Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JUNE 15-21, 2016 UCW 11 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Valor, honor, integrity — even a soldier's rank — came into play during consideration of awarding the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Earl D. Plumlee. In August 2013, Taliban insurgents launched a fierce attack on a coalition forward operating base in Afghanistan. A 400-pound car bomb breached a wall and 10 enemy attackers armed with suicide vests, rifle hand grenades and grenade launchers poured through the wall. Then a Staff Sgt., Plumlee, a Green Beret with the Army's 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), was among those who engaged the Taliban fighters. Enemy attackers were no more than 20 feet away during portions of the battle, according to military documents describing the event. Plumlee was credited with killing several attackers at point-blank range, using both small arms and hand grenades. Several soldiers earned awards after the battle. But it's the award that was denied to Plumlee — the Medal of Honor — that drew the attention of the Defense Department Inspector General's office. Even though Plumlee was recom- mended for the Medal of Honor by the head of a Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan, he didn't receive the nation's highest military honor for heroism. Last month, Plumlee instead was awarded the Silver Star Medal, which is two notches below the Medal of Honor. While under consideration for the Medal of Honor, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command looked into an allegation that Plumlee illegally tried to sell a rifle scope online. The allegation was not substantiated. The Washington Post, which first reported this sto- ry, suggested that service leaders only want squeaky-clean soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor. The Inspector General's findings provide a unique glimpse into just how sub- jective decisions surrounding awards for valor can be. The Inspector General concluded there was no evidence that anyone used the CID investiga- tion to downgrade the Medal of Honor recommendation. The report provided new details about how the decision was reached. In Afghanistan, the Medal of Honor recom- mendation received approval from senior generals includ- ing Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford who is now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Army Gen. Mark Milley who later became Commanding General, Forces Command at Fort Bragg and is now Army Chief of Staff. The issue was taken up by the service's Senior Army Decorations Board with two three-star generals and the top enlisted soldier in the service (the Sergeant Major of the Army) serving as voting members. Two of the board members recommended the Silver Star Medal, while another recommended the Distinguished Service Cross, one notch below the Medal of Honor, as more appropriate. One of the voting members said his decision not to recom- mend the Medal of Honor came down in large part to one thing: Plumlee's rank. A then-staff sergeant, Plumlee was expected to perform as a leader rather than "a private who would be seized by the moment and take extremely valorous and courageous action," one board member said, according to the report. The awarding of the Silver Star Medal was eventually agreed upon by the board and received a positive recommendation from Gen. Raymond Odierno who was Chief of Staff of the Army. Army Secretary John McHugh approved the recom- mendation. Sgt. 1st Class Plumlee received the Silver Star Medal on May 1. NEWS Soldier Receives Silver Star for Actions in Afghanistan by JEFF THOMPSON Local law enforcement agencies are conducting sobriety checkpoints on average of once a month. The checks are "dedicated to promoting highway safety awareness to reduce the number of traffic crashes and fatalities," Police Lt. Stacey Smith told Up & Coming Weekly. Smith commands the police traffic enforcement division. On Friday, June 10, an estimated 50 police officers from Fayetteville, Hope Mills and Spring Lake and N.C. Highway Patrol- men joined forces for the most recent Booze It and Lose It campaign. The sobriety check- point was conducted on Hope Mills Road near Queensdale Drive, a straight stretch of road- way that gave police an unobstructed view of traffic. The Governor's Highway Safety Pro- gram sponsors the Booze it and Lose It program. According to a news release from the Governor's office, "the goal of the checkpoints is to educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving and to reduce the amount of impaired drivers on the roadway." The recent lo- cal roadblock was a five-hour event from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Traffic along Hope Mills Road was reduced to one lane in each direction as dozens of officers coordinated speaking with motorists as they drove into the cordon of orange traffic cones. During a one-hour period, an average of 10 cars a minute passed through the check point, according to calculations made by Up & Coming Weekly on the scene. That translates into about 600 cars an hour during the first couple of hours. Traffic is lighter after midnight, but the chance of stop- ping drunk drivers is greater then. City police say that, on average, fewer than a dozen drivers are charged with DWI during the check points. "I'm thrilled to death that the checkpoints don't result in more arrests than they do," said Police Chief Harold Medlock. He believes educat- ing motorists about the dangers and liability of driving while impaired has paid off. "Typically we make dozens of arrests for no operators' licens- es, revoked licenses and suspensions," Smith said. According to the Booze It & Lose It brochure prepared by the Governor's Highway Safety Pro- gram, a drunk driver kills someone every 45 minutes on average. One out of every three car accident deaths involving teenagers is related to alcohol. And automobile accidents are the number one cause of death among teens. These frightening statistics underscore the importance of being sober while driving. Those who drive drunk and hurt or kill others can be charged with murder in some circumstances. They can also be sued by those who were injured or by surviving family members. The Booze It & Lose It campaign bro- chure also explains some of the risks of being arrested for DWI. Even for a first conviction, a driver can have his driver's license revoked for a year, be fined between $200 and $4,000 and spend between one day and 24 months in jail. Sobriety Checkpoints Yield Results by JEFF THOMPSON Staff Sgt., Plumlee, a Green Beret with the Army's 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne),, right, is presented the Silver Star medal by Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Dahl on May 1 for his actions in Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo. JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News Reporter. COMMENTS? news@upandcomingweekly. com. 910.484.6200.