MEDAL: Former Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta just gave away the highest valor award a soldier can receive. So he clearly doesn’t need another medal in any form. Nevertheless, the Medal of Honor recipient deserves a salute for presenting his award to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during an event in early July. The commander in chief bestowed Giunta with the MOH in 2010 for his actions three years earlier during an enemy ambush while serving with the 173rd in Afghanistan. Since then, the award weighed heavily on his shoulders. No recipient in recent times has been more adamant that the award wasn’t his alone: “The medal [Medal of Honor] should go to the guy on the right of me and the guy on the left of me,” he said after he received it. Army Times readers praised him for showing true military leadership. This act is more than an NCO’s leadership. It is a legacy. It is Giunta’s legacy to the soldiers to the right of him, to the left of him, and to all those at the 173rd who will follow after him, and see what one humble man can do.

Medals & Misfires is a new opinion feature from the Military Times editorial staff. Medals signify a job well done. Misfires signify a major blunder.

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