Drone Medal Draws Fire

Newly-confirmed Sec of Defense Chuck Hagel was presented with a letter earlier today from the Veterans of Foreign War taking issue with the new armed services medal that will recognize drone and other out-of-theatre service. However, the proposed new citation -- titled the Distinguished Warfare Medal -- will outrank such traditional awards as the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. It is the ranking, not the creation of the medal itself, that has veteran groups (and some members of Congress) up in arms. The Pentagon insists that its support for remote and cyber warfare does not diminish from its traditional awards for combat valor.

Owning Two Wars -- and the Presidency

A few weeks ago in the WSJ, Peggy Noonan wrote of the moment in which a President 'owns' his Presidency. (The context was, in typical Noonan fashion, passive/aggressive partisanship: At what point does the public make Obama responsible for the economy? Her answer: right about now.)

In the last two weeks, it appears that Obama has taken ownership of the role of Commander-in-Chief. In the early morning of Thursday, October 29th, the President paid a late night visit to Dover Air Force Base as the bodies of 18 American servicemen who had died in Afghanistan were returned home.

A week ago, on Thursday, November 5th, thirteen people were killed (and almost 30 wounded) by alleged gunman Nidal M. Hasan. Although Obama's immediate response was criticized by some, his speech on Tuesday at the Fort Hood memorial service was well-received.

And finally, yesterday, he laid a wreath at Arlington for the first time as President, and then stopped by Section 60 of the Cemetery; the visit was recounted in a moving piece by a journalist who was there "off duty."

Against the backdrop of a pending decision on strategy in Afghanistan, Obama seems to have grown into the role of C-in-C this past fortnight.

And his actions over the past few weeks bring into sharper relief the outrageousness of the "dithering" statement by former VP Dick Cheney.

Dripping Water

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson (blogged earlier here) is not the only one in trouble over medical treatment for Iraq/Afghan vets. The Post reports this morning that:

But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.