I have told you about my buddy Cecil Webster up in Carmine, Texas. Cecil is a gentleman rancher, a hunter, bird nest watcher, small town newspaper collector, a parade pickup truck driver, and a frightening menace to feral hogs.  Cecil and his lovely bride Marsha went to the 2012 Democratic National Convention with Ole Bubba and me.

Cecil did not take kindly to the story of Donald Trump congratulating a purple heart recipient.

President Donald Trump raised more than a few eyebrows during his first visit as president to Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday when he awarded the Purple Heart to Army Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos. “When I heard about this, I wanted to do it myself,” Trump told Barrientos as he placed the Purple Heart on the soldier’s lapel. “Congratulations … tremendous.”

I don’t know for a fact that this raised Cecil’s eyebrows, but it did raise his temperature. He wrote …

I have awarded many medals to soldiers over the years for outstanding performance of duty, and I have told them “congratulations” for their accomplishments. I have never awarded the Purple Heart to anyone, however, for that honor is usually reserved for more senior officers. But I cannot imagine any military officer (or anyone who has ever served in the military) saying “congratulations” for getting wounded and having to have your leg amputated.

Cecil is Colonel Webster, United States Army, retired, and former teacher at West Point. I figure he’s entitled to his correct opinion.