The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a decoration presented to recognize all military members who have served in active duty during a declared "national emergency."
I'm pretty sure you didn't have to actually serve in-country to be eligible for NSDM. We called it the fire-watch medal. We were awarded it out of boot camp.
I am assuming wiki is accurate in their identification of eligibility requirements.
you indicated
"...Phillip's reporting date for active duty to start training was August 12, 1974."
Wiki says NDSM eligibility for Vietnam era ended August 14, 1974.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Service_Medal
The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is awarded to anyone who serves on active duty in the United States Armed Forces during the above time periods.[4] Reserve Component service during the Korean and Vietnam periods, other than those Reserve Component personnel in a full-time status or on active duty greater than 89 days, did not qualify for award of the NDSM.
You are correct, I stand down. I thought the eligibility for Vietnam era ended with the date of the signing of the peace agreement which ended hostilities.
Here is a good site by the government publishing office:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2008-title32-vol3/xml/CFR-2008-title32-vol3-sec578-23.xml
So according to the criteria, the worm does qualify by two days just because he was active for training in a qualifying MOS.
But he uses the words “coming back to the US as a veteran of the Vietnam era.” This is not a lie, just an excuse. And the only way anyone would spit on him is if he wore the uniform with that claim he was as no one would have known him to be a ‘Nam era member. The award, because of the shifting dates, is not understandable to the public.
Sorry for the mistake.
rwood