Like promotion boards - it's not a wholly objective process - and with valorous awards, one man's hero is another's idea of someone just performing IAW his duty description. Remember - rocket science ain't as exact as scientists would like us to believe, either. 
Richard's $.02 
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“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
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