Quote from Trader666:
Were combat awards authorized? I'd draw the line there.
For someone who doesn't like to talk about their combat experiences, you sure like to talk about other people's experiences. If I disclose whether I received combat awards then that would potentially tie me to a specific unit. If I tie myself to a specific unit, with everything else I've disclosed, I would be in violation of my non disclosure agreement.
Speaking in generalities is considered unclassified...but once you move into the realm of specific units and their capabilities (not to mention how they are structured and operate) you have crossed over into at least Confidential, and possibly Secret level information. Remember, part of my job was to guard against espionage and that includes the protection of classified information. Feel free to verify this with the governing reference...which happens to be unclassified and available open source (though I admit I am surprised I just found it on the internet...I was all set to tell you to ask someone in the Navy about it... however, here you go):
http://www.usna.edu/AcResearch/5510.36.pdf