jump]

" The only Navy Seabee to get the Medal of Honor was Construction Mechanic Third Class Marvin Shields. "

So that's why a street at the Gulfport CB base is named for him.

Jump

 

[Creedmoor fan]

My dad got out alive.

He enlisted to avoid being drafted for Vietnam. He wound up testing well for electronics repair and instead of Vietnam, he was stationed in Germany doing cryptographic repair, fighting the Cold War.

He got really lucky. He's not a hard man. Maybe combat could have brought that out of him but I kind of doubt it. I'm not a hard man either, I never served.

My uncles were not as lucky, two wound up in combat, one was injured in a parachute jump, the other got hepatitis from the heroin going around. I don't know if he got a Purple Heart but he was in the **** and did his service. My last uncle was injured in training and the war ended before he was deployed but he still had to deal with a disability for the rest of his life.

My grandfather did get a Purple Heart and Silver Star when his face got blown off. He was fishing shrapnel out of his body until he died.

If you can be in the rear with the gear, do it. Somebody has to and if it helps you get out alive, perfect.

Your life is more important than any medal.

When I was just out of Highschool I didn't like the idea of taking orders so I didn't consider enlisting. Bill Clinton was president and didn't seem to be starting much ****.

Today, even if orders weren't an issue for me, the leadership just seems stupid. I firmly believe there would be no war in Ukraine if the US military had some brains and did a few little things to dissuade Russia from starting a war. Now our politicians see war in Ukraine as a good thing because it is taxing Russian resources, making Ukraine a Vietnam for them.

Of course they support Ukraine by creating massive debt for you and me.

I believe the best way to fight for peace is to have a strong military. I understand paying for that but our political leadership seems far to anxious to use war rather than diplomacy and foreign policy to promote peace. It's silly signing up to lead that charge.

 

[JohnPBailey]

The Hacksaw Ridge guy, Desmond Doss earned the MOH. He was a medic, but don't know if he qualifies as "non combat", though.
Two of my kids are non-combat Marines - musicians. That MOS has been deployed before, and it's my fervent prayer that they're never put in position to be awarded combat recognition.

Does any award of VALOR have to be necessarily combat-related? A soldier in garrison could theroetically risk his own life by going into a burning barracks to save fellow soldiers. A soldier with a non-combat MOS, such as mechanic as I was, might still possibly encounter an armed enemy in the field and have to fight. I was an Army mechanic. I was issued a tool kit and also a rifle and NBC mask. I was trained to fire a machine gun and was trained in a few other weapons. I can't honestly say if I was ever trained "how to fight" as an infantry school trainee might have been. In mock tactical situations, I just did what my military superiors told me to do. One time during a field training exercise, an "enemy" tank was headed into our perimeter and I was manning a machine gun position at the gate along with a buddy in the crew. The sergeant major standing by me ordered us to "light em up!". The machine gun of course was loaded with blanks. Army medics may have to operate under heavy enemy fire. I knew a medic who was issued a pistol and to qualify with it. The army chaplains in the field had armed soldiers assigned to them as bodyguards. Is bodyguard even an MOS? I do think military chaplains ought to have the option to be issued weapons for personal protection if their faith does not object to it. A Jehovah's Witness, a Branch Davidian and perhaps a Southern Baptist chaplain might gladly take an issued weapon, perhaps a sidearm, without moral objection.

 

[RichardB]

Jehovas Witnesses used to be pacifists. No way their more devout would serve when i was a boy. Maybe times have changed.

 

[JohnPBailey]

Jehovas Witnesses used to be pacifists. No way their more devout would serve when i was a boy. Maybe times have changed.

I met a couple JW's who said they might serve in a non-combat military capacity as cook, supply sergeant etc. They also insisted that they have the right to keep and bear arms for self-protection. They could conceivably shoot an enemy for self-protection. They claimed that they were not subservient to man-made governments and that they did not owe allegience to the American flag. JW's seem to be strong advocates for gun rights and constitutional principles, however. I don't know if they could be medics, doctors or nurses though. I think they object to blood transfusions.

 

[Will1993]

Father Joseph O'Callahan, USS Franklin-Medal of Honor
Doris Miller, Navy Cook 3rd. class, USS West Virginia-Navy Cross

 

[1cm]

Didn't a Dentist win it?

Nobody wins it, because it is not a contest. You get awarded it.

 

[JasonC8301]

To my knowledge an award for Valor has to be combat related. Navy achievement medal with combat valor device, bronze star with valor device, and so forth. Silver star, navy cross, distinguished service cross, air force cross, MOH are awarded in combat (not necessary war but combat.)

