Though an infantry officer by MOS, much of my time in the Marine Corps was spent in administrative billets. I have seen unauthorized medals on every rank from Maj. General on down. I would not be too hard on some of them. Sometimes it was a matter of an admin clerk not reading the Awards Manual carefully and thinking everyone who served in Vietnam got a Combat Action Medal or other award, other times it was a case of “survivor guilt”–the feeling that “this is what I wished I had done.” In one case I know of, it was out right fraud–the Maj. General. The most common mistake by far was when an aviator received “a Silver Star” in lieu of his second Distinguished Flying Cross, he sometime wore the Silver Star Medal–not what was intended. I don’t know why phony veterans piss me off so much, and usually it is a case that the individual served, but in the capacity he claims.
Though an infantry officer by MOS, much of my time in the Marine Corps was spent in administrative billets. I have seen unauthorized medals on every rank from Maj. General on down. I would not be too hard on some of them. Sometimes it was a matter of an admin clerk not reading the Awards Manual carefully and thinking everyone who served in Vietnam got a Combat Action Medal or other award, other times it was a case of “survivor guilt”–the feeling that “this is what I wished I had done.” In one case I know of, it was out right fraud–the Maj. General. The most common mistake by far was when an aviator received “a Silver Star” in lieu of his second Distinguished Flying Cross, he sometime wore the Silver Star Medal–not what was intended. I don’t know why phony veterans piss me off so much, and usually it is a case that the individual served, but in the capacity he claims.