08-03-2020, 04:56 PM
Speaking of awards, I had a master sergeant retire while I was on active duty.
He had told me about his "participation" in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley.
So when he retired, I put him in for the Meritorious Service Medal as not only an end-of-tour award, but end-of-service award.
Oh, Christ. All of the smart-shitters up the chain of command knew "better". NCOs didn't get the MSM, and so forth.
I wasn't buffaloed and kept pushing his Vietnam service, particularly that rendered in the Ia Drang Valley.
By the time I moved to a new assignment, the chain of command was still refusing to give him an MSM. He retired with an ARCOM.
But after I left, someone who must have been moved by my arguments (probably another person who was a veteran of Vietnam) was able to quash the resistance of the chairborne commandos.
Some time after I left service, the master sergeant and I spoke on the telephone to catch up. He chuckled and said, "Guess what. They gave me that MSM you put me in for."
Yeah.
Cheers
He had told me about his "participation" in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley.
So when he retired, I put him in for the Meritorious Service Medal as not only an end-of-tour award, but end-of-service award.
Oh, Christ. All of the smart-shitters up the chain of command knew "better". NCOs didn't get the MSM, and so forth.
I wasn't buffaloed and kept pushing his Vietnam service, particularly that rendered in the Ia Drang Valley.
By the time I moved to a new assignment, the chain of command was still refusing to give him an MSM. He retired with an ARCOM.
But after I left, someone who must have been moved by my arguments (probably another person who was a veteran of Vietnam) was able to quash the resistance of the chairborne commandos.
Some time after I left service, the master sergeant and I spoke on the telephone to catch up. He chuckled and said, "Guess what. They gave me that MSM you put me in for."
Yeah.
Cheers
Location: The lost world, Elsewhen