But, when one remembers that the device is used in the Navy and Marine Corps to denote direct participation in combat rather than specific ~ct(s) of heroism, this makes

sense.

Current Coast Guard instructions on awards authorize oast the V on the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, C

Guard Commendation Medal and Coast Guard Achievement Medal. Note the difference between the Coast Guard and the Navy and Marine Corps, as the "V" on the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal is not authorized in the Coast Guard.

In the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, how the

"V" is worn on the suspension and service ribbon differs

from the Army (and the Air Force). All the services

require the "V" to be worn in the middle of the ribbon

when there is only one award. Where there is more than

one award--requiring a gold or silver star--the sea

services keep the "V" centered; the stars are placed to

the left and right of the "V," with the first star placed to

the wearer’s fight.

Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard recipients of the Combat Distinguishing Device

Vietnam: Navy Commendation Medal with "V"; Navy Achievement Medal with "V". A controversial example

of the use of the "V" device on both medals arose in the

case of the former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral

Jeremy "Mike" Boorda. In May 1996, magazine

columnist (and retired Army colonel) David Hackworth

suggested that Boorda was not authorized to wear a "V"

on the Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement

Medals he had received for service aboard a ship during

the Vietnam War. Boorda, apparently distraught over

the accusation, killed himself?2

Boorda’s citations, later released by the Navy, lacked the required statement that a Combat Distinguishing Device was authorized. However, as there is no requirement that a sailor perform any specific act of heroism to be entitled to a "V," the issue was less clear-cut than it would have been in the Army. In fact, a Navy awards board that later determined that Boorda was entitled to the Combat Distinguishing Device on both medals.

Iraq: Bronze Star Medal with "V". A recent Bronze Star Medal with "V" to a Navy corpsman is an excellent

example of a recent award to a sailor. On March 26, 2003,

Petty Officer 2nd Class Alan Dementer was near

Nasiriyah, Iraq, with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine

Regiment. Dementer, a corpsman, found himself in the

midst of an enemy attack. "Tracers were flying

everywhere," he recently told an interviewer, "and

Marines were yelling ’Corpsman Up,’ in a 360-degree

radius - they were hit all over the place."

Despite being wounded in the shoulder and leg by a mortar that exploded 25 yards from him, Dementer kept his medical supply bag with him and ministered to wounded Marines. He is credited with helping 31 wounded Marines that night and, for his heroism as a corpsman, received the Bronze Star Medal with the Combat Distinguishing Device.13 Lance Corporal George A. Armendariz’s Bronze Star Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device is a good example of a recent award to a Marine. His official citation--which is unusually long--follows:

For heroic service in connection with operations against the enemy in A1 Fallujah, Iraq, while serving as Scout, 1 st Platoon, Light Armored Reconnaissance Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. First Platoon was tasked with conducting a link-up with Company B, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. As the two units met, they received rocket- propelled grenades and small arms fire. Lance Cpl. Armendariz’s vehicle then took the lead on the movement and, after making contact with an enemy forward observer, they immediately engaged him. The platoon began taking heavy amounts of fire from the front and right flank. Armendariz returned fire from an exposed position against a numerically advanced force and was hit by a three-round burst from a machine gun, severely wounding his leg. He refused medical treatment and evacuation and remained in the fight until he was physically helped into the back of a casualty evacuation vehicle. As the battle proceeded, Armendariz disregarded his serious wounds and stood up to protect the vehicle’s flank and provided suppressive fire on the enemy. While still in contact with the enemy and in the middle of loading other casualties, Armendariz dismounted from his vehicle while bleeding heavily from his wounds. From an exposed position and facing the risk of his own personal safety, he retnrned accurate suppressive fire with an M249 squad automatic weapon. This allowed Marines and corpsmen to transfer and treat a more critically wounded Marine. By his zealous initiative, courageous actions and exceptional dedication to duty, Armendariz reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Services.

The wear of the Combat Distinguishing Device is authorized.

A photograph of Lance Corporal Armendariz wearing his Bronze Star Medal is at Figure 9.

8 JOMSA

Figure 9: Lance Corporal George A. Armendariz

wearing the Bronze Star Medal.

Iraq: Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with

"V." 1 st Lieutenant David R. Denial, a fire support team

leader in Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine

Regiment, received a Navy and Marine Corps

Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing

Device for "coordinating sniper, mortar, and other fires

from April 18-27, 2004.’’14

Iraq: Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with "__V." 1st Lieutenant Stephen R. Shaw, a platoon

commander in Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine

Regiment, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps

Achievement Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device

for "heroic performance in the superior performance of

his duties." During four months in Iraq, "Shaw led his

men in three firefights, more than 75 combat patrols and

two cordon-and-search operations around Fallujah.’’15

The "V" (Valor) Device in the Air Force

The "V for valor" device was retained by the Air Force

after it separated from the Army in 1947 and became an

independent service. But how the Air Force use of the

"V" developed from 1947 until the present is quite

interesting because the process was strikingly different

from the other services.

From the late 1940s to the mid-1990s, the Air Force was the most faithful branch of the Armed Forces in adhering

to the original idea for the "V." The Air Force limited its

use to individual acts of heroism and, when placed on

the Bronze Star Medal, it denoted that the award was for

gallantry in action and not for merit or achievement.

Interestingly, when the Army expanded the use of the

"V" to the Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal

in the 1960s, the Air Force did not immediately follow

suit. Until 1996, the BSM was the only Air Force

decoration on which the "V" device could be affixed.

