If people were to award Ray with Honours then others would also have to be honoured.
John Wiseman, as a serviceman served his country, has taught to civilian and military alike. He has written books (SAS Survival Handbook published 1986) and raised the profile of his art / craft on television as well as being advisor for a number of television shows.
Eddie McGee, also as a serviceman served his country, he set up the national survival school many years ago and as an author wrote one of the must reads for survival in "No Need To Die" Published in 1979. Post leaving the armed forces and whilst a civilian his help was enlisted in the tracking down of Barry Prudom, an act that put him in harms way (for the greater good) and that he was never paid for. Unfortunately Eddie passed away in 2002.
whilst i can understand the basic ideas behind the first question and thread, i would even go so far as saying yes to rays gong, but as a person who is a lot older and there fore knows more about the people before,
i would have said that lofty has saved more lives with his training than ray ever would and should get a medal first, i doubt that he would take it anyway and it was lofty that taught bear or does no one else realise that?
and eddie was one of the biggest lunatic going, you could learn so much from him even over a cup of cha that you either had to take notes or just let you head explode with the knowledge he used to throw at you.
to realy thrive out in a bad conditions you need to have a great imagination to see what can be made from whats in front of you and Eddie had by far the best i have ever seen, and i remember the Barry Prudom stuff on the telly, quite amazing what he was able to do,
even to this day i still used Eddie as a bench mark for someones skills in the woods
if you wanted to ray could be seen as a visable face of bush craft in the modern world , but thats not enough for a gone is it