You would be mistaken. You have heard one of the several variants of legends that are really not correct.
Another story is that some divisions saw to it that successful rifle company commanders received a Silver Star at some point in their tour. That story isn’t correct either, but certainly rifle company commanders tended to be noticed by division commanders who were frequently overhead in a helicopter and those division commanders had the authority to award a Silver Star.
The criticism that the Army awarded decorations too frequently in Vietnam is valid. But the abuse was usually with the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. The precedent with the liberal award of the Air Medal was set by the Air Corps in WWII and carried forward to Vietnam. After both World War II and Korea, the Bronze Star was awarded to all receipients of the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, but this did not occur after Vietnam. The Bronze Star was commonly awarded to combat soldiers who completed a full year long tour. The Bronze Star was almost destroyed as a meaningful award by the frequency that it was given to people who were in administrative and logistics job and never ventured outside their comfortable rear cantonment.
For the top three valor awards: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, and Silver Star; the award rate for Vietnam was similar to that of WWII and Korea, considering troops in combat, days of combat, and casualties. In Vietnam, brigade and above commanders were veterans of WWII and/or Korea and they knew what the informal standard had hold in those wars. In addition, while Vietnam had an insurgency component, the U.S. Army was primarily fighting a conventional war against the regular army of North Vietnam. Big fights involved officers up to the battalion commander level and, with helicopters, up to brigade, division, and corps level commanders who often got more involved in the fight than they should have.
Certainly the current practice is very different. The old days for the Bronze Star, Air Medal, and Distinguished Flying Cross as well is gone, that’s a good thing. But in my opinion, the reaction of the Army to the abuse of awards has gone to far in the case of the Silver Star, DSC, and MH. The Marine Corps, with about 30% of the ground combat force in Iraq and Afghanistan has awarded the Navy Cross more than twice more frequently than the DSC. The British Army, with about the same force level as the USMC has awarded their equivalent award, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, at even a higher level. The Brits and the Marines have well known reputation for being tough with valor awards.
In my view, the bureaucrats, who have never seen combat and never will have taken over the awards system and combat soldiers who well deserve valor awards are not getting them.
Horror stories about awards can be found for all wars and for various reasons including politics, ambition, and the wrong people getting the credit. Combat is ugly in more than one aspect. Bill Livsey earned the awards he wears, and you need to be careful about pointing a finger at an individual about a general notion that you might have.
I guess we’ll agree to disagree. I’ve read many citations for valor awards from past wars. Those same actions these days would get a Soldier a slap on the ass and an “atta boy.”