As it stands now, the Army Combat Action Badge (CAB) is not retroactively awarded to December 7, 1941, as every other combat badge has been.This is an issue affecting millions of veterans. I have been working on this since about 2009, when the Senate first screwed us on this. The House unanimously approves the retroactive award and then the Senate, under pressure from the Department of the Army, removes it and the Conference agrees. Below are my letter and the reply from the DA Adjutant General. I cannot believe they would make these bogus claims about why the award should not be made retroactive to WWII!

Army’s Response to Letter to Secretaries of the Army and Defense

Department of the Army
U.S. Army Human Resources Command
1600 Spearhead Division Avenue, Department 400
Fort Knox, KY 40122-5400

Office of the Adjutant General

Mr. Stuart A. Steinberg, Commander
Vietnam EOD Veterans Association
Post Office Box 2127
Terrebonne, Oregon 97760-2127

Dear Mr. Steinberg:

This is in further response to your letter of May 7, 2013, concerning the qualifying period for the Combat Action Badge (CAB).

The decision to not revise the eligibility period for the CAB was made by the Secretary of the Army, with input from Senior Army Leadership. The decision was based on the informed opinions of Senior Leaders, who recommended remaining steadfast to a long standing historical tradition of not applying retroactive awards to past conflicts. There was no official documentation generated from this discussion. However, I can provide several facts that impacted this decision. This includes the overriding fact that trusted Army Leaders at the time of these conflicts had the opportunity to devise such an award and chose not to do so.

The Combat Infantryman Badge and Combat Medical Badge were created during World War II to provide recognition for Soldiers that endured the longest combat and received the smallest number of awards. These badges were specifically restricted to Infantryman and their accompanying medical aidmen. Over time, the qualifying criterion for these badges was modified; however, it was not made retroactive. As such, the Combat Action Badge will not be made retroactive to previous conflicts.

This in no way diminishes the faithful, honorable, and dedicated service of the men and women that fought in the conflicts prior to the Global War on Terrorism. Sincerely,

David K. MacEwen
Brigadier General, U.S. Army
The Adjutant General

Letter to Key Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee

Stuart A. Steinberg, JD, LLM
Veterans Benefits Coordinator
National EOD Association
7341 SW Robin Drive
Crooked River Ranch, Oregon 97760-9211
TEL: 541-604-0963
Email: jackdiamondback@gmail.com

December 16, 2014

Honorable Carl M. Levin, Chairman
Senate Armed Services Committee
Russell Senate Building, Room 228
Washington, D.C. 20510-6050

Honorable James M. Inhofe, Ranking Member
Senate Armed Services Committee
Russell Senate Building, Room 228
Washington, D.C. 20510-6050

Honorable Jack D. Reed
Senate Armed Services Committee
Russell Senate Building, Room 228
Washington, D.C. 20510-6050

Honorable John McCain
Senate Armed Services Committee
Russell Senate Building, Room 228
Washington, D.C. 20510-6050

RE: Retroactive Award of the Army Combat Action Badge.

Dear Senators:

I am a past Commander of the Vietnam EOD Veterans Association and am on the Board of Directors of the National EOD Association. I am writing to you about an issue that both the Vietnam EOD Veterans Association (VEVA) and the National EOD Association (NATEODA) feel very strongly about, and that is the fact that the Army Combat Action Badge (CAB) was not retroactively awarded to December 7, 1941, as every other combat badge has been. In the past three years, the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act has included a section making this award retroactive to December 7, 1941, and, each year, the Senate has deleted this section for reasons they have never publicly explained. Rep. Richard Nugent (R. FL) has been the primary sponsor of the House version, which made the award retroactive to December 7, 1941, in Section 572 of the 2015 NDAA.

