This is coolbert: Well, we all know the controversy that came about over the decorations awarded to Admiral Borda. The CNO that committed suicide not so long ago. And the conclusion was that this was an ambiguous area. The Admiral had awarded a combat star to his Vietnam service ribbon. Seemed that the consensus was that this star should not have been awarded. Well, it seems that his ship had participated in bombardment on several occasions on shore targets in Vietnam. This was the reason for having the "combat" star awarded. Seems that it could have been legitimate or not, depending upon the discretion of the unit [ship] commander.

And of course there is always the problem with paperwork. Seems that for some decorations, a piece of paper must be cut for the troop. Without that piece of paper, the decoration is not valid, even if properly earned.

And again, for some decorations, a piece of paper is not required.

It is not always understood by the personnel section or the awarders of decorations how to always properly proceed in these circumstances. People think they know the answers to these questions about awards but all they know is something they heard. And the regs seems to change all the time. It just seems silly to evaluate each and every decoration that a guy wears to see if you can nitpick and find an error. Cast doubt upon the guys integrity.

Regarding military heroism as being a factor for picking a President. Well in the case of Bush # 1 and Bob Dole, they would seem to be so far ahead of Bill Clinton that it would not even be in the same league. Well, it would not be in the same league. Did not help either Bush or Dole now, did it?!

coolbert.