QUANTICO, Va. — Marine veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter was recently informed that his award, the highest for valor in the armed services, will be rescinded because he failed to complete a mandatory annual training course while on active duty. A recent Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) review of his records shows that he did not complete the online "Driving in Icy Conditions" course in 2010 while he was deployed to the violent city of Marjah, Afghanistan.
Many Marines are calling for the award to be reinstated, but Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Ronald L. Green says there's no place for "tough guys" like Carpenter being honored in today's Corps, whose main mission is to fight things like social injustice and hurt feelings.
"Any motivator can block a grenade blast with his face and selflessly save a teammate's life under a hail of withering enemy gunfire," said Green, from his air-conditioned office in Virginia. "But it takes a true Marine to listen to that creepy guy in S-2 give a three-hour PowerPoint on STDs, and that's the message Marines need to hear."
