WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 So if you think back to the spring of 1996, there 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.820 was this massive tragedy involving the highest 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.179 ranking officer in the United States Navy. Right, 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.919 a four -star admiral. Exactly. A man who had 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:13.220 literally dedicated his entire adult life to 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:17.300 serving his country took his own life. And the 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:19.440 catalyst for this wasn't some huge failure of 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.199 command in wartime or a scandal with state secrets. 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:24.760 No, not at all. The media investigation that 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:27.839 allegedly drove him to this act was focused entirely 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:30.859 on two pieces of stamped metal on his uniform. 00:00:31.140 --> 00:00:33.460 Just two tiny pins. Yeah, pieces of metal that 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:35.259 are, you know, essentially one quarter of an 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:37.840 inch tall. It's wild. It completely forces a 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:41.020 recalibration of how we think about military 00:00:41.020 --> 00:00:43.280 honors. Oh, absolutely. I mean, we usually assume 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.679 the weight of a medal is tied to its physical 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.299 grandeur, right? Like a heavy gold medallion 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:51.200 or a brightly colored ribbon draped around a 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:53.439 hero's neck at some sweeping public ceremony. 00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:55.899 Yeah, the movie version of an award. Exactly. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:59.659 But the object at the center of that 1996 tragedy 00:00:59.659 --> 00:01:03.140 is incredibly easy to miss. It is simply a tiny 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:05.900 capital letter V with serifs on the top edges, 00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:08.140 and it's just pinned directly onto the fabric 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:10.659 of a service ribbon. Which is the exact mission 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:13.379 for today's deep dive. Welcome, everyone. We 00:01:13.379 --> 00:01:15.439 are pulling from a really fascinating Wikipedia 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:18.239 article that details the history, the Byzantine 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.219 regulations, and the profound controversy surrounding 00:01:21.219 --> 00:01:24.180 the United States military's V device. It is 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:26.719 a dense history. It really is. We're going to 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:29.200 explore how this microscopic object holds immense 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.140 emotional weight, why it sparked a national tragedy, 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:35.540 and how it eventually forced this massive, reluctant 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.219 standardization across the entire United States 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:40.260 Armed Forces. Right. And whether you have a military 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:42.420 background or not, this is really a master class 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:45.920 in how huge organizations try and sometimes fatally 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.599 fail to categorize the ultimate human extreme 00:01:48.599 --> 00:01:51.120 of combat heroism. Completely. Okay. So what 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.180 does this all mean? To understand how a quarter 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:55.260 -inch letter V becomes the center of institutional 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:58.379 chaos, we have to look at its mechanical function 00:01:58.379 --> 00:02:01.099 first. Yeah, the mechanism is entirely about 00:02:01.099 --> 00:02:03.900 distinction. I mean, the V -device was invented 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:06.680 to solve a specific administrative problem. Which 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:09.860 was? Well, how do you distinguish a decoration 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:13.400 awarded for combat valor and heroism from the 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:16.000 exact same decoration awarded for non -combat 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.699 meritorious service? You don't want to design 00:02:18.699 --> 00:02:21.639 an entirely new medal, right? So you create a 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:24.300 modifier. You know, it reminds me of a shifted 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:27.479 decimal point in a financial ledger. Oh, that's 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:28.979 a good way to look at it. Yeah, like you look 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:32.439 at a number, say 1 ,000, you shift that tiny 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:34.240 dot just one space to the right, and suddenly 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.060 you're looking at 10 ,000. Right, the physical 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:38.759 ink used to make that dot is negligible. Exactly. 