New era Iron Cross look like this

[suum cuique]

Originally Posted by Norme

I think the Germans, to their credit, are simply trying to remove the Swastika from the Iron Cross. One is an honorable medal for bravery, and the other was the Nazi Party logo.

The whole idea with this new level of already existing medal was to create a "new medal" without getting connected to the history. Therefore they did not reissue the iron cross.
There was even a discussion to remove the "iron cross" symbol on tanks and aircrafts.
When the recipiants of the new medal gots the medal handed out, they did this in a civilian ceremony to avoid any "touch" of militarismn.
For many German soldiers, this new medal has no special meaning, it is nothing more as a medal like you receive for rescueing a person from drowning.
Alot of them are really pissed that their government rejected the reissue of the iron cross, which is an international well known medal.
But the social status of a soldier in Germany today is almost like the status soldiers had when they came home from Nam.
Some do not even wear their uniform after duty, they change their cloth immediately after they come home from "work".
If they get killed, many people say: "Well, nobody forced them to go, they went over there voluntarily, just leave the Afghans alone".