No, it’s NOT totally harmless. It cheapens and demeans those who actually were awarded those medals for extraordinary effort and heroism under fire. And too many people who never even served call themselves Vietnam veterans. Some do it because it became “chic” to do so; others because there are some financial benefits for being a veteran, being a war veteran, and for having been awarded medals for heroism. They are guilty of a MOST serious crime and fraud on businesses, the government and other veterans. I recall that a JUDGE who had never served called himself a Vietnam veteran and said he had won some prestigious medal WHEN IT WAS ALL A SHAM. He was recalled and thrown out of office. Not long ago someone was exposed as a fraud when he passed himself off as a retired Marine Major General. He was a retired Marine, that’s OK, but he had retired as a Gunnery Sergeant and was NEVER AN OFFICER.
One person, back at Walter Reed Hospital, was there for some illness or other. He passed himself off as combat wounded to partake in activities and goodies specifically earmarked FOR the wounded coming back from the war zone. I think he went to jail, and rightly so.
It’s many things to pretend you are a decorated war veteran, but harmless it’s NOT.