00:02:39.099 --> 00:02:41.979 But the real world value of the entire equation 00:02:41.979 --> 00:02:45.479 just exploded. The V -device basically does that 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:47.879 to a metal. It completely recontextualizes the 00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:50.639 entire narrative of the award. It does. But the 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:53.840 complication is that the branches of the military 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:57.300 they treat their specific cultures like sovereign 00:02:57.300 --> 00:02:59.840 nations. Well, for sure. And that friction started 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.360 immediately with what to actually call this modifier. 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.580 The Department of Defense, the Army, and the 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:07.680 Air Force use the straightforward term. They 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.960 just call it the V -device. Simple enough. Right. 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.259 But the Coast Guard, leaning into the meaning 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:14.979 behind the letter, officially refers to it as 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:17.740 the Valor device. OK, that makes sense too. But 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:20.879 then the Navy and the Marine Corps They have 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:23.379 to be different. They call it the Combat Distinguishing 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:25.719 Device, or sometimes the Combat V. Of course 00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:28.919 they do. But regardless of the name, the actual 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.460 origin story of this pin is just a logistical 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:34.379 nightmare. Oh, completely. According to the source, 00:03:34.620 --> 00:03:36.759 the device was officially introduced on December 00:03:36.759 --> 00:03:40.800 22nd, 1945 through War Department Circular 383, 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:43.479 and originally it was just for the Army to use 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:45.759 on the Bronze Star Medal. Just the Army, right? 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:48.580 Yeah. Then the Department of the Navy adopted 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:52.560 it a few months later in February 1946 for the 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:54.900 Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit. But the 00:03:54.900 --> 00:03:57.879 timing of this is just staggering. December 1945. 00:03:58.379 --> 00:04:00.680 The ink is barely dry on the Japanese surrender 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:03.500 documents. I mean, you have millions of service 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:05.759 members in the middle of a massive unprecedented 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.300 demobilization. Right. The war's over. Yeah. 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:11.620 The largest military force in human history is 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:14.360 packing up its gear, turning in its weapons and 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:17.040 just... trying to secure a train ticket back 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.100 to civilian life. They just want to go home. 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:23.019 Exactly. A new uniform regulation published in 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:26.379 a war department circular was the absolute last 00:04:26.379 --> 00:04:29.360 thing on the minds of the GIs who had just survived 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:32.160 the European or Pacific theaters. So the vast 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.000 majority of World War II veterans who were actually 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:38.980 entitled to wear this brand new V device left 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:42.139 the military having no idea it even existed. 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:44.339 Not at all. They certainly didn't know they had 00:04:44.339 --> 00:04:46.879 to navigate some bureaucratic process to apply 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:49.839 for one. And reading the source material, the 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:52.519 irony runs even deeper because the military didn't 00:04:52.519 --> 00:04:54.800 even have the physical inventory to issue these 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:57.360 devices. This raises an important question about 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:00.279 what happens when an award's prestige outpaces 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:02.300 the administrative reality of giving it out. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.939 Yeah, how does that even happen? Well, they engineered 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:07.759 a profound symbol of combat valor but entirely 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:10.040 failed to anticipate the manufacturing pipeline. 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:13.300 Wow. It took at least a year after that initial 00:05:13.300 --> 00:05:17.129 1945 Army circular was published. before the 00:05:17.129 --> 00:05:19.129 military had sufficient stock to put the devices 00:05:19.129 --> 00:05:21.810 in the hands of the troops. A whole year? Yeah. 00:05:22.170 --> 00:05:24.769 They created a profound symbol of the war's ultimate 00:05:24.769 --> 00:05:28.009 heroism, but introduced it at the exact moment 00:05:28.009 --> 00:05:30.889 the heroes were walking out the door. That is 00:05:30.889 --> 00:05:34.709 just, it's wild. And that messy post -World War 00:05:34.709 --> 00:05:37.509 II rollout really set a precedent for administrative 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:39.470 confusion, didn't it? It absolutely did. But 00:05:39.470 --> 00:05:42.290 the ambiguity surrounding this tiny piece of 00:05:42.290 --> 00:05:44.399 metal didn't just cause paperwork headaches, 00:05:44.839 --> 00:05:47.540 it evolved into a legal blind spot. Which brings 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:49.319 us back to the tragedy we touched on at the start 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:52.980 of this deep dive. Right, the 1996 death of Admiral 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:55.939 Jeremy Borda. As the chief of naval operations, 00:05:55.980 --> 00:05:57.959 he was the professional head of the Navy. I mean, 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:00.300 he had joined as an enlisted sailor and spent 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:02.699 decades climbing to the absolute pinnacle of 00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:04.879 naval leadership. A completely incredible career. 