Lumpy,

The award for the extraction of Task Force Alpha was for action on March 30,1969. The orders were dated June 1970. I received the award in March 1973. When I asked what took so long I was told it was because the army was changing from serial numbers to SSNs and something in mine got messed up.

In 1978 I received an award for action in August 1968. The orders were dated March 1973. When I asked what took so long no answer was given. The wording for the award was very vague when it came to the location of the action. Maybe it took so long because it was for an extraction of Special Forces near Hotel 9 in Laos. A place where we weren't suppose to be at the time. Go figure.

Ron