Seaman Matthew Cottom, stationed out of Norfolk, had never deployed and had never been in combat. That didn’t stop him from wearing a Purple Heart, a NATO medal, an Expert Rifle medal, and the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist insignia — all decorations he had no legitimate claim to.
Where He Chose to Wear Them
He didn’t just wear the fake decorations around base. In October 2014, he wore them to a "Military Appreciation Day" at UNC Chapel Hill — an event built specifically to honor real service members. In July 2014, he wore them to a church service in Saltillo, Mississippi. Both are settings where the entire point is public recognition, which is exactly why wearing unearned combat decorations there does real damage: somewhere in each of those crowds was a person who understood exactly what a real Purple Heart costs.
Both events existed specifically to honor real service. That’s what made wearing fake decorations there land differently than wearing them to the grocery store.
The Court-Martial
Cottom pleaded guilty to wearing unauthorized insignia and ribbons. He was sentenced to 45 days confinement, reduction to seaman recruit (E-1), and forfeiture of half pay for two months.
The Actual Offense
This isn’t a case about a badge on a uniform. It’s a case about a sailor who never went to war choosing, repeatedly and in public, to borrow the specific credibility of people who did — in front of the exact audiences most likely to actually believe him. The Navy’s response was proportionate to that: not a talking-to, a court-martial.