Not satisfied with erasing Confederate names, DoD’s Star Chamber has reconvened, this time to strip the Medal of Honor from the 20 soldiers who received it during the incident at Wounded Knee. Wielding the club of "presentism," they will review those citations through the 21st-century social justice lens.

This effort was spearheaded by Representative Kaiali’I Kahele (D-HI) and championed in the past by Senator Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Reuben Gallego (D-AZ).

Somehow, Congress allowed this farce to make it into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) while omitting more important actions for inclusion.

At the time, the Medal of Honor was the only valor award; today, there are many grades of valor awards (rank-ordered from lowest to highest), from the Commendation Medal with V (valor) device to the Bronze Star with V device to the Silver Star, the Distinguished Service, Navy, and Air Force Crosses, and finally, the Medal of Honor.

A significant problem with this foray into the past includes questions on what definitively sparked the incident, supposedly the accidental discharge of a rifle being taken away from a Native American, nor an accurate account of the number of Native American casualties; estimates range from 150 to 300. Twenty-five soldiers were killed. That indicates a two-way fight. Citations for the Medal of Honor are sketchy and brief, ranging from “distinguished bravery” to “went to the rescue of the commanding officer who had fallen severely wounded, picked him up, and carried him out of range of the hostile guns.”

Again, the lowly soldier is accountable for being placed in a dangerous situation by inept and feckless senior political and military leadership. A more appropriate target would be Major General James Forsyth, then a colonel and the commander during this episode. Will Camp Forsyth’s name at Fort Riley be changed?

I’m sure those 20 soldiers will have adequate representation during this “objective” historical witch hunt. Would this review have happened if the 9th or 10th Cavalry (all black units commanded by white officers) were involved? Are all of their actions on the frontier squeaky clean? Or is it the continuation of the DEI push to purge the imaginary toxic white extremism and masculinity from our Army? See Pete Hegseth’s The War on Warriors on this subject.

As if the purge of Confederate names from DoD wasn’t enough to negatively impact the recruiting crisis, let's purge Irish and German immigrant names from the Medal of Honor role, too. Large numbers of those ethnic groups comprised the Army on the frontier, as witnessed in the names of those on the chopping block. German names: Mosheim Feaster, Joshua Hartzog, Bernhard Jetter, Jacob Trautman, Herman Ziegner, Paul Weinhart, and Adam Neder. Irish names: Albert McMillin, Thomas Sullivan, and John Clancy. These men represent fifty percent of those awarded the Medal of Honor for that action. The remainder have mostly British surnames.

I’ve seen this rewriting of history before for political reasons, such as when Mary E. Walker’s Medal of Honor was restored in the era of feminism and the effort to add the Equal Rights Amendment. The Left's efforts to make her the American Joan of Arc for progressivism are nauseating. She wasn’t even in the Army but a contractor and received it for meritorious services. At least the soldiers at Wounded Knee received theirs for gallantry and heroism in combat.

Given the threats facing our homeland, perhaps these resources would be better used to fix the recruiting crisis plaguing our army. Who is setting the priorities?

Until significant reforms and a personnel house cleaning at the Pentagon, aka the Puzzle Palace, are implemented, this retired Army officer cannot and will not recommend anyone enlist in the military.

Cincinnatus is a retired Army officer and Army civilian with 40 years of service in the Department of Defense, 18 of which were overseas. He holds three Master's Degrees in International Relations-Strategic Studies, US History, and Secondary Education.

Image: U.S. Government