There are other medals for people that do good things stateside or while in garrison.

I stand corrected, there are two versions of the MOH, combat and non combat.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_in_non-combat_incidents#:~:text=The%20Medal%20of%20Honor%20was,member%20of%20its%20armed%20forces

.

Then again there is this

"The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States Armed Forces."

Quoted from here,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor#:~:text=In%201913%2C%20the%20Naval%20version,and%20one%20for%20non%2Dcombat

.

Then there is the Defense Distinguished Service Medal for non combat? I guess its up to the president.

@1cm +1 awarded NOT won. My medals/ribbons sit next to my DD-214 and bible in a ziploc bag with some sand from the fertile crescent in a box in a corner of my safe. It was another chapter of my life that is 20+ years old now.

 

[Bren]

Does any award of VALOR have to be necessarily combat-related? A soldier in garrison could theroetically risk his own life by going into a burning barracks to save fellow soldiers.

That is not what the military considers an award for valor. The highest the Army could give for that is a Soldiers Medal.

 

[FAL 7.62]

Jehovah

Witnesses used to be pacifists. No way their more devout would serve when i was a boy. Maybe times have changed.

They died by the hundreds in Europe WHEN ADOLPH was going to give them a pass to salute to the flag,Or let them join or leave Europe, They refused. They suffered the same fate. I have gone to there wisdom hall and listened. and know a few directly.And have had them at my Home. I never saw a problem with any of them. And a group of people that are on the right track. yet sometimes ridiculed and laughed at.

And they do have one thing correct along their beliefs...Man cannot govern himself.

 

[JohnPBailey]

That is not what the military considers an award for valor. The highest the Army could give for that is a Soldiers Medal.

When I said VALOR, I was thinking more along the line of acts of courage in general.

 

[rball]

Doris Miller, Navy Cook 3rd. class, USS West Virginia-Navy Cross

This right here. CVN-81 (aircraft carrier) will be named after Doris Miller as well. Mr. Miller was a cook, but he was a sailor first. Maybe not the kind of cook/sailor like Casey Ryback (i.e. Steven Seagal in the movie Under Siege), but I think Mr. Miller did far more in his official role than Chief Petty Officer Ryback did in his.

 

[tarawa]

For example, what is the highest award for valor known to have been awarded to an Army motor pool mechanic, an aircraft mechanic, a retention NCO, a supply personnel, a cook, a drill sergeant, a chaplain, a medic or an MP?

It would be interesting to see a compiled list of American military awards for valor including Medal of Honor on the basis of:

-war/event/era
-service branch
-MOS/trade
-rank/pay grade
-position/status (commander, drill sergeant, supply sergeant, squad leader, section sergeant, etc.)

Amphibious driver Coast Guard, Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro:“Douglas A. Munro Covers the Withdrawal of the 7th Marines at Guadalcanal”

The True Story Behind the Coast Guard’s Only Medal of Honor Recipient

During World War II, Coast Guardsman Douglas Munro gave his life so a detachment of 500 Marines could live. He was honored with the Medal of Honor for his actions and is the only member of the Coast Guard awarded the medal.

www.uso.org

 

[leekellerking]

To my knowledge an award for Valor has to be combat related. Navy achievement medal with combat valor device, bronze star with valor device, and so forth. Silver star, navy cross, distinguished service cross, air force cross, MOH are awarded in combat (not necessary war but combat.)

There are other medals for people that do good things stateside or while in garrison.

I stand corrected, there are two versions of the MOH, combat and non combat.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medal_of_Honor_recipients_in_non-combat_incidents#:~:text=The%20Medal%20of%20Honor%20was,member%20of%20its%20armed%20forces

.

Then again there is this

"The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States Armed Forces."

Quoted from here,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor#:~:text=In%201913%2C%20the%20Naval%20version,and%20one%20for%20non%2Dcombat

.

Then there is the Defense Distinguished Service Medal for non combat? I guess its up to the president.

@1cm +1 awarded NOT won. My medals/ribbons sit next to my DD-214 and bible in a ziploc bag with some sand from the fertile crescent in a box in a corner of my safe. It was another chapter of my life that is 20+ years old now.

Per the official Congressional Medal of Honor page:

The Medal is authorized for any military service member who “distinguishes himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty

• While engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States;
• While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or
• While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party."

About the Medal of Honor

Nowadays, there is often no 'front line" and combat can occur anywhere, so clearly there is no requirement of a combat MOS.