The only surprise in mega-Christian Bryan Fischer's latest screech is that he didn't say "Obama's Medal of Honor winners are 'pussies.'" This woman-hating, gay-hating, Muslim-hating, environment-hating, birth control-hating, democracy-hating, Obama-hating know-nothing, whose most cretinous previous comment was that married couples should be mandated to have at least three children, has complained on his blog that President Obama "feminized" the Medal of Honor by awarding it to Army Sgt. Salvatore Giunta. Under heavy fire, Giunta rescued two fellow soldiers. Omigod. Merely rescued? Says Fischer:
So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?
I would suggest our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery. We know instinctively that we should honor courage, but shy away from honoring courage if it results in the taking of life rather than in just the saving of life. So we find it safe to honor those who throw themselves on a grenade to save their buddies.
If Obama can get away with this, you know what's next. Fischer must have nightmares about some lesbian corporal getting the Medal of Honor for rescuing a gay lieutenant from enemy attack without once firing her rifle. A rifle she shouldn't even touch since she should be at home popping out babies three at a time for adoption by straight families. And that gay lieutenant shouldn't be on the battlefield either because, Fischer says, Hitler was a homosexual whose atrocities were carried out by gay Stormtroopers because not enough straight Nazis could be found for the task. You probably think I'm kidding.
Fischer, formerly chaplain of the Idaho State Senate, is the Director of Issues Analysis for the right-wing Christian group known as the American Family Association. It's no surprise that, according to his official biography, he has never served in the military, apparently thinking - from his Bible studies - that it's all about how many of the enemy can be demolished with the jawbone of an ass. From the jawbone of his ass, we learn that the trouble with war is that there's not enough killing in it. Clearly, only soldiers who kill lots of people should get a manly Gold Medallion and a salute. Soldiers who save their comrades should get a pink plastic Hello Kitty pin and a smirk.
Fischer claims in his blog, citing The Wall Street Journal's Bill McGurn, that this "feminizing" has happened because nobody has been awarded the Medal of Honor in Iraq or Afghanistan for killing enemy soldiers, only for saving friendlies. That's a lie. Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith received his posthumous medal because he:
...braved hostile enemy fire [on April 4, 2003] to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers.
Despite Fischer's history-challenged spew, from the beginning, Medal of Honor winners have included those who did "nothing more" than save their comrades from certain death. Check out how many World War I, World War II and Vietnam War recipients jumped on grenades to absorb the shrapnel meant for their buddies.
One of the earliest awards of the Medal of Honor went to 2nd Lt. Hillary Beyer. After his unit retreated at Antietam, Md., on Sept. 17, 1862, he stayed on the battlefield alone to care for the wounded and carried one of his comrades to safety.
In October 1863, seaman Thomas Barton tossed a bucket of water to quench an ignited shell that fell out of a howitzer on the U.S.S. Hunchback, probably saving crew members lives.
Seaman James Avery and quarter gunner Charles Baker, in August, 1864, "braved enemy fire, which was said by the admiral to be 'one of the most galling" he had ever seen, and aided in rescuing from death 10 of the crew of the [U.S. monitor] Tecumseh, eliciting the admiration of both friend and foe."
In April, 1970, Sgt. Gary Beikirch, "with complete disregard for his personal safety, moved unhesitatingly through the withering enemy fire to his fallen comrades, applied first aid to their wounds and assisted them to the medical aid station. When informed that a seriously injured American officer was lying in an exposed position, Sgt. Beikirch ran immediately through the hail of fire. Although he was wounded seriously by fragments from an exploding enemy mortar shell, Sgt. Beikirch carried the officer to a medical aid station. Ignoring his own serious injuries, Sgt. Beikirch left the relative safety of the medical bunker to search for and evacuate other men who had been injured. He was again wounded as he dragged a critically injured Vietnamese soldier to the medical bunker while simultaneously applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to sustain his life."
On September 29, 2006, "while the SEALs vigilantly watched for enemy activity, an insurgent threw a hand grenade from an unseen location, which bounced off [Master-At-Arms Second Class Michael] Monsoor's chest and landed in front of him. Although only he could have escaped the blast ... Monsoor chose instead to protect his teammates. Instantly and without regard for his own safety, he threw himself onto the grenade to absorb the force of the explosion with his body, saving the lives of his two teammates."
Brave men and true. Except in the eyes of Bryan Fischer, this friend of the bigoted pretend-heroes and chickenhawks who have bought themselves an ever-tighter grip on the freak-show that is the modern Republican Party. Lord help us and the three children Fischer demands them each to have.