Navy hero from Vietnam stripped of medal

Navy hero from Vietnam stripped of medal

www.signonsandiego.com

Wade Sanders lost his honorable reputation when the former Pentagon official, retired Navy captain and one-time congressional candidate pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in 2008.

Now, he also has lost the Silver Star awarded in 1992 for bravery against the enemy in Vietnam.

A longtime San Diego resident, Sanders earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart while serving aboard Swift boats during the Vietnam War. From 1993 to 1997, he served as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for reserve affairs under President Bill Clinton.

Sanders had served with Sen. John K

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This guy was a Swift Boat veteran who received a Silver Star in Vietnam. He served alongside Sen. John Kerry.

This guy was one of Sen. Kerry's most vocal supporters.

“New facts and evidence came to light surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and processing of the award itself,” said Lt. Alana Garas, Navy spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. “Had those been known to the Secretary of the Navy in 1992, those facts would have prevented the award of the Silver Star.”

The Navy is not saying what these new facts are.

Just one more thing...Every time they arrest one of these people for possession of child pornography.

The person always says "I am doing research".

With all this research going on...Sheesh.

www.signonsandiego.com
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reply to post by whyamIhere



Well I would put it to the folks who use research as an excuse, that if they wish to research these matters, they must have an official mandate to do so, and be party to third party vetting and monitoring to prevent a moral threat and a threat to the researchers mental health. Furthermore, such study should have regularly published written results, a list of possible causative factors, and possible solutions, all of which should be noted and fully accounted for during the production of these regular and periodic reports.

If all that were being done from all that time ago, by people who didnt have thier heads up the orifices in one anothers hind quaters so much that they never saw sun.... well the problem would have been solved by now, in a much more comprehensive fashion than it has been. As it is, the Catholic Church, among other faiths , have institutional issues with child abuse, as do various individuals across the globe. There are networks of sickness and depravity out there, and the funding has to come from somewhere. Alot of child abuse, wether it be pornographic, or actual physical abuse, is occassioned by organised criminals around the world.

As if organised crime needed endarkening any further than it had managed for itself world wide, the term that is key here is organised. Money is being made out there by people preying on the young.

Which brings me, in a roundabout way to my point. His claims of innocent intent aside, I think this is a pretty just punishment . If anything else, hes been stripped of his medal because hes a dumbass at BEST, and a downloader of indecent images of children at worst.

reply to post by TrueBrit



I am sure that the police are researching the issue.

He is technically not a child molester.

He is however, guilty of some very bad judgement.

He did not lose his Silver Star over this issue.

The Navy is not saying what's going on with these Swift boat medals.

I am not saying they were not earned, they just seem rather abundant.

This guy also ran for Congress....He would of fit right in...

One of John K's Purple Hearts was a small cut he recieved while screwing around with a grenade launcher, there was no enemy in sight.

I'm leery of anyone who gets 3 purple hearts but only missed 1 day of duty between all 3.

He compared himself to JFK on more than one occasion while serving in Nam, it was his stepping stone to politics.

The swift boat thing was a long time ago and reported poorly by both sides of the media. But I think ultimately the issue with the medals (primarily with Kerry) was that a significant number of swift boat officers and officers related to the swift boat units were in essence putting each other in for awards with little or no supporting information to ensure that the actions met the criteria for the award. "Hey let's put each other in for such and such medal" so to speak.

Medals don't just mean the honor and prestige of the award. They mean promotion points, additional points on federal service exams, and in some cases changes to pensions. So there have been times when system abuse, politics, and "ticketpunching" has been involved on who does or doesn't get a medal or a particular kind of medal. The preocess is better then in the past, and in some instances might now be too strict. There have been some questions at the Congressional level why after 10 years of war only TWO Medal of Honor's have been given to living service members. About 5 or so have been given postumously.

In vietnam it was (and while not nearly as bad, ocassionally still is) a fairly common practice. My dad (a Vietnam Vet) said he saw it happen frequently. Also, often a medal was given in the field, but no papertrail ever completed. He once watched a company clerk throw the paperwork for a bronze star for another soldier in the trash cause the clerk didn't like the guy. My dad was given both an army commendation medal and a combat infantryman's badge by a brigadier general off the back of a truck, but no paperwork ever materialized. He wore them his remaining time in service (only about 18months after his Nam tour) and was only recently looking at his file when he realized he didn't have the paperwork to back them up. I think this was why that Admiral a few years back committed suicide. He thought he had a certain medal, and 20 years later realized he did not have the paperwork and was distraught that he had misrepresented himself by wearing the decoration. (I would imagine more was involved).

My dad thinks they have too many medals now anyways. I mean they give a ribbon in the Army and Air Force now just for completing basic training. And the NDSM i think is also given upon completion of basic training. I beleive a single tour overseas now can get you up to 3 or 4 seperate campaign and service medals, when in the past it's been usually one or two. If you look at pictures in dress uniform from say WWII till about Vietnam, it was not very common to see service persennel with more then maybe 3 maybe 4 or so rows of ribbons. Now half our guys look like Russians with ribbons going up one side and down the other.

Please note, I am NOT berating any award or anyone on the site who has been awarded a service medal, decoration, or ribbon for their service.

i do not condone this mans actions in any way, shape or form.

but with that being said, it seems senseless and a bit unnecessary to take away a medal he earned decades ago for a crime he committed today.

Originally posted by BlesUTP
i do not condone this mans actions in any way, shape or form.

but with that being said, it seems senseless and a bit unnecessary to take away a medal he earned decades ago for a crime he committed today.

You should read the article, they clearly state that it was not related to the child porn charge.

It was awarded 20 years after the fact to an up and coming poltico who had friends in high places, mainly John Kerry himself.

I would strip this "hero" of more than just a medal If I caught him in possession of child porn around me.
Criminals found guilty of child porn deserve no honor. past or present. Hero or not.

This so called navy hero is a common dirtbag. I have no pity.

He was "aiding victims of child sex abuse"
Right. By storing 600 explicit images of minors on his home PC.

He was doing a "research project" from home.
Right. By ALSO sharing 600 explicit images of minors with other child porn collectors.

In a 2008 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Sanders said he had downloaded the files as part of his research for an article on the sexual exploitation of children in foreign countries. He said his work for the Clinton administration had included aiding victims of child sex abuse in the former Yugoslavia.

"I have no sexual attraction to children whatsoever," he said then. "There was no evil intent."

Sanders, a lawyer, said he didn't realize federal child pornography laws barred downloading or viewing the material even by researchers. He said that is why he decided to plead guilty. "I thought since my motives were pure and innocent, that would make a difference. I'm technically guilty of the crime."

In a letter to the judge in his case, Sanders said then that post-traumatic stress disorder was a factor in his bad judgment. "There is a part of me that died in Vietnam and now, for the first time in my life I am facing that reality," the letter said.

Federal prosecutors said Sanders possessed computer files containing 600 images of minors, including a 21-minute video that depicted girls engaging in sex acts with an adult man.

The case against the former Navy hero started in October 2007, when an FBI agent went online to search for people sharing child pornography using a file-sharing computer network. The agent entered a search term widely used by pornographers, and among the results returned was one that eventually linked to Sanders' home computer. A few months later, FBI agents raided Sanders' San Diego home.

Prosecutors said that, at the time of the raid, Sanders never mentioned a research project to FBI agents, nor did investigators find notes or other materials relating to such a project.