Lawmaker engages Army general over Medal of Honor

The U.S. military appears to have toughened its standards for bestowing the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor in battle, to exclude troops who survive their heroic acts, a California lawmaker charged Thursday.

Either troops are "not as brave as they used to be, which I don't believe is true," or the criteria for the award have been amended "so that you have to die" to receive it, Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Calif., told the Army's top civilian and uniformed leaders.

Hunter's assertion during a House Armed Services Committee hearing drew a rebuke from Gen. George Casey, the former U.S. commander in Iraq who now serves as Army chief of staff. "There has been absolutely no effort" to limit the award to troops who've perished, Casey said.

Five Americans, all killed in action, have been awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The total is far lower than that of past wars; 244 troops received the Medal of Honor for heroism in the Vietnam War, for example.

A Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hunter said he's aware of several living vets whose acts in combat merit the award and who've been recommended for it by field commanders. Because those cases are still pending, he won't discuss specific details, he said.

Casey said he has reviewed several Medal of Honor recommendations for living soldiers. "I have seen some heroic acts, but "in my own mind they haven't risen to the level of the Medal of Honor," he added.

Hunter wrote President Obama in January to urge a thorough examination of the military's review processes for battlefield awards. His questioning of Casey on the subject Thursday punctuated an otherwise routine hearing on the Army's 2010 budget plan.

Casey and Army Secretary Pete Geren said that the $142.2 billion proposal provides enough money to continue the Army's recovery from strains imposed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By early next year, the service will end its use of "stop-loss" provisions that allow it to retain troops beyond the expiration of their enlistment contracts, Casey said. The Army is on course to lengthen "dwell times" -- the intervals between overseas deployments -- so that by next year troops returning to the United States will spend at least twice as long at their home posts as they spent deployed.

Casey said Army leaders are rethinking plans for a new series of manned combat vehicles in the wake of the Obama administration's decision to cancel development of an $87 billion vehicle program that was part of the service's planned Future Combat Systems.

A new vehicle "concept" should be developed by Labor Day, Casey said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced termination of the vehicle portion of the $160 billion FCS last month, saying he wasn't convinced that the Army's designs had incorporated lessons learned from successful attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan on the Army's current personnel carriers.