That changed in January 1996, when the Air Force

announced that the "V" device could be worn by

individual airmen on the Air Force Commendation Medal

and Air Force Achievement Medal to "denote noteworthy

accomplishments of personnel placed in harm’s way

during contingency operations."

Note the difference: while a "V" device on the Bronze

Star Medal still means award was given for combat valor,

the same "V" on an Air Force Commendation Medal or

Achievement Medal now means that the recipient was

"exposed to personal hazards due to direct hostile action"

during a deployment." As the current Air Force

Instruction governing awards says, a "hostile

environment" is sufficient to merit a "V." Note also that,

while it expanded the use of the "V" to its Commendation

and Achievement medals, the Air Force did not permit

its use on the Air Medal.

The most current Air Force Awards and Decorations

Program instruction (AF136-2803), dated June 15, 2001,

summarizes how the "V" is used in the Air Force:

A metallic, bronze, letter "V" that represents valor.

Worn on the BSM service and suspension ribbons when

awarded for heroism. Worn on the AFAM [Air Force

Achievement Medal] and AFCM [Air Force

Commendation Medal] service and suspension ribbons

when awarded to appropriately recognize the

noteworthy accomplishments of Air Force personnel

placed in harm’s way during contingency deployment

operations. Award of the "V" device with the AFAM

and AFCM is authorized only for events/situations

which occurred on or after 11 January 1996. Also, wear

(sic) the "V" on the AFOUA [Air Force Outstanding

Unit Award] and AFOEA [Air Force Organizational

Excellence Award] ribbons and embroidered (sic) on

the streamers of these awards is authorized. When worn

with oak leaf clusters, place the "V" devices to the

wearer’s right of the clusters. Wear only one "V" device

Vol. 58, No. 1 9

on the ribbon. Do not use to represent subsequent w ~6 a ards.

Since the publication of AF136-2803 in 2001, there has

been One more,,ch,ange. Up until 2004, the Air Force authorized the ~V’ device on the Bronze Star Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and Air Force Achievement Medal. As these medals were going to airmen for heroism of a lesser degree than that required for the Silver Star and Bronze Star Medal, this makes perfect sense.

Then, in June 2004 Secretary of the Air Force James Roche authorized the use of the "V for valor" device on the Distinguished Flying Cross - retroactive to September 18, 1947 (the date the Air Force was established). Interestingly, the Air Force Personnel Center announced that an airman needed no particular authorization to put the "¥" on his Distinguished Flying Cross. Said Master Sgt. A1 Salinas of the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, "simply put, anyone awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism is entitled to wear the device.’’17

Let there be no doubt that the "V" truly has a different

purpose in theAir Force: the "V" also is an organization

award. It may be worn on the Air Force Outstanding Unit

Award (AFOUA) ribbon and the Air Force Organizational

Excellence Award (AFOEA)--and embroidered on the

streamers of these awards. The Air Force Outstanding

Unit Award, established as a ribbon-only award by the

Air Force in 1954, is awarded to units for outstanding

achievement or exceptionally meritorious service. The

Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, created by

the Air Force as a ribbon-only award in 1966, is awarded

to unnumbered organizations (such as a major command

headquarters), for outstanding achievement of

exceptionally meritorious service.

In sum, the "V" in the Air Force denotes heroism (on the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star Medal.)

It may also reflect that the recipient was in harm’s way

on a contingency operation (on the Air Force

Commendation Medal and Air Force Achievement

Medal). Finally, the "V" may be used to reflect that a

unit performed in an outstanding or exceptionally

meritorious manner while on a contingency operation

(on the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and Air Force

Organizational Excellence Award).

Air Force Recipients of the "V" Device

Afghanistan. Bronze Star Medal with "V." Staff Sergeant

10

Gabe Brown and Technical Sergeant Keary Miller both received the BSM with "V" for their combat heroism during the so-called "Battle of Roberts Ridge" on March 4, 2002. This battle involved Army, Navy and Air Force special operators in what started out as an attempted rescue of Petty Officer 1st Class Neil C. Roberts and escalated into a full-blown firefight.

Brown was a combat controller on the ground who called in a 500-lb. laser-guided bomb on al Qaeda and Taliban positions. As a result of Brown’s expert guidance, the bombs were dropped within 100 to 150 meters of the Army Ranger’s positions. Miller was a rescue parajumper who headed the Combat Search and Rescue Team during the ill-fated rescue attempt.18

Department of Defense

The only medal awarded by the Defense Department that may be awarded with "V" device is the Joint Service Commendation Medal. The decision to use the "V" on this medal grew out of the early days of the war in Vietnam, when personnel assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (a joint command located in Saigon) began to receive the Joint Commendation Medal.

A "V" on the Joint Commendation Medal denotes that

the award was made for acts or service that involved direct

participation in combat operations on or after June 25,

1963. While the Department of Defense (DoD) could

authorized the "V" to be worn on the Defense Superior

Service Medal (the Department of Defense equivalent

to the Legion of Merit) or Joint Services Achievement

Medal, it has not done so, and this seems unlikely to

occur in the future.

Conclusion

Table 1 shows, by service and award, the use of the "V"

device today:

The "V" device remains an important way to distinguish between meritorious service and achievement in a combat zone and gallantry in action. But, how the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force--and Defense Department--actually use the device in practice is markedly different and generally not well understood! This makes the history of the "V" only more fascinating.

The author wishes to thank OMSA member Dr. Charles

R "Nick" McDowell for his invaluable help in preparing

this article and ensuring its accuracy.