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:07.860 Unbelievable. And the Newsweek story that was 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:10.420 about to break, which prompted the media investigation 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:12.779 into his uniform, alleged that he was wearing 00:06:12.779 --> 00:06:15.819 two combat valor pins that he had not legitimately 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:19.959 earned. Specifically, he wore a V on his Navy 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:23.240 Commendation Medal and another on his Navy Achievement 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:25.839 Medal. Right. And these were awards he received 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:28.620 for his service during the Vietnam War, where 00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:31.139 he served as a weapons officer and an executive 00:06:31.139 --> 00:06:34.180 officer aboard naval vessels operating off the 00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:37.040 coast of Indokaina. Which was obviously a dangerous 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:39.500 assignment. Absolutely. Now, I have to look at 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:41.759 this from the outside and ask the obvious question 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.209 here. Go for it. How does the chief of naval 00:06:44.209 --> 00:06:47.009 operations make a mistake like that? I mean, 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:50.550 this is a man whose entire life is dictated by 00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:53.430 naval regulations. He knows the uniform manual 00:06:53.430 --> 00:06:55.430 backward and forward. You really have to look 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:57.790 at the postmortem conducted by the Department 00:06:57.790 --> 00:06:59.910 of the Navy Board for correction of naval records 00:06:59.910 --> 00:07:02.910 to see just how treacherous the regulations were. 00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:06.009 Okay. What did they find? Well, after his suicide, 00:07:06.490 --> 00:07:08.810 they reviewed Admiral Bordo's file to determine 00:07:08.810 --> 00:07:11.089 if the media allegations were accurate. And they 00:07:11.089 --> 00:07:12.810 found that there were actually indications within 00:07:12.810 --> 00:07:15.269 his file that those combat distinguishing devices 00:07:15.269 --> 00:07:17.430 were authorized. Wait, really? So he didn't just 00:07:17.430 --> 00:07:20.269 make it up? No, not at all. It wasn't a case 00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:23.910 of a man simply buying pins at a uniform shop 00:07:23.910 --> 00:07:26.629 and fabricating a war record out of thin air. 00:07:27.149 --> 00:07:29.439 He had reason to believe he earned them. But 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.899 the board ultimately concluded that he was not 00:07:31.899 --> 00:07:33.600 officially authorized to wear them, right? They 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.480 did. And that's because of the mechanism of authorization. 00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:40.240 The strict underlying rule of the V -device is 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.819 that the physical pin itself is irrelevant if 00:07:42.819 --> 00:07:45.779 the accompanying paperwork isn't flawless. Ah, 00:07:46.180 --> 00:07:48.199 paperwork. It always comes down to paperwork. 00:07:48.420 --> 00:07:51.610 Always. The written award citation, the narrative 00:07:51.610 --> 00:07:53.610 document that explains why the medal is being 00:07:53.610 --> 00:07:56.769 given, must specifically and explicitly authorize 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:59.370 the V. The environment doesn't grant the device, 00:07:59.449 --> 00:08:01.910 the paperwork does. So the actual combat doesn't 00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:04.029 matter as much as the typo on the form? Essentially 00:08:04.029 --> 00:08:06.689 yes. You could be awarded a commendation medal 00:08:06.689 --> 00:08:08.670 while actively taking fire on a ship off the 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:11.370 coast of Vietnam. But if the typed citation doesn't 00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:13.589 explicitly mention the combat distinguishing 00:08:13.589 --> 00:08:16.129 device, pinning it on your chest is a violation 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:19.459 of regulations. That is just a devastating reality. 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:21.920 It really is. A man serves his country at the 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:24.360 highest level and his legacy, his integrity, 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:27.160 his very life becomes entangled in the subjective 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:29.819 interpretation of a typed citation from decades 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:32.539 prior. It strips away the illusion that military 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.460 ribbons are just colorful uniform dressing. It 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:38.639 really does. That quarter inch pin carries an 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:42.200 immense crushing psychological weight. In that 00:08:42.200 --> 00:08:44.860 culture, it literally defines your honor. And 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:48.019 