Don’t you think that Vice Admiral Hannink is the one who signed off on the medals?
I will say this...it just makes the leadership look stupid after they get caught doing something like this. You could ask any sailor or Marine about getting a medal for a failed effort, and they’d just start laughing at the idea.
Possible, but not likely. NAMs are usually approved within the command at the O5 or O6 level. But when the Gallagher trial started becoming a cluster f#%&, particularly when the criminal misconduct of the prosecution occurred, he should have taken some action.
“Don’t you think that Vice Admiral Hannink is the one who signed off on the medals?”
No. A NAM is nothing. They hand them out with the rations.
You don’t have to go all the way up to three stars to get one approved.