More Watermelon Seeds

In today's Daily Watermelon, James Reavis rants about the addition of three names to the WSU Veterans Memorial under the heading "Global War on Terrorism." He claims this term is politically charged and dishonors those killed in Iraq and that a more "neutral" term should have been used.

Hello???!!???

"Global War on Terrorism" is a term that the Department of Defense assigned to all post-9/11 military efforts, including the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, there's a "Global War on Terrorism" Expeditionary Medal, the award criteria for which is:

Authorized to be awarded to soldiers who deploy abroad for service in the Global War on Terrorism Operations on or after 11 September 2001 to a date to be determined. Initial award is limited to soldiers deployed abroad in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Separate Iraq and Afghanistan campaign medals were just recently instituted. I'm sure the administrators of the WSU Veterans Memorial were just following the DOD standard naming convention. No political statement was intended. It is Reavis' ignorance and "outrage" that dishonors the veterans, not the memorial.

By the way, James, it was the VIETNAM Service Medal and the WORLD WAR II Victory Medal. Veterans tried to get a "Global War on Communism" medal, AKA the "Cold War Service Medal," but unfortunately the Pentagon shot it down.