Think about it, supposedly 3+ years enlisted, and additional time to go through OCS as well as rise from butter bar to Captain, and he only has one medal for commendation, a Bronze Star. My ass. He has a national defense service medal, given to pretty much anyone in the military during a period of war, 2 campaign ribbons, maybe a 3rd, middle bottom row I somewhat recognize, but can't be sure, given to any slinging dick in a campaign, a GCM, automatic after 3 years of keeping your nose clean while enlisted, an Air Medal, a purple heart, and one ribbon of meritorious service, a Bronze Star. No ARCOMs, no DSMs, hell, if he was enlisted for 3 damn years, as would have HAD to happen for him to have the GCM, well, how many troops that have been in 3 years don't have at least one AAM?
I'm not disputing what you're saying, but what he's wearing is possible with the rapid commissioning and promotions of the pre-DOPMA Viet Nam era Army. The entire set of campaign medals could have been garnered from a single tour in Viet Nam, the GCM is the hardest to figure because he would have had to actually have enlisted and served three years, not just been drafted for two, to get it.
One of the other peculiarities of the Army in those days was enlisted soldiers on active duty (In the Regular Army) who held reserve commissions, and who might be called to active duty in their commissioned rank, particularly if their specialty was in demand in the war zone (Where they be referred to as 'AUS' rather than 'RA' officers, Army of the United States vs. Regular Army). Then, there was the huge RIF around 1975, where thousands of company grade officers were cut loose or moved backwards because if they had prior enlisted service they were allowed to revert to enlisted status and stay on active duty (Retaining their commissions in the reserve, but not the active army). Most of them were duds serving out their time, though a few I knew were pretty sharp cookies. All that weird shit was ended by the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act, which imposed the time-in-grade/time-in-service requirements in all their multiple ramifications that officers live with now. It came into effect sometime around 1981 or 1982, very shortly before the commissioned part of my career began. If this joker actually was in Viet Nam as a junior enlisted, it's extraordinarily unlikely he would have gotten a BSM for service, it was and is pretty much a senior NCO/officer award, so if he was really there, it's most probable it was as an officer, but probably not an RA officer; the Army's commissioning programs in those days (Aside from the ring-knockers) almost exclusively gave out USAR commissions, not RA ones, except for (Usually) the ROTC and OCS class honor grad.
The AAM wasn't introduced until the early 80s, btw, I remember when it came in and wondering how to do something small enough to be good for getting one but not good enough to merit another leaf on my ARCOM.
