If it ain't broke...

I read with some resignation about the creation of the new Sacrifice Medal the other day. As longtime readers here will know, I favoured the Wound Stripe, which will no longer be awarded. My arguments still hold true, especially this one:

If all the circumstances surrounding its awarding and wear remain the same, you're simply exchanging a piece of braid on the sleeve for a piece of metal on the chest. A worthwhile trade if you value the metal more than the braid, I guess.

You could make the argument that the distinctive braid, in an exclusive position on the cuff of uniform and civilian dress, makes the wound stripe all the more special. It doesn't get lost in a sea of campaign medals, long-service decorations, or stuck behind medals for valour.

Or, as a poster at Army.ca put it:

A soldier in my unit has the wound strip and I think it looks alot better than adding another medal IMHO instead of saying, "I got this medal for this Tour and that that Tour, this one is my 12 yrs Service Medal, and this one is for getting blown up."

There are technically thirty-two other decorations that would be worn in precedence to the Sacrifice Medal. At least the Wound Stripe had a place of its own.

I'm also concerned at the lack of discretionary language in the CANFORGEN as to how the medal will be awarded and whether it must be worn by the CF member:

2. THE SM WILL BE AWARDED TO CF PERSONNEL, PERSONNEL OF ALLIED FORCES ON EXCHANGE WITH THE CF AND CANADIAN CIVILIANS WORKING UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE CF WHO, ON OR AFTER 7 OCT 01, DIED OR WERE WOUNDED UNDER HONOURABLE CIRCUMSTANCES AS A DIRECT RESULT OF HOSTILE OR PERCEIVED HOSTILE ACTION PROVIDED THE WOUNDS REQUIRED TREATMENT BY A PHYSICIAN (MO) AND THE TREATMENT IS RECORDED

...

E. MENTAL DISORDERS THAT ARE DIAGNOSED ACCORDING TO THE CRITERIA SET OUT IN THE QUOTE DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS UNQUOTE, PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION, AND BASED ON A REVIEW BY A QUALIFIED MENTAL HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONER, ARE DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO A HOSTILE OR PERCEIVED HOSTILE ACTION

What happens to the a member with PTSD, or a member whose testicle or breast was taken off by a piece of shrapnel, whose application for the SM is completed by his or her CO and MO, approved, and awarded? Are such required to wear a reminder of their potentially embarrassing infirmity?

Perhaps not. Perhaps the military and GG's office have thought that through, and built in provisions that I don't know about. At least one person thinks that's the case:

As far as I know there is NO directive ordering a person to wear any medal he/she is awarded. I looked through the CF Directions and Orders (when it was my job to know such things) and couldn't find a thing. Let me know if you do...

As far as I know the person who wears the wound stripe and wishes to keep wearing the wound stripe will be entitled to do so. If you trade it in, you wear (or not) the medal from then on. All the new wounded will get the medal, no choice there... though wearing is still up to you.

Point about PTSD. I'm fairly certain that if you have PTSD, your doctor who is treating you MUST have your permission to disclose the nature of that injury (Medical confidence and all that) so the only way you will be awarded the Sacrifice Medal for PTSD is if you allow them to know you have it and that you want it. If your chain of command gets antsy as they sometimes do, I personally would tell them to shove the medal and if they insist mention the privacy act, human rights and doctor/patient confidentiality.

We'll see. But read through the flexible and sensitive characteristics of the Wound Stripe again, and ask yourself why we had to change anything? Why did we have to bury the award in a phalanx of other medals on a member's chest? And why create uncertainty and controversy where before there was none?

I don't think this was something that needed changing. A majority of those posting at Army.ca don't think it needed changing (see the poll results at the top of the page).

One individual at Army.ca found one substantive justification. I'm just not sure it's enough of a reason to make such a change:

Fellow soldiers, serving and like me, out to pasture,

One thought: the wound stripe was abolished some time before I joined the army in 1957. I know this because we had a couple of guys in my battery circa 1958 who were wounded in Korea and did not wear the badge. (One was known as shrapnel *** because he was hit by a mortar splinter while bending over repairing a break in a line.) The badge was not reinstated until the 1990's and many of you wear it with honour.

However, unlike the wound stripe, which is a badge, the medal is something that once gazetted can not be taken away with the stroke of a pen. The intent is not to lessen the signficance of the wound stripe, it is to more formally acknowledge your condition.

I know this is unlikely to change many minds, and I guess I am wasting a post, but I hope some of you will accept the good intenetions behind the institution of the award.

Of course, none of the arguments for or against matter now. But just ask some of those who now wear the wound stripe what they think of the change:

So the question is can I keep my wound stripe and tell them to keep this ridiculous (IMO) medal?

Not the reaction one would hope for from the rank and file.