[XJarhead]

I can't say what the current practice is, but I recall that there was a huge disparity in the number of medals awarded per soldier v. per Marine in Grenada. I remember seeing those stats awhile back, and perhaps someone else can dig them up for you.

My sense is that the Corps is much tighter on the awarding of medals, but I can't really quantify that for you. But if your dad was an Iwo Jima vet, I'm quite sure that he earned any medal he was awarded, and probably some he wasn't. Semper Fi.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

My dad was given a Purple Heart. He was temporarily paralyzed - had fourteen shrapnel wounds, some scars looked like permanent dents from a baseball, and shrapnel lodged near his spine for life, too close to it to remove. He essentially kept himself alive (on Iwo Jima) for eight hours, waiting for evac...not being able to move, that was about all he could do.

He never thought he deserved more, and his Purple Heart really meant something to him.

Given that that is my paradigm, I struggle a little bit with how things have changed.

Semper Fi, XJarhead.