Cleland was injured, if I recall correctly, while drinking a beer and playing with a grenade. Hardly combat.
That the rumor, but his story is:
While boarding a huey, a hand grenade slipped off his vest, the pin fell out, and it went off.
Either way, I ask "What was a PIO (public Info Officer, Clielands position at the time) doing with hand grenades"? I mean, a PIO guides reporters around. If he needs hand grenades, he and they are too close to the action.
Hell, when my troops and I went into a base camp for a week or 2, we took all the grenades, extra clips of ammo, and stored them in a secure place.
......Bob
I don't support Cleland's politics, but your account is contradicted by the people who were there. He was on a mission in a combat zone to set up an antennae, and somebody's grenade, possibly his own, went off accidenatlly and wounded him. It is distasteful to attack the way a soldier was wounded in combat for the country regardless of their politics.