I agree. In the Army 3 hearts might get you out of the field, but I never saw anyone get a free pass home. Until the rules changed in '67 or '68, in the Army, they gave out Hearts by the crate load, after that you had to actually had to get wounded and recieve medical attention, if I remember correctly.
sounds a lot like today--most servicemen in for a year or so have 2-4 lines of medals---guess they give them out for just being around these days