when an institution anchors a person's ultimate 00:08:48.019 --> 00:08:50.940 worth to a physical symbol, the rules governing 00:08:50.940 --> 00:08:54.639 that symbol must be absolute. The tragedy of 00:08:54.639 --> 00:08:57.440 Admiral Borda highlighted a terrifying truth, 00:08:57.559 --> 00:09:00.500 which was that the rules were not absolute. Across 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:02.259 the Department of Defense, they were dangerously 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:04.840 ambiguous. The Borda tragedy proved that the 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:07.299 rules were lethal if misinterpreted. But the 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:09.000 real shock in the source material isn't just 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.039 that the Navy's rules were confusing. No, it 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.100 gets worse. It's that if Borda had served in 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:15.600 the Army or the Air Force, his uniform would 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.480 have been governed by entirely different realities. 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:21.899 Until 2017, the criteria for earning a V -device 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:25.299 was basically the Wild West. It truly was. The 00:09:25.299 --> 00:09:27.240 branches essentially operated with their own 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:29.519 distinct definitions of what constituted valor. 00:09:29.700 --> 00:09:32.840 Which is crazy for one single military. Right. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.360 The Army maintained the most rigid standard. 00:09:35.610 --> 00:09:38.929 For an army soldier, the V -device was authorized 00:09:38.929 --> 00:09:43.070 solely to denote participation in acts of heroism 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:46.450 involving conflict with an armed enemy. OK. Acts 00:09:46.450 --> 00:09:50.169 of heroism. Yes. The key phrase is acts of heroism. 00:09:50.509 --> 00:09:53.210 It required a specific individual action in a 00:09:53.210 --> 00:09:55.710 fight. Which makes sense. It's clean. It's definitive. 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:58.240 But then you look at the Navy, the Marine Corps, 00:09:58.279 --> 00:09:59.879 and the Coast Guard. Totally different story. 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.100 Yeah, their manual stated the device could be 00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:04.879 warranted to know heroism, yes, but it could 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.179 also be awarded to recognize individuals who 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:10.519 were simply exposed to personal hazard during 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.379 direct participation in combat operations. They 00:10:13.379 --> 00:10:16.379 shifted the criteria from a specific action to 00:10:16.379 --> 00:10:18.700 the general environment. Exactly. And the Air 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.299 Force expanded the parameters even further. Oh, 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:24.679 the Air Force regulations were fascinating. On 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.960 their Bronze Star, the V denoted combat heroism. 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:31.759 But on their Commendation and Achievement medals... 00:10:31.610 --> 00:10:34.509 An airman could be awarded the V for heroism 00:10:34.509 --> 00:10:37.629 or simply for being placed in harm's way during 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:39.889 contingency deployment operations. OK, let's 00:10:39.889 --> 00:10:41.750 unpack this because I have to challenge the logic 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:44.269 of that old Air Force criteria. Go ahead. Isn't 00:10:44.269 --> 00:10:47.490 being placed in harm's way essentially the baseline 00:10:47.490 --> 00:10:49.570 job description of the military? You would think 00:10:49.570 --> 00:10:52.350 so, yes. Right. If you were deployed to a contingency 00:10:52.350 --> 00:10:55.909 operation in a combat theater, you are, by definition, 00:10:56.350 --> 00:10:59.710 in harm's way. Awarding a specific combat valor 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:02.629 device just for showing up to a dangerous deployment 00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:05.590 seems to entirely defeat the purpose of the Army's 00:11:05.590 --> 00:11:08.009 strict definition. You're rewarding the zip code, 00:11:08.110 --> 00:11:10.690 not the action. Exactly. I'll play devil's advocate 00:11:10.690 --> 00:11:12.470 for a moment because you have to consider the 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:14.809 nature of modern aerial warfare. Okay, fair enough. 00:11:15.110 --> 00:11:17.129 An air base might be located hundreds of miles 00:11:17.129 --> 00:11:19.789 from the traditional front line, but it is still 00:11:19.789 --> 00:11:22.389 subjected to random Scud missile attacks or mortar 00:11:22.389 --> 00:11:24.820 fire. or consider an air crew flying a cargo 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:27.080 mission deep into enemy airspace. Right, they're 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:28.919 definitely in danger. They might not engage in 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:31.299 a cinematic dogfight, but the environmental risk 00:11:31.299 --> 00:11:35.019 is catastrophic. So the Air Force felt that specific 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:37.200 environmental exposure warranted distinction. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.259 But the inevitable result is dilution. I mean, 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:42.960 if everyone on that base who experiences a mortar 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:45.480 attack gets a V device on their commendation 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.620 medal, how do you visually distinguish the airmen 00:11:48.620 --> 00:11:51.980 who ran out onto the tarmac under direct fire 00:11:51.980 --> 00:11:55.279 to pull a wounded pilot from a burning jet? What's 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.620 fascinating here is you can't. The visual language 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.000 of the uniform breaks down entirely. Which is 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.100 exactly the problem. And it wasn't just the Air 00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:05.860 Force individual deployments causing this dilution. