Both accounts probably originated somewhere in the Department of Defense.
That is almost certainly the case, Gene. It's called "completed staff
work" in the military world, and perhaps industry. That means that the
parent organization provides the document to be presented accompanied by
suggested "off the cuff" remarks for the presenter.
Jim
On 2013-10-18 11:58, mechtly, eugene a wrote:
A complete video of the Award Ceremony of the Medal of Honor to Captain Swenson
is posted at WashingtonPost.com.
In this video, President Obama describes actions by "Will Swenson" at a
distance of 50 meters, and actions by Will at a distance of 20 or 30 meters.
The "official citation" for the Award states *no* distances, in meters or in
any other unit of distance.
Why did Obama's account included statements of distances in meters, but the
official citation gave *no* distances?
Both accounts probably originated somewhere in the Department of Defense.
Eugene Mechtly
________________________________________
From: Paul Trusten [trus...@mygrande.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 4:11 PM
Cc: U.S. Metric Association; mechtly, eugene a
Subject: Re: [USMA:53328] Ceremony in Meters
I think the President may have been simply reading a text prepared for him by
the Defense Department, but I guess we can give him credit for not
back-converting.
Paul Trusten, Registered Pharmacist
Vice President and Public Relations Director
U.S. Metric Association, Inc.
Midland, Texas, USA
+1(432)528-7724
www.metric.org
trus...@grandecom.net
On Oct 15, 2013, at 16:09, "mechtly, eugene a" <mech...@illinois.edu> wrote:
Today, Captain William D. Swenson was awarded the Medal of Honor.
In describing Will's heroic actions under fire, President Obama used the word
"meters" several times, with *no conversions* to any units of distance outside
the SI.
Of course, as we all know, US military personnel already speak "meters" with
fluency.
Fortunately, President Obama displayed a willingness to accept the meter as the
preferred unit of distance.
Unfortunately, many commentators in the news media are not so inclined to speak
the word meter.
They remain misguided by the Associated Press Style Guide, studiously avoiding
the word meter.
Watch and listen to the Aware Ceremony, in meters, when it is rebroadcast.
Eugene Mechtly
