OK guys, I've done a lot of thinking about this one. I apologize to anyone I offend or anger by my views. That having been said here is where my head is on this:
Military awards have become a bit like Woodstock. Ask around and from the responses you will get there must have been about 5 million people there.
I started out by asking myself what a military award actually signified. I decided that it could mean everything or practically nothing. For example:
I received my CIB after about 3 weeks in country. We were diddly-boping down a jungle trail in a "secure area" when we turned a corner and ran into a VC patrol. We both stood there and looked at each other for a few seconds. Then we both turned and ran in the opposite direction, wildly firing at nothing in particular. Was that combat? Answer: Yes, enemy, shots fired, one CIB. Initially I refused to wear it.
Every soldier who was in Vietnam received a bronze star. This included front-line combat troops, cooks, mechanics, office clerks, and analyst-types that never left their air-conditioned offices in Saigon. True some of them received some pretty severe paper-cuts! So what does having a bronze star really say about the person wearing it.
Many of my SF brothers carried out their missions well behind enemy lines in Laos and/or Cambodia with little or no support under conditions of such secrecy that MOH write-ups were generally down-graded to silver stars and I personally had a silver star write-up downgraded to an army commendation medal. I refused it.
It was tough to get into parachute training because many officer career-types saw the road to advancement in having those wings. After their 5th qualifying jump they never put a chute on again. 5-Jump-Chumps as we called them. Now I only made 2 more but that was the nature of the country
In 1973 the Army granted the 82nd the right to wear the maroon beret. SF called it the Great Beret Giveaway. The reason being that, EVERYONE got the beret, cooks, clerks, etc. they just had to be in the 82nd. Now I have no problem with elite troops being recognized for their eliteness. The green beret comes after a year or more of intensive training (3 years for a Medic). Without that training and testing there is no green beret handed over because you were assigned to an SF unit. An airborne combat trooper should be recognized but a clerk with no jump wings simply assigned to the 82nd ?
Likewise the black beret and ranger tab can be worn by anyone assigned to the 75th whether or not they've had actual "ranger" training or not.
Now, you've got to be a total moron to claim an MOH without actually having one as this is one award that is closely regulated and lists are published. It is also the only medal you cannot purchase. So what did this idiot gain? Except to reveal himself to the entire country as a total fool. I've known several MOH recipients. They are quiet and shy about it and I've never heard any one of them brag about it
All this is of my personal knowledge at the time so is any of this is not corrent i also apologize. no offense intended to anyone