I think you hit the nail on the head.  It was common practice for officers to get end of tour awards (Bronze Stars) for administrative stuff, but enlisted guys had theirs downgraded to an Army Commendation Medal (ARCOM).  There is a way to tell whether the Bronze Star was awarded for administrative stuff or for combat valor -- combat awards have the "V" (for valor) device on the ribbon.  However, all most people ever note is it says so and so was awarded the Bronze Star (and "with combat V" is not mentioned).  I assume that it's for administrative work, unless I know the facts of the award.  The Navy and Marine Corps equivalent (Navy Commendation Medal) can be awarded for combat actions and, in those instances, is worn with the combat "V" device.

 

Awards and decorations have always been political in nature and there is always some controversy about officer vs. enlisted -- especially for higher awards.  In general, officers are awarded more medals and for enlisted, those that should be the same category for a similar action are downgraded.  No, it isn't fair, but that's how it IS.  A couple of examples can illustrate the political nature of awards and decorations. 

 

[Note: while awards and decorations are used interchangeably, "award" usually means a ribbon or medal for a non-combat related job well done and "decoration" implies combat valor.  As mentioned above, some awards can be either administrative or for valor and, in the case of the latter, there is a distinguishing device to indicate this kind of award.]

 

Case 1.  One of our SEAL/UDT boat support detachments [MST for Mobile Support Team] was based at Ca Mau and shared a compound with the Army's MACV or Military Advisory Command (Vietnam).  The boat guys stuck their necks on the chopping block as often as their SEAL counterparts.  While the boat guys did not get off the craft to do the dangerous deeds ashore that the SEALs did, our job was get them to their objective and to protect them at the two most vulnerable times -- the insertion and the extraction.  During insertions, you always feared an ambush.  Emergency extractions where sure to be made under fire.  Anyhow, the local Vietnamese province commander wanted to award the SEAL team and MST detachment at Ca Mau the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (which, if I remember, was a rough equivalent to the U.S. Bronze Star).  The Army MACV paper pushers denied the award to the MST detachment and approved the one for the SEALs.  The rationale was that the MST detachment was not doing combat operations and didn't fight.  [Gee, I always thought we were, that's why I was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon (twice).  The CAR is the equivalent of the Army's Combat Infantry Badge.]  There was a colossal pissing contest that broke out between NSWG (Naval Special Warfare Group) and MACV.  I'm not certain, but I think this blatant discrimination was resolved favorably for our MST detachment.  Meanwhile, MACV approved the award of a Bronze Star to a Spec 4 who was passed out drunk under a desk in his office during a mortar attack.  I don't know about you, but it sure smells like politics to me.

 

Case 2.  A cadre of Naval Reserve CPO's at Great Lakes established a training program for other reservists in the Ninth Naval District that covered 13 midwestern states: Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.  With the help of a hard-charging USNR Commander, we convinced Service School Command to open their buildings to reservists on the weekends so that our instructors could use the equipment to train them.  It was a hard sell, but we were successful and various classes were orgainized at the Gunnery, Fire Control, and Operations Specialist Schools.  Some time later, the same USNR Commander wrote-up the enlisted members of the team for the Navy Commondation Medal.  However, this particular officer was not well liked by some of the more senior officers in the approval chain of command and the award was disapproved.  Later on, after this officer had been promoted and transferred out, with the help of his relief we redid the citation for those members who were still with the program.  This time the award, the Navy Achievement Medal, was approved for the enlisted members -- precisely because there wasn't all the political hard feelings to get past.