I like xzins take on the situation better than yours, P-Marlowe. Your reply just says outright that if some medals are awarded improperly that all medals are worthless. My problem is that I am too immersed in this. I had a small part of a large, lengthy war with tens of thousands of our good young guys dead and hundreds of thousands maimed. I saw a lot of heroism and self-sacrifice and I am proud of all of them. I am past the age where I wear any of my medals and they stay in the closet on an old uniform. Whatever they are worth will end up in some garage sale someday.
It's both good and lousy to talk about this stuff but as your comments have illustrated, the only people that will ever know what really was worthwhile are the ones who were there.