'I'm not a hero' says Medal of Honor SEAL ahead of ceremony on Monday

Most in this community remain this way; always impressive to meet these warriors.

I have served with several as well, and in every case, their respect came from the way they carried themselves and their rank, as well as their ability to treat others according to the same, whether senior or junior to their ranks.

roger that!

SGT (Join to see) - You can't compare campaign awards to personal action awards. And like it or not, the standards ARE different. Should they be? Perhaps not, but that isn't how it plays in the real world.

And regarding disability claims, I'm 100% disabled even though I didn't see combat. Even peace time shipboard life is very dangerous, and I had severe neck injuries.

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow - ma’am, first, I understand your pain. The struggle is absolutely real. I sincerely hope that your injuries have healed or have limited you as little as possible in your post service career.

Second, and this just ties back how this conversation got going. I’m well aware of the on-paper standards and real world standards. I’m saying that it’s wrong. What this particular operator did is MH worthy. And frankly, I’d expect those actions from any soldier, PVT on up. Now, that’s not always going to happen. But, I’m a big fan of training to standards and upholding the standards. The criteria for the MH (and other service-wide personal action awards) is written and should be applied for all troops. There isn’t an asterisk that reads “* it if you’re an operator, expect the ‘real world’ criteria to be a liiitle harder.”

That’s wrong all day. The current real world state of the award system in the military is... you guessed it...wrong all day. Because too many officers and seniors NCOs (and it’s been a ‘tradition’ long brewing) have been molding and enforcing ‘real world’ standards. If you want a ‘harder to earn’ MH for operators, authorize the ‘Operators Medal of Honor’, and write newer, stricter criteria.

I can’t claim this phrase, but I’ll sure use it. If you’re not a part of the solution, you’re definitely a part of the problem. If you want different standards, write them down. “Real world” standards in the military are equivalent to the “unwritten rules” in baseball. Everyone interprets them differently, and ultimately, all they do is cause confusion and get people hurt.

SGT (Join to see) - there certainly have been junior personnel awarded the MH in the last two decades - it's not just E-8's doing it.

After re-reading everything regarding this event, I think the Master Chief does deserve the upgrade, but as you say, junior personnel should get better recognition too.

There are a lot of standards for the type of event, such as the Combat V and C addons to medals such as the BS, COM and Achievement medals.

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow - ma’am, as a retired junior NCO with a BSM, I’m painfully aware of the various awards the military has to offer.
And it’s not about junior personnel getting recognized. It’s just about applying the standards. This case is about a senior NCO in one of the most elite units that JSOC has to offer. In fact, we agree that if Seaman Goober did the same actions, he’d get the MH, no questions asked.
The broken awards system not only affects junior troops, but it can also unfairly affect elite seniors, also. Wrong is wrong all day. It will only get right when service members still on active duty fight to fix it.