[silverleaf]

Medals can take a while to work through the chain of command. Murtha would not be the only intelligence officer I've heard of being awarded a Bronze Star... but the "v" is tricky. Presumably he was out in the field collecting intelligence under fire, not just sitting at a desk reading it.

[Beckwith]

Presumably he was out in the field collecting intelligence under fire, not just sitting at a desk reading it.

One must do more than be under fire to receive an award for valor.

Tons of officers receive the Bronze Star for "meritorious service" but adding the "V device" is another matter entirely. The bronze "V" identifies the award as resulting from an act of combat heroism or valor", thus distinguishing it from meritorious achievement awards.

Simple matter of reading the accompanying award unless Murtha pulls a Kerry and doesn't re;ease his records.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

A Major in an intelligence billet sounds like a brigrade S-2 to me. I don't know anything about Murtha's actual service, but generally the most valorous thing an S-2 does is stand the S-1 to some drinks at the O-club. Since the paperwork for awards is initiated in the S-1 shop, conveniently located next door to the S-2, one might suspect a whiff or cronyism.

That said, staff officers may spend a lot time writing each other up for awards, but a Bronze Star with a V-device does seem like a stretch for a paper pusher. I'd love to hear from someone who was there. (Problem may be there was a lot of log rolling in that unit, everybody writing everyone else for awards so they could get promoted to an even better billet.)

One retired Army Major General told me that he told a retired Army Colonel to his face that the staff officers in his Divison were not "defending America" in VietNam but writing up paperwork for medals for one another.