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:09.000 Prior to 2014, the military was authorizing the 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:12.480 V -device on outstanding unit awards and organizational 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.279 excellence awards. Wait, for whole units? Yes, 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.019 simply to indicate that an entire unit participated 00:12:18.019 --> 00:12:20.820 in direct combat support actions. Furthermore, 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:22.899 all the branches were using the device on the 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.259 air medal to denote participation in annual combat 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:28.179 missions, regardless of specific individual heroic 00:12:28.179 --> 00:12:30.460 acts. Which is why the Pentagon finally had to 00:12:30.460 --> 00:12:32.860 step in. The inconsistencies were destroying 00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:34.799 the prestige of the award. They really were. 00:12:35.179 --> 00:12:38.580 So on January 6, 2016, the Department of Defense 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:41.419 announced a massive sweeping revision to its 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:44.379 military decorations and awards program. They 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:47.399 instituted a universal reversion back to the 00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:51.360 original 1940s intent. A total reset. Yeah. From 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:53.440 that day forward, the V -device would be used 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:56.500 strictly to denote heroism in combat, period. 00:12:56.649 --> 00:12:59.669 across all branches. They eliminated exposed 00:12:59.669 --> 00:13:01.950 to hazard, they eliminated placed in harm's way. 00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:03.889 And the Coast Guard aligned their regulations 00:13:03.889 --> 00:13:07.289 with this new DoD standard in August of 2016. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:11.740 This strict definition created an immediate vacuum. 00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:13.940 What do you mean? Well, the military still had 00:13:13.940 --> 00:13:15.899 thousands of service members doing incredible 00:13:15.899 --> 00:13:18.500 dangerous work in combat zones work that involved 00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:21.000 extreme hazard but didn't quite meet the stringent 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.600 legal definition of heroic valor. Oh right, like 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.059 the person navigating a minefield or the drone 00:13:26.059 --> 00:13:27.940 operator orchestrating a strike from thousands 00:13:27.940 --> 00:13:31.200 of miles away. You still need to recognize the 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:33.299 reality of their deployment on their service 00:13:33.299 --> 00:13:36.320 record without muddying the waters of the V -device. 00:13:36.490 --> 00:13:38.789 The Department of Defense saws this in March 00:13:38.789 --> 00:13:42.490 2017 by introducing two entirely new devices. 00:13:42.750 --> 00:13:45.149 OK, what were they? They created the C device 00:13:45.149 --> 00:13:48.509 to note meritorious service or achievement performed 00:13:48.509 --> 00:13:51.850 under combat conditions. This effectively absorbed 00:13:51.850 --> 00:13:55.649 the Navy's old exposed to hazard criteria. That's 00:13:55.649 --> 00:13:58.610 smart. And they introduced the R device to denote 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:01.490 remote impacts on combat operations, which was 00:14:01.490 --> 00:14:04.009 specifically tailored for the modern era of drone 00:14:04.009 --> 00:14:06.480 warfare and cyber operations. It's an elegant 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:09.100 solution. It categorizes the specific nature 00:14:09.100 --> 00:14:11.480 of the service while building a protective wall 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:14.179 around the V -device. It really is. And to reinforce 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:17.799 that wall, in December 2016, the DoD entirely 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:19.820 removed the authorization for the V -device to 00:14:19.820 --> 00:14:22.600 be worn on achievement medals. They also stopped 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.039 authorizing it for the Legion of Merit, replacing 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.500 it retroactively with the new C -device. And 00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:29.679 once the Department of Defense finally synchronized 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:32.320 the meaning of the device, they immediately set 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:34.460 about updating the visual aesthetics of the device 00:14:34.460 --> 00:14:37.340 itself. Because in the military the uniform is 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:40.860 a resume spoken without words. Every millimeter 00:14:40.860 --> 00:14:43.200 of ribbon space is codified. This is where the 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.899 intricacies become truly obsessive. Oh, I bet. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.720 Prior to 2017, the V was just a bronze letter. 