I suspect, based upon a letter I received from the Department of the Army, dated September 10, 2013, that this was done because of pressure from DA. The condescending tone of the letter from DA was infuriating, and the Army members of the two groups I represent are outraged by the actions of DA regarding this issue. I have enclosed a copy of the letter from DA, as well as copies of letters I sent to Army Secretary, John M. McHugh, and Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel. I had hoped that because Mr. Hagel was a Vietnam veteran, and a former enlisted man, he would take action on our behalf. Instead, his office sent my letter to the Department of the Army, who sent me the enclosed letter which is, to be blunt, full of ridiculous claims to support their refusal to make the CAB award retroactive to conflicts before September 18, 2001.

The CAB was approved by then Secretary of the Army, Francis J. Harvey, on May 2, 2005, and it was only made retroactive to September 18, 2001. The Navy-Marine Combat Action Ribbon (CAR), first awarded in 1969, was made retroactive to December 7, 1941. I have, in fact, in my capacity as a service officer for Vietnam Veterans of America, done Navy Board of Corrections petitions for Navy and Marine Corps veterans who served as far back as World War II, who had been discharged before the CAR was first awarded, and had their records corrected to show the award of the CAR. The Army Combat Medic Badge was first awarded in 1945 and made retroactive to December 7, 1941. The Army Combat Infantryman Badge was approved in 1943 and made retroactive to December 6, 1941. The claim in the letter from BG MacEwen, the Army Adjutant General, that the awards of the CIB and the CMB were “not made retroactive”, is both absurd and a parsing of the definition of “retroactive”. More importantly, BG MacEwen failed to address the retroactive award of the Navy/Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon, which is clearly and exactly similar to the case of retroactively awarding the Army Combat Action Ribbon for prior conflicts.

If an Army veteran, who served from December 7, 1941, through September 17, 2011, meets the requirements for this award, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records, upon presentation of proper evidence, should be allowed to correct the veteran’s records to show the award of the Combat Action Badge. Many non-infantry soldiers from World II, Korea, Honduras, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, El Salvador, Lebanon, Somalia, Operation Desert Storm/Shield and the Balkans, actively engaged, or were engaged by, an armed enemy. They should be accorded the same recognition as the soldiers currently entitled to wear the Combat Action Badge. In the case of my fellow Vietnam EOD operators, most of us, at one time or another during our tours, engaged, or were engaged by, the enemy. In my own case, I disarmed a booby-trapped 155mm High Explosive round in the middle of an LZ during a combat assault while an NVA soldier was trying to detonate the device. I was awarded a Bronze Star with “V” Device for this action. On May 10, 1969, I was wounded in the Qui Nhon Ammunition Storage Point when a damaged 81mm HE mortar round detonated in the back of my truck while I was trying to move it to a safe area for destruction. This occurred after three attacks on the ASP by Viet Cong sappers.

NATEODA represents all former and current EOD men and women from all branches of the service. At our national convention in San Antonio in 2012, we unanimously approved seeking the retroactive award of the CAB to our Army members who could meet the eligibility criteria. Rep. Nugent has tried to get this done on a number of occasions, and it has unanimously passed in the House as a section of the National Defense Authorization Act. Every time it goes to Conference, it is removed. As far as I am concerned, this is a despicable way to treat those of us who actually served in combat prior to September 18, 2001. The cost would be negligible, since a case sent to the ABCMR would take little time to determine and the veteran would buy the CAB from an organization like Medals of America. Even if the Army’s awards agency provided the CAB, the cost would still be negligible. I would add that, at their 2009 convention, the 1.9 million members of the Veterans of Foreign War approved the retroactive award of the CAB. I have already taken steps to inform them that, once again, veterans who served before September 18, 2001, have been slighted. This shabby treatment is particularly galling to those of us who served in Vietnam and I intend to make this an issue at the 2015 convention of Vietnam Veterans of America.

I hope that you will take action in the Senate to make the award of the CAB retroactive to December 7, 1941. Please feel free to have someone from your office contact me, if necessary.

Respectfully,

Stuart A. Steinberg