The point I was trying to make is that anyone can wear medals, but you really can't tell whether they are legit until you see the service record. Kerry refuses to release his military records. Why?
The point I was trying to make is that anyone can wear medals, but you really can't tell whether they are legit until you see the service record. Kerry refuses to release his military records. Why?
I understand your point and agree. I just think that the jury is out on Boorda and his honorable life and career are a poor analogy to hold up for comparison to a slimebucket like Kerry.
If the citation did not contain authorization to wear the "V" device, a person was not authorized to wear it. Boorda knew better, which is why he stopped wearing them once they were questioned.
Perhaps Zumwalt was trying to be kind but that is not what he said about citations.
"It is a bureaucratic distinction to say, 'Well, it wasn't in the citation.'"
I don't know for sure but it seems to me that there was good reason to believe that Boorda qualified for the pins by standards of the day.
"Admiral Mike Boorda's citations for awards of the Navy Achievement Medal and Navy Commendation Medal plainly state they were awarded for service including 'combat operations' and 'while operating in combat missions,' " Dalton's memo said.
All that is missing is paperwork that specifically says "you can wear the V pins." Given his record of service and the glowing testimony of Navy veterans (that I didn't post), from the lowest ranks to the highest, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt that he honestly thought he was correct in wearing the pins and the minute they came into question, rather than argue the point, he removed them. Sounds like the actions of an honorable man to me.
Troubled, no doubt. No one (in our culture) commits suicide unless deeply troubled. But severe depression often isn't rooted in the reality of a man's life so I can't automatically make the leap to say that his suicide indicates actual disgraces unknown. He lived a life of honor in a world defined by honor and he was about to be drug into the world of Clintonesque character assassination by Hackworth and Newsweek.
I only make an issue of this because it troubles me that men of honor can so easily be brought down by insinuation yet scum like Bill Clinton are defended to the bitter end. When men of honor and accomplishment are being brought down it is good to look closely and find out why. Between Boorda and Clinton I have no doubts who I would compare John Fonda Kerry to. Hackworth has some serious credibility problems too. If not in his service record then certainly in his post-service behavior.