In the interim

I read stories like this, where a man knowingly and deliberately lays his life down for his buds, and I get choked up:

McGinnis was manning the gunner’s hatch when an insurgent tossed a grenade from above. It flew past McGinnis and down through the hatch before lodging near the radio.

His platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thomas of Longview , Texas , recalled what happened next.

“Pfc. McGinnis yelled ‘Grenade…It’s in the truck,’” Thomas said. “I looked out of the corner of my eye as I was crouching down and I saw him pin it down.”

McGinnis did so even though he could have escaped.

“He had time to jump out of the truck,” Thomas said. “He chose not to.”

Thomas remembered McGinnis talking about how he would respond in such a situation. McGinnis said then he didn’t know how he would act, but when the time came, he delivered.

“He gave his life to save his crew and his platoon sergeant,” Thomas said. “He’s a hero. He’s a professional. He was just an awesome guy.”

Three of the Soldiers with McGinnis who were wounded that day have returned to duty, while a fourth is recovering in Germany.

Men like that merit our recognition at the very least. Here's how he has been recognized:

For saving the lives of his friends and giving up his own in the process, McGinnis earned the Silver Star, posthumously. His unit paid their final respects in a somber ceremony here Dec. 11.

But the Silver Star is likely only an interim award. As John Donovan lays out in the post linked above, covering a grenade to save your fellow soldiers is generally a Medal of Honor action in the U.S. And PFC McGinnis has been nominated for that decoration.

The idea of giving someone an interim award pending the investigation of a higher one is quite literally foreign to me. I think I understand the reasoning behind it: immediate action to reinforce the message to the troops (one of the main purposes of a decoration is to motivate others), and hopefully an inadequate but immediate salve to the emotional wounds of the Private's loved ones. In a case like this, it makes sense.

The U.S. military tends towards immediacy in general, with many awards for bravery being awarded in theatre. As I mentioned, there are benefits to morale inherent to that course of action.

The Canadian government takes more time to investigate and verify the circumstances surrounding any award. This has caused some frustration in the not-too-distant past:

Canadian troops have been in the field in Afghanistan now for two years and before that were deployed with a full battalion battle group in 2002.

Yet we never read of any of those brave Canadians being recommended for decorations for heroic service, or for medals that reflect their outstanding devotion to duty.

In the first deployment in 2002 several decorations were awarded and the news media was made aware of them. But they were not Canadian decorations.

There were stories about five Canadian snipers being awarded Bronze Star medals with Valour clasps by the US Army.

They had spent 19 days under fire in the field, attached to a US Army scout team.

The American commander attested that their bravery and skill at arms saved many American lives; that the snipers reduced enemy machinegun emplacements and broke up their concentrations.

The news was controversial because even a month after the medals had been approved in the US and sent to Ottawa nothing official had been heard about them by the troops who would receive them.

But there are also some very good reasons for that thoroughness and diligence. Witness the rush to judgement - positive judgement, to be sure - of many in the case of MCpl Paul Franklin. A rush which was later shown to be inappropriate:

Meanwhile, early published reports that another of those injured, MCpl. Paul Franklin, may have saved his own life by applying a tourniquet to his severed left leg, have proved erroneous.

Major Nick Withers, the Canadian doctor at the U.S. hospital in Landstuhl, said new information about the chaotic few minutes after the suicide attack came to light yesterday. Another solider, Corporal Jacob Petten, wrapped a tourniquet around MCpl. Franklin's severed left leg while he was unconscious. Although MCpl. Franklin, a medic, initially believed in the confusion after the blast he had treated himself, he now understands that it was Cpl. Petten who saved his life. "We wanted to set the record straight," Major Withers said.

Cpl. Franklin's wife, Audra, said, "He realizes that one of his guys, that he had taught, saved him."

I don't think there's a right answer here. Both honours systems have their own strengths.

I'm saddened that our world forces men and women to demonstrate their courage in such brutal circumstances. But I am heartened that we are expressing our thanks and admiration to them with decorations, however awarded. It is the very least we can do.