I did a lot of Google research last night in an attempt to find out more about Senator Tom Cotton's Bronze Star. Let me state right off the bat, that I would in no way ever denigrate any soldier's service to this country. Captain Cotton was I'm sure Honorably Discharged and by all indications performed his duties admirably. Having said that, much is made about the fact the Senator received the Bronze Star America's fourth highest honor.
I stumbled accross a FOIA request from J. K. Trotter at MuckRock. The results of his request can be found here. Unfortunately, they provide no new information. All we have to go on is references in his official biography:
In 2008, 1st Lt Cotton volunteered to return to combat duty, was promoted to Captain on August 1, 2008, and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 15, 2008. He was assigned to Laghman Province, just north of the Tora Bora Mountains in eastern Afghanistan. He was assigned duty as the Operations Officer of a Provincial Reconstruction Team, where he planned and resourced daily counterinsurgency and reconstruction operations for an 83-member joint and interagency team; he returned from Afghanistan on July 20, 2009. For his second tour in Afghanistan he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the NATO Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and various campaign/service medals.
What is there to learn from that? You'll have to join me below the fold to find out.
We can glean from the bolded portion that, in Afghanistan at least, Cotton was not engaging in actual combat operations himself. In other words, compared to the guy's who were carrying out the operations he planned, he was in the rear with the gear. His was a staff position in planning and logistics that I can only compare in my experience to a Battalion S-3 Officer in which case Captain Cotton likely had a Staff NCO (E-6 or E-7) and a few clerks below him to do most of the actual work involved.
Of note in the blockquoted section above is the distinct omission of any reference to a "Combat V" attached to said Bronze Star Medal. Also, Cotton's hometown newspaper published no article on Cotton's receiving of the award, but did for another local recipient in 2007. We can be sure that if Cotton earned his medal for gallantry we'd all know the story, and I wouldn't have had to work so hard seeking answers.
Not to denigrate Cotton's service or his award, I offer the following information for the sake of perspective:
“Captain Stewart’s a pretty good S1,” reported her battalion executive officer, Major Michael Sullivan, “but to hear her talk about her time down range [in Afghanistan], you’d think she got a fucking Distinguished Service Cross or something. I mean, shit, she was a battalion S1 who never left the wire. If I knew how she’d act afterwards, I’d have submitted her for a fucking ARCOM.”
Her battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Clancy, agreed with his XO.
“Lori did a good job making sure reports and awards got processed on time and to standard, but recommending her for that Bronze Star was about the dumbest thing I did in Afghanistan. One weekend a month and two weeks in the summer, I have to hear her constantly quoting the damn award write-up that Major Sullivan pulled out of his ass whenever there is a group of two or more people gathered together.”
(snip)
“Do I talk about my time in the ‘Stan a lot? Maybe. But the hell I went through on Bagram Air Field changed who I am as a person. I think Major Sullivan was right when he wrote that my ‘ability to quickly and effectively process leave forms ensured all Soldiers were able to go on mid-tour R&R with no deficiencies’. If that sort of action doesn’t have a real and lasting impact on the successful conduct of the battalion’s mission in a war zone, what does?”
You've got to admit, that's just fucking funny. Apparantly that's satire... Damn good satire I must say. Still, in all satire there must be a grain of truth. I'm still laughing.