More About the Heroism Medal Going Away

By Mike Walton on 13 March 2013 in Email Posts

Mr. Walton,

“I read the comments about the BSA retiring the “Heroism Award” on the scouting magazine blog. I am curious about your thoughts on this. I am looking at it from a military valor standpoint. You have the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and the Bronze Star with a “V” device for Valor. If you look at what the BSA National Court of Honor has done, they have taken out what I would equate as the “Silver Star” so to speak. I don’t quite understand the rationale for this. I have noticed that you posted on the blog but was wondering what your thoughts were.”

LOU

Hey Lou!!

Well, personally I don’t like it but I don’t like it only because that over time, the Heroism Medal will become one of those “oh yeah, back in the OLD DAYS” award things like what we experienced with the Exploring awards and some other things. Here’s the bottom line: we have TOO MANY AWARDS which mean roughly the same things in the BSA — and the BSA (volunteers, not the professionals!!) wanted to shrink them down so that we have less awards with more meaning.

I look at this like the advent of the challenge coins. Before we had coins, if a Commander wanted to give something to a Soldier for their efforts and hard work, they directed the Adjuant/S-1 to “give that soldier an IMPACT Army Achievement (AAM) or Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM)” (depending on the rank of the commander).

I personally have seven AAMs and five ARCOMs. Half of those (four AAMs; three ARCOMs) are IMPACT awards — I was honored, for instance, in being the “Top Volunteer in my command”…this was before the Miltary Volunteer Service or whatever it’s called now medal… (Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal). Another time, I was given a medal for my exceptional work in putting together a retirement ceremony.

Later, when commanders started giving out their coin (serial numbered in some cases, so you know that they just don’t “hand them out!”, I also have a deskfull of coins from various generals and civilians for things I’ve done with their command or for them. Imagine the number of medals I would get without the coins coming around?? *smiling*

In Scouting, we kinda went wild with the number and types of volunteer awards. It started when program areas thought that the “key to getting more volunteers in our part of the program” was to “create a square knot and wrap it around an award for them. They won’t wear the actual thing — but they sure will snap up that knot thingy and wear it…so that they can show their family and other Scouters that “they count”. ”

So we did it. As a result, we went from having three awards which really meant something as far as heroism and meritorious service was concerned to FIVE (if one counts the National Certificate of Merit). As I stated online, I was beside myself when I got the envelope with the medal and two or three of those white and red square knots inside it. Seeing how I never even expected the Certificate when it was presented to me back then, this was wonderful!!

(The square knot originally was the Sea Scouting version of the Honor Medal. Since very few Sea Scouts/Sea Explorers earned the Honor Medal, that’s what the National Court of Honor decided that the new holders of the Heroism Medal would wear. As a guy who learns and does research on the backgrounds of all of the BSA’s awards…they should have went with a red and white striped square knot instead — or made the ribbon red and gold and made the square knot emblem red and gold. They couldn’t make it red and white because that’s already used for the Silver Buffalo Award… Oh well…)

As Bill Evans (the BSA’s director overseeing the National Court of Honor among other things) explained, it was becoming harder and harder to distinguish between “degrees” of heroism. The Awards are very subjective and require a lot of reading and review by the committee members.

So my action in turning a child upside down and allowing him to basically vomit out the marbles (and everything else in the process) yes, saved a life but really does it come to the kind of thing like removing an electrical cable from a person without getting electricuted; or stopping two lanes of traffic in order to keep a van from being additionally hit; or providing first aid to a woman whose car went down a ravine and was hidden by traffic in a blinding rainstorm? (Done all of those things and got letters from Scout Executives thanking me for my “meritorious service” but that was it. Doing the right things at the right time.)

So we’re going back to the “standards” before 1977: you save a life, you get the Honor Medal; save the life at extreme hardship or hazard to yourself, you get it with the Crossed Palms. You perform some act of meritorious service, which may or may not result in saving a life, you get the Merit Medal. Lessor acts you get a National Certificate of Merit or a letter from your Scout Executive.

I can live with that…but I’ll miss the Heroism Medal.

Thanks for asking me Lou!!

—
Settummanque is writer, retired military officer, dad, friend,
traveler, public speaker, webmaster, Eagle Scout, and/or “sweetie”
(LTC) Mike Walton. South Lake Minnetonka area, Minnesota.
http://www.settummanque.com

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About Mike Walton

Take your standard Oliver North. Add strong parts of Bill Cosby and Sir Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting). Throw in Johny Bravo without the "hurhhs!" and his pecks. Add a strong dose of parenting, the sexuality of a latin lover, and Mona Lisa's smile. And a 40 year old's body frame. That's me basically *grinning*