Rob Dickerson, Army Veteran, Forced To Pay $21 C.O.D. For Purple Heart Medal

Retired Sgt. Major Rob Dickerson says he had to pay $21 in shipping fees for his Purple Heart award, earned after he was wounded in Iraq in 2007.


Rob Dickerson, Army Veteran, Forced To Pay $21 C.O.D. For Purple Heart Medal
First Posted: 8/6/11 09:47 AM ET Updated: 8/6/11 01:50 PM ET

War comes with an incalculable human cost. And apparently a shipping fee of about $21.

Retired Sgt. Major Rob Dickerson says that's the price he was forced to pay when his Purple Heart -- the medal issued to soldiers wounded in action -- arrived at his door, C.O.D.

Instead of being awarded the military honor in a formal ceremony, the vet with 29 years in the service was handed his award, and a shipping invoice, by a FedEx deliveryman outside his Sioux Falls, S.D., home.

"Leaders need to pay attention and take care of soldiers," Dickerson told The Huffington Post. "This is a gross injustice."

The shipping-and-handling fiasco was the last aggravation for Dickerson in his four-year quest to get the medal. His story was first reported by Keloland.com.



unhappycamper comment: Way to go, guys.

It was authorized in 2004 but eligibility was made retroactive to 1954. I've been out since 1970 but I qualified. So I applied for mine and received it for no charge. There was just me and the mailbox participating in the ceremony, not that I expected anything more.

So I'm going to go ahead and guess that Dickerson's plight is unusual.

Crap like this happens all the time it just does not make the news all the time.

Me who cares about a medal worth less then $20?

I would gladly trade mine for friends who did not make it home.

:grr:

This guy would be the right hand man of his commander. Sorry, but I find the whole story strange.

Loss of paperwork when it comes to reservists is common (which is why I made sure I had copies of everything when I went from active duty to reserves as well as all paperwork while I was a reservist!)
According to the article, there was no US Army medic around when he was injured while out with his Iraqi unit, and since he was not assigned to a US unit, he didn't have a direct US Army attachment supervisor who would sign the paperwork necessary to get his Purple Heart there; he had to go through his reserve unit commander, who might or might not have even been in Iraq at the time.
A lot of returning vets, especially reservists, who were assigned to international or regional forces (or even cross forces assignments, such as the Navy's "Blue to Green" program with the Army) seem to have administrative issues - and most of them seem to go back to the unit's inability or unwillingness to handle inter-agency paperwork.

Without the "proper" paperwork signed off by a DoD medic who either actually witnessed the injury or took the report from the hospital intake while he was there supporting a unit commander's request, the government will never just issue a Purple Heart without a thorough investigation, no matter what Swift-boaters seem to suggest.

Reading the article, it seems as if this guy's reserve unit had an administrative confusion factor with their stateside unit command, or his unit commander had problems with him.

Haele

Why an E-9 and not a SSgt or Sgt?

I read the story to my Vietnam vet SO who was awarded 2 purple hearts and thought the story was very strange also.

I was active duty Air Force and deployed to Kuwait twice. Our chiefs E-9s, were not out in the field.

I'm thinking that this guy is looking to get his 100% disabled status. He should have just counted himself lucky to get the paperwork pushed through and kept his mouth shut. Lots of questions will now be asked.

If the medal is on his record he could request one through the service and they will send him one free of charge. He probably asked for it to be Fed Exed. My SO received new medals for his shadow box - all free.

One is put in for a medal by a commanding officer. I don't understand how this guy, even if he was the highest ranking EM, thought he could put himself in for a medal..