Clifford A. Gehrt

By way of introduction, I want to state that I have firsthand experience with the awards and decorations system used in Vietnam. From 1966 to 1967, I served as an Infantry Battalion Adjutant (S1). For 12 months, I was responsible for managing the awards and decoration section, processing awards within the battalion in Vietnam. As a result of that experience, I am intimately familiar with the awards processing system used at the company, battalion, brigade, and division levels, having routinely worked with the awards personnel at each of those levels. Based on my experience, I can say that all the problems discussed on this website were primarily caused by the fog of war and the on-the-job training nature of the administrative support system in Vietnam, which experienced an annual turnover rate exceeding 100%. In such an environment, mistakes and administrative errors were frequent, and unauthorized administrative shortcuts were also common.

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With regard to “DSC upgrades,” having experienced two Congressional and two Army rejections over the last four years, and now with this fifth effort ready to go forward, I am also intimately familiar with the DoD upgrade system.