He was a 24-year-old correspondent in 1965, when the 7th Cavalry Division was surrounded and greatly outnumbered by Viet Cong. When the unit came under heavy fire in Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley, Galloway risked his life to rescue wounded American soldiers, an act of courage that more than three decades later would earn him a Bronze Star with “V” for valor — an extraordinary tribute to a civilian.
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/09/15/1736301/joe-galloway-you-cant-remain-just.html#storylink=cpy
He did not, in real life, pick up a weapon and start shooting. He did perform some heroics, for which he was rightfully recognized; but he did not act as a combatant at anytime during the Ia Drang fight (i.e., he did not take up a weapon and shoot).