Perhaps I misunderstood what was posted in posts #5 & #18. But, if those are accurate then Coulter has grossly mischaracterized the circumstances of Cleland's wounding. While setting up a forward radio relay tower on a mountain top secured by an infantry company may sound tame to some, it was certainly a combat operation at that time. It may not have been a hot LZ at the time, it doesn't matter, it was part of a sustained combat mission to relieve the forces at Khe Sanh. It was, by any measure, a combat mission.
Ask anyone who has spent any time on remote fire bases or radio relay sites and the chances are pretty good that they will not characterize it as "routine non combat".
Now, if the info in posts 5 & 18 is not the accurate story, then all bets are off.
Cleland should not be given a free pass for allowing how he sustained his horrific wounds on the battlefield when he did not.
It's the same as being wounded running away and allowing people to proclaim that you led the charge. (not saying that is what Cleland did...)
Spin and reality are two different things... Ann is attacking the spin...not the man.