Yesterday, David Bellavia was FINALLY awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions and courage during the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004. This long overdue award makes him the first living recipient of the MOH from the Iraq War: Personally, I think this man should have been awarded the MOH 15 years ago, and I suspect politics are responsible for the delay in recognizing Bellavia and presumably others like him for all these years. Hopefully, those days are now over. I salute David Bellavia and applaud those who finally gave him the recognition and gratitude he deserves. If you're interested in learning more about how Bellavia earned the Medal of Honor, I recommend reading his book House to House: A Soldier's Memoir. I've read it and it's an excellent book.
Personally, I think Bellavia deserves thanks for risking his life to serve the country he loves. I also think that Ed Snowden deserves thanks for risking his freedom and life to serve the country he loves. There are all kinds of courage and commitment in life. There's no need to trot out Bellavia to use as a political football.
Nice try, but people like Edward Snowden and Bruce-Caitlynn Jenner don't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as David Bellavia. Courage may come in different forms but not all forms of courage are equivalent. Furthermore, I didn't trot out or use Bellavia as a political football. Clearly, he deserved the recognition he finally received yesterday, but for some reason both the Obama and Bush administrations - one Democrat, one Republican - neglected to do so. If anything was treated as a political football it was the Medal of Honor that Bellavia should have received years ago.
