{"id":39234,"date":"2014-01-09T17:19:32","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T22:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=39234"},"modified":"2014-01-09T17:19:32","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T22:19:32","slug":"gates-approved-then-rescinded-peraltas-moh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=39234","title":{"rendered":"Gates approved then rescinded Peralta’s MOH"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve discussed Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta and his final act to save his fellow Marines, the act that cost him his own life. In his book, Duty, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says that he approved, then rescinded Peralta’s Medal of Honor, according to the Marine Corps Times<\/a>;<\/p>\n

In his book \u201cDuty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,\u201d Gates said he was convinced by the evidence the Marines presented, and had submitted his medal recommendation to the president before deciding to withdraw it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe medal recommendation had been endorsed by the proper chain of approval, including the secretary of the Navy and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, the documentation also included dissenting views from the medical forensic community and the undersecretary for personnel and readiness,\u201d Gates wrote in a chapter titled \u201cOne Damn Thing After Another.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, let me get this straight, he approved the recommendation when he read the statements from Marines who were on the spot and witnessed the act, but then he changed his mind when he looked at what pogues who weren’t there had to say? I guess that little incident could be the theme of Gate’s whole tenure at the Pentagon. He wasn’t listening to people on the ground, he was listening to the “experts”. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, I personally interviewed several senior officers in Peralta\u2019s chain of command, and in light of the unanimous support of the entire uniformed leadership involved, I approved the recommendation. I was satisfied that Sergeant Peralta met all the criteria and deserved the Medal of Honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon after, Gates wrote, he learned of a complaint made to the Defense Department Inspector General that alleged Peralta could not have acted consciously to cover the grenade and save fellow Marines\u2019 lives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gates should have just kept his mouth shut after he retired. I hate him more each day, usually more at the end of the day than when it began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve discussed Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta and his final act to save his fellow Marines, the … Gates approved then rescinded Peralta’s MOH<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}