OMAK.

This is coolbert:

OMAK = One Man Army Klein. Artie Klein.

Artie Klein. American war hero from the era of the Second World War [WW2], his superior performance in combat not being justifiably recognized.

KLEIN IN ADDITION IT IS ALLEGED NOT AWARDED HIGH DECORATION BECAUSE HE WAS JEWISH!

Now inter-service rivalry [?] and squabbling [?] may preclude other brave and courageous men from receiving awards as earned and without question? Thanks to Newsweek Magazine and the article by Sean D. Naylor.

"The Navy SEALs Allegedly Left Behind a Man in Afghanistan. Did They Also Try to Block His Medal of Honor?"

Sabotage? You the devoted reader of the blog have to decide this for yourselves! Read the whole article. Slabinski si, Chapman no?

"Some observers are angry at the Navy for even recommending Slabinski for the award, which they claim was part of a campaign to sabotage the Air Force’s effort on behalf of Chapman. Such a campaign would be unprecedented, according to military awards expert Doug Sterner. 'I cannot think of a single instance in which one branch of service opposed a Medal of Honor [MoH] for another one,' he says."

Not so totally unprecedented however:

From WW2 an instance can be found. OMAK. Artie Klein. The Eniwetok operation. Klein behaved very bravely and the consensus was he should have been awarded the MoH. Was denied and with much speculation that Klein was denied the decoration because he was Jewish. NO! The overall performance of the army unit was considered to be poor. So much so that the Marine ground commander [it was a joint Army/Marine/Navy operation with the Marine general in charge of ground forces] and the Navy admiral [overall commander of the combined task force] decided very early to deny the ENTIRE army regiment ANY decoration. Later it was decided to award SOME decorations to the army regiment and Klein got the Bronze star. Those two senior officers denying the army unit awards at least in the minds of those two commanders was justified and on grounds that might seem quite reasonable to some. AND not because Klein refused the MoH on the grounds of his being Jewish!.

Devoted readers now know the rest of the story and are all so much the better for it too!

coolbert.