Lainez said the criteria for the Medal of Honor have not changed, but noted that contemporary warfare has. There also might be some reluctance to equate today's warriors with the storied heroes of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. But a likely explanation is a directive, issued at the outset of the war in Afghanistan, that urged field commanders to be highly discriminating in valor award nominations in order to 'preserve the integrity of the military awards program.' In fact, Cashe is just one of at least 10 troops, including four soldiers, three Marines, two airmen and a sailor, whose selfless acts on the battlefield probably would have earned them Medals of Honor in past wars, according to an exhaustive Military Times side-by-side analysis. Now, seven years after his death, a growing chorus of voices argue Cashe's heroism should have rated a Medal of Honor. 17, 2005, the Army awarded him the Silver Star for valor. And for his heroic actions that day outside Daliaya, Iraq, on Oct. Three weeks later, with second- and third-degree burns over more than 70 percent of his body, Cashe died. The Bradley was engulfed in flames after striking a bomb buried in the road, but Cashe ignored the flames searing his flesh and the rattle of enemy gunfire and went back into the vehicle again and again, pulling out every one of his six soldiers from the wreckage. Cashe crawled out of his Bradley Fighting Vehicle. DoD stands by Medal of Honor criteria Time, effort, accuracy essential to nomination processĭrenched in fuel, his uniform burned off his body, Army Sgt.

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