Really good to see this. Another step in the long road to re-establish a German military tradition. Though I imagine some Germans may be a bit uneasy with this. Either way these soldaten deserve to be recognized for their brave actions.

First Military Medal for Bravery Since WWII: Germany Awards Military Cross of Courage - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

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Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

Fuck. World War III, here we come.

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Since they apparently recieved their awards for helping injured comrades and afghan civilians under Taliban fire i fully agree that they deserve to be honored.
What I´d like to add to the article is that one reason for the immsense unpopularity of the afghan mission of the Bundeswehr is not the war itself, but how it is "sold" at home, which is dishonest and counterproductive to say the least.

Harsh, but very funny.

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Great Quotes from Great Americans:

"With regard to the words 'general welfare', I have always regarded them as qualified by the details of the powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphisis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."James Madison, Father of the Constitution

Sounds to me like the award was richly deserved, and thanks Nazis for making the Iron Cross a dirty word. Kudos to Merkel et al for having the balls to award the troops as well.

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"I am no Martin Luther King or Ghandi motherfucker. I have no idea what those guys were talking about. You spit on my ass, I will knock you out. No motherfucking marching and singing in the street for me." - Jim Brown, NFL Hall-of-Famer and Cleveland Browns running back, 1957-1965

Their service and courage is greatly appreciated.

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January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

Those who have a problem with this aren´t Merkel voters anyway, so its not as if there was any risk for her. She may on the other hand try to draw the votes of active and retired soldiers into her political camp by this gesture ( after all military service is still officially obligatory in Germany ( although there are possibilities to circumvent it by choosing social service instead), these are many , many votes and the general elections are approaching in September. And by the way, this NOT the return of the Iron cross, it is just an award modelled after it.

I was going to ask why some Germans might object to a soldier in their country's uniform being awarded a citation for saving some lives, but we have our own share of wingnuts over here that find fault with ANYTHING military - a soldier could save a busload of nuns holding babies from going off a cliff - and they would still be grousing about it...

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"I am no Martin Luther King or Ghandi motherfucker. I have no idea what those guys were talking about. You spit on my ass, I will knock you out. No motherfucking marching and singing in the street for me." - Jim Brown, NFL Hall-of-Famer and Cleveland Browns running back, 1957-1965

Well, their nuns.

Real heroes only rescue kittens from trees.

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January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

What's that German military tradition you are looking to re-establish? I'd really like to understand your affection. How old are you?

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"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

Any tradition really. The Bundeswehr represents a nearly complete break with the pre-1945 German military traditions (Reichswehr, Wehrmacht, Reichsheer, or any pre-unification military). While it may have seemed like a good idea in decade following WW2, I believe a military cannot truely function without a history or a tradition. Such concepts go a long way into imparting an Esprit de Corps in troops. The awarding of this medal is another step in establishing, or re-establishing, a military tradition in Germany and is a very good thing.

What does my age have to do with anything?

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I am a liberal, a classical liberal. Classical liberalism is liberalism, but the current collectivists have captured that designation in the United States. In Europe they are glad enough to call themselves socialists. But no one in America wants to be called socialist and admit what they are.

Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

I agree. The fact that it was even seen as controversial to have a new medal to recognise valorous service is utterly deflating IMO and I'm glad the 'no' sentiment did not prevail. I'd actually like to see the Iron Cross return. It is not a Nazi medal by nature, issuance or history. The Nazis weren't even around when German soldiers were getting pinned with them for valorous service in combat. They inherited it just like most things of longer existence. And IMO, the Iron Cross doesn't deserve the Nazis to have the last say on it and leave it with an inaccurate judgement it does not deserve, especially so for those who earned them before the Nazis were around.

No history is perfect and each nation has its sins. But those sins have to be kept in proper perspective and allocations or else it is unhealthy for a nation's psyche.

The Germans have military histories and traditions going way back, never mind since unification in 1871. For example, I find it rather nice that at the Brandywine battlefield near me where an American Revolutionary War battle was fought, visitors commonly place German flags as well as the Stars and Stripes and Union Jacks on a mass grave there filled with the wounded that never made it out of a makeshift hospital. The reason is simple--German Jaegers are buried there too. German armies from various German states were hired by the British to fight on their behalf in that war (the British monarchy was also the monarchy of Hannover and had plenty of German titles and connections).

And the East Germans of the former GDR/DDR actually did appreciate what you said, and their Soviet puppetmasters were certainly no fans of the Nazis given what the Nazis did to them. The regime did allow the retention and use of many German military traditions and customs in its Nationale Volksarmee, including very Prussian aspects of its uniform and customs, etc. It was very good for the morale of the troops and the customs along with trainings formed a very competent army that outdid in calibre what might otherwise have been expected given the size, nature and standing of the GDR/DDR as a fissured rump German, post-war ravaged, communist, Soviet satellite state.

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I´d say that is not a majority position in Germany though. And the new medal is much rather seen as a campaign move by Merkel and therefore went down rather unnoticed in the news.

I absolutely agree with you and in my opinion our current minister of defence (Franz J. Jung) is on of the weakest/dumbest we've ever had in Germany.

In a TV-discussion he recently repeated the bullcrap that the Bundeswehr is not at war in Afghanistan. Germans know that our soldiers are not on a holiday tour over there, that Afghanistan is not just another humanitarian mission and because of it politicans like Jung, who try to sell it absolutely differentely to the public, just strengthen the opposition against the mission.

Maybe I'm wrong about this one, but people might also recognise or having trouble with the fact that not enough ressources are allocated to a mission repeatedly labeled/considered essential for the security of Germany (by politicans). Politicans can't have it both ways; no war but also essential. Somehow this approach by German politicans just stinks.

Apart from that I'm don't fully agree with Thorhammer's view about the Bundeswehr, military tradition and so on.

I've always seen/expierenced the Bundeswehr as the democratic Wehrmacht 2.0. It was build up by excellent WW2 fighters, it's parliamentary commissioners for the armed forces had been WW2 commanders/soldiers till the late 80's and of course the true basics have been "German".

The thing that is changing now is the slowly decline of the political/social WW2-guilt/peace-4-ever sentiment by older generations and so of course a more open approach is emerging.

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This is good to see. The courage of individuals is being honored. Whether or not it is politicized for various reasons is a different issue.