Valor Awards in the Military

Mark Quigley, left. Iraq

What if I told you everyone has to be brave in combat, but not everyone is actually valorous?

To put it plainly, you can experience very intense combat, perform your duties well and still not be valorous. They all go hand in hand, but one or a few doesn't necessarily score you a home run for the other.

I've personally been involved in very intense combat, and I've even put my hands on the enemy, (after he was shot five times, fragged, lit on fire by a fuel explosion and completely helpless on his back). Still, I would never call anything I did valorous. To be completely honest, if I had to give myself an award for my performance during deployments, it would probably be a high five, not a "V" device.

To get straight to the point, I've seen real valor on the battlefield and definitely more than once. I've had teammates who died facing into the contact, side by side and engaging the enemy. I've served with officers who rushed through thick vegetation under fire, exposed themselves out in the open and neutralized a vehicle mounted machinegun that was pinning down their platoon with only their peashooter.

That list doesn't end there. One of my team leaders lost his life rushing into the contact of a near ambush to get to his downed men. I've had a squad leader in that same TIC play hot potato hand grenade with a group of AQI/IS so a wounded teammate could be located and evacuated after they near ambushed his squad. In fact, he's pictured in the blog photo up top and on the left. I've even had a teammate break cover from behind a vehicle and run out in the wide open to get me after he saw me drop in very intense firefight, (thanks again Eddie). These are all the things that I think of when the term "valor" comes to mind.

If you've read my blogs, you can tell I've spent some time in combat and likely almost pissed myself a time or two. In fact, I was present for many of those stories listed above and treated some very serious casualties under fire in those fights. Still, trying to be brave or being scared for my life isn't the same thing to me as valor. This is still just my humble opinion.

To me, valor isn't just bravery in combat. If it was, I think everyone I've served with would have "V" devices. When I look back at the moments I was personally present for an instance where a teammate was decorated for valor, I remember them as brave acts in combat that didn't just command respect for the person doing them but could also inspire others to do the same. The acts themselves weren't just brave, but they could also summon up the courage and spirit of all those around them to fight harder, dig deeper and do better. In most instances, they did. Of course, maybe the people I surrounded myself with just set an incredibly high bar, but that's the memory they left me with and I'm proud to say it. Still, I can't say I've ever been a part of that club.

Y'all, I've personally cranked on tourniquets behind cover while automatic fire mowed the vegetation around me and my teammates. I've assisted with emergency surgical procedures in firefights with just an 1114 as cover and while CAS was doing gun runs and strafing the contact within fifty to sixty meters of myself and my co-medic. I've played the most real-life versions of "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down". I've dropped down to cover my casualties who were strapped to litters when rockets started whooshing. I've done things with just ace wrap and kerlix that would have some medics panicking for their quick clot sponges and I've even taken shit from my own teammates for saving a mangled enemy prisoner who was on deaths door after an ambush.

Ya'll, you wanna know what all that means...absolutely nothing. It was almost twenty years of war, (not that America seemed to notice until a botched withdraw). To put it plainly, nothing I just said about my own personal accolades is that impressive or unique. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet plenty of other people who read my blogs have more time in combat and intense stories than I do. I'm pretty low on the totem pole when it comes this war stuff and once again, I was just there keeping the real gunslinger's company until I was needed.

All in all, I just wouldn't measure valor in a way that directly correlates it to job performance, fear or combat intensity. They're a part of the big picture, don't get me wrong, but the scale I seem to measure it on definitely excludes me from any mention. I will say this, though, the people I served with who did receive these awards definitely set the bar pretty high in my eyes. I was simply there to witness it on some occasions.

As for "V" devices, here's to all our guys who ever wore one and here's to all our guys who were honored enough to witness it.

"I was just doing my job, you know?"