Sir, - In all this controversy about awards to Army personnel, I think that we should get a few things into perspective. In whatever foreign fields it has been deployed, the Irish Army has always acquitted itself with much honour. Furthermore, when there is a crisis of any kind in this country - floods, etc - to whom do we turn? While I accept that not all claims might be genuine, which of us would like to risk our lives by hanging out of a helicopter in rough seas?I speak as a civilian, with no axe to grind.-Yours, etc.,Mary Matthews,Cairns Road,Sligo.