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:52.779 But in February 2017, the military introduced 00:14:52.779 --> 00:14:56.940 silver -plated and gold -plated V devices. Then, 00:14:57.100 --> 00:14:59.480 in September of that same year, they introduced 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:02.679 wreath versions of those devices. They basically 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:05.679 constructed a highly specific, tiered visual 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.299 system to indicate when a service member earns 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:10.759 multiple awards of the same medal with valor. 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.100 To understand the complexity, we need to look 00:15:13.100 --> 00:15:15.659 at how the military denotes multiple awards in 00:15:15.659 --> 00:15:18.500 general. Because the military doesn't issue you 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:21.279 three separate Bronze Star medals to pin side 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:23.480 by side on your chest. No, that would take up 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:25.759 way too much space. Right. You wear one ribbon 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:28.000 representing the Bronze Star. If you're in a 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.259 second one, you attach a tiny metal modifier 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:32.500 to that single ribbon. And of course, the branches 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:35.360 can agree on what that modifier should be. The 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:37.940 Army, Air Force, and Space Force use oak leaf 00:15:37.940 --> 00:15:40.519 clusters, which are these tiny bronze or silver 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:44.000 metallic twigs. The Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.960 Guard use little 5 16th inch metal stars. The 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:51.320 visual hierarchy of the modern V device has to 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:53.600 integrate with those clusters and stars. The 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:56.279 2019 Air Force uniform regulations map it out 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:58.899 perfectly. Your first award with Valor gets the 00:15:58.899 --> 00:16:01.759 standard bronze V. Your second award upgrades 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:05.399 to a silver V. your third award is a gold V. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:07.980 It's very systematic. Right. And if someone is 00:16:07.980 --> 00:16:10.220 performing at such a staggering level of consistent 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:13.139 heroism that they earn a fourth, fifth, or sixth 00:16:13.139 --> 00:16:15.659 award with valor on the exact same medal, they 00:16:15.659 --> 00:16:19.049 move into the wreathed tier. A bronze V with 00:16:19.049 --> 00:16:21.230 a wreath for the fourth award, silver with a 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:22.990 wreath for the fifth, and gold with a wreath 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:25.350 for the sixth. But the placement of these letters 00:16:25.350 --> 00:16:27.289 on the ribbon is where inter -service rivalry 00:16:27.289 --> 00:16:30.210 really shows its teeth. Oh, they stubbornly refuse 00:16:30.210 --> 00:16:32.769 to standardize the aesthetics. The Army, Air 00:16:32.769 --> 00:16:35.570 Force, and Space Force dictate that the V device 00:16:35.570 --> 00:16:38.269 must be positioned to the right of any oak leaf 00:16:38.269 --> 00:16:41.309 clusters from the wearer's perspective. If it's 00:16:41.309 --> 00:16:43.830 the only device on the ribbon, it sits dead center. 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:46.200 Okay, that makes spatial sense. And they enforce 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:48.799 a strict maximum of four devices per ribbon. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:51.539 If a soldier owns more than four devices, they 00:16:51.539 --> 00:16:54.100 are required to wear a second, identical ribbon 00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:56.299 immediately to the left just to hold the overflow. 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:59.080 It's an accountant's approach to heroism. Truly. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:01.759 Meanwhile, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:03.840 Guard treat the placement as sacred geometry. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:07.660 For sailors and Marines, the V -device is always 00:17:07.660 --> 00:17:11.289 worn dead center on the service ribbon. No exceptions. 00:17:11.509 --> 00:17:13.910 Not a single exception. They then add their five 00:17:13.910 --> 00:17:16.269 sixteenth -inch stars in balance, flanked to 00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:18.430 the right and left of that centered V, starting 00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:20.150 with the right side from the wearer's perspective. 00:17:20.769 --> 00:17:23.289 It's a total refusal to adopt the Army's visual 00:17:23.289 --> 00:17:26.089 language, even after the DoD forced them to adopt 00:17:26.089 --> 00:17:28.880 the Army's definition of valor. It highlights 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.339 the deep cultural friction between the branches. 00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:34.380 The primary decorations currently eligible for 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:37.119 the V -device across the entire military are 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.940 the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:42.619 Medal, the Air Medal, and the Commendation Medals. 