When the question came up, everyone was very proud that we had served in the gulf and very pleased that we had been given medals by the Saudi Arabian government and other governments. I often thought that it's a piece of metal that you put on your chest, and as a Gulf War veteran, I pictured a grandchild on my knee who would say, “Papa, what is that?” and I could say, “Well, I was in the war.”
It didn't cost very much, but the reason we were only given one medal was that the Canadian government at the time, or National Defence, had decreed that the Canadian government had given you a medal, and therefore that's for your service in the gulf. Whatever was being given to you by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or other places, you couldn't wear that one. You could only wear the one that Canada gave you. I don't agree with that.