…so lets give them a cheer for this:
Yesterday, President Obama spoke with Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta to inform him that he will be awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry at the risk of his life that went above and beyond the call of duty. Sergeant Giunta will be the first living service member to be awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The President thanked Sergeant Giunta for his service and extraordinary bravery in battle.
For years soldiers have talked to me about how odd that it was that the norm was becoming you had to die to be considered for the Medal, a living recipient is incredibly important.
I don’t understand why the Bush administration didn’t do this.
memorandum thread here
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 
You are spot on.
1.5M service members have served in combat theaters throughout the course of what is now the longest conflict in our nation’s history. With constant combat and incredible acts of heroism the norm, are we really to believe there have only been 6 who have earned this award? And they are all posthumous? Can it possibly be that the level of altruism and heroism within our armed forces is really at its lowest level in all of US history? With 100% volunteers?
Nobody will every convince me that a small group of beaurocrats (probably wearing camoflauge, not a suit) erroneously decided that one must die to earn the MOH. This has pissed me off for years.
We have robbed my children and future grandchildren of their heroes. I guess they will have to admire drug addled movie stars instead, but good luck getting them to visit the schools. SHAME!
Hey I’d just as soon they do the right thing rather than the wrong way