00:17:42.859 --> 00:17:44.539 But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:47.279 Oh, the Medal of Honor anomaly. Yes. This is 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.950 a wild footnote in military regulations. In 2011, 00:17:51.170 --> 00:17:53.410 the Department of Defense updated its overarching 00:17:53.410 --> 00:17:57.210 awards manual to plan for an incredibly specific 00:17:57.210 --> 00:17:59.950 scenario. So specific. What happens if a service 00:17:59.950 --> 00:18:02.029 member, having already received the Medal of 00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:05.410 Honor, performs a second entirely distinct act 00:18:05.410 --> 00:18:08.670 of unimaginable heroism that justifies a second 00:18:08.670 --> 00:18:11.009 Medal of Honor? It's hard to even fathom, but 00:18:11.009 --> 00:18:13.390 the 2011 manual stated they would not receive 00:18:13.390 --> 00:18:15.700 a second physical medal. Instead, they would 00:18:15.700 --> 00:18:18.279 be issued a V -device to pin onto the ribbon 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.900 of their first Medal of Honor. The idea of pinning 00:18:20.900 --> 00:18:23.279 a V -device onto a Medal of Honor is structurally 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.839 absurd. I mean, the Medal of Honor is, by definition, 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.119 the ultimate valor award. Modifying it with a 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.160 valor device is like putting a label on the sun 00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:33.500 that says, hot. That's the perfect way to describe 00:18:33.500 --> 00:18:36.359 it. And clearly, someone at the Pentagon eventually 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:40.279 realized this, because by May 2015, they completely 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:43.289 reversed course. They updated the manual again, 00:18:43.390 --> 00:18:46.269 scrapping the V -device idea entirely for the 00:18:46.269 --> 00:18:48.690 Medal of Honor. The new regulation stated that 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:51.549 a separate physical Medal of Honor would be presented 00:18:51.549 --> 00:18:54.589 for each succeeding act. Which makes a lot more 00:18:54.589 --> 00:18:56.710 sense. But the irony of this four -year policy 00:18:56.710 --> 00:18:59.170 flip -flop is that the Pentagon bureaucrats were 00:18:59.170 --> 00:19:02.150 arguing over ghosts. Right. There has not been 00:19:02.150 --> 00:19:04.390 a living repeat Medal of Honor recipient since 00:19:04.390 --> 00:19:07.869 the World War I era. So despite the intense regulatory 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:11.140 debate, no living person ever actually or the 00:19:11.140 --> 00:19:13.859 V device on a Medal of Honor. It was a purely 00:19:13.859 --> 00:19:16.240 theoretical argument over a quarter inch piece 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.460 of metal. When you step back and look at the 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:20.960 trajectory of this deep dive, the obsession with 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:24.059 this tiny object is profound. It really is. I 00:19:24.059 --> 00:19:26.500 mean, we started in the chaotic aftermath of 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:29.380 World War II with a bronze letter that the military 00:19:29.380 --> 00:19:31.660 literally couldn't manufacture fast enough to 00:19:31.660 --> 00:19:34.500 give to its departing heroes. We saw how the 00:19:34.500 --> 00:19:37.059 ambiguous rules surrounding that symbol fueled 00:19:37.059 --> 00:19:39.359 a media investigation that ended the life of 00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:41.960 the chief of naval operations. And then we watched 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:44.660 the branches fight for decades over what the 00:19:44.660 --> 00:19:47.299 word valor even meant until the Pentagon finally 00:19:47.299 --> 00:19:50.140 forced them to agree. Resulting in this incredibly 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:53.799 complex tiered system of reef gold and silver. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:57.099 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:19:57.099 --> 00:20:00.660 reveals a fundamental human compulsion. How so? 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:03.559 We don't just want to recognize sacrifice. We 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.099 want to meticulously categorize it. We want to 00:20:07.099 --> 00:20:10.000 measure the exact distance between being in harm's 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.519 way and charging into the fire, and we want to 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:15.359 display that measurement on our chests. It proves 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:17.559 that the physical dimensions of an object have 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:19.779 zero correlation to the gravity of its meaning. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.519 A quarter -inch piece of stamped metal can hold 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:24.900 the entire weight of a person's legacy. And that 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:27.519 reality isn't confined to the military. The intense 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:30.180 life and death focus on this one specific pin 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:32.460 makes you analyze the architecture of your own 00:20:32.460 --> 00:20:34.940 environment. Oh, for sure. If a tiny letter V 00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.640 can dictate the honor, identity, and ultimate 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:39.839 worth of the highest ranking officers in the 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.960 armed forces, what seemingly invisible symbols, 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:45.680 titles, or metrics in our civilian lives are 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:48.839 secretly dictating our own sense of value, completely 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:51.700 unquestioned. We really do let the smallest modifiers 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:54.319 change our entire narrative, hiding in plain 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.440 sight. Keep that in mind next time you look at 00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:58.359 the little labels we place on ourselves and others. 00:20:58.980 --> 00:21:00.440 Thanks for exploring this deep dive with us, 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:01.299 and we'll catch you next time.