1. Mike says Rene souldn't fight;
2. Rene took the initiative and went fighting on his own initiative;
3.Ira made a scornful comment about that
4.Ira said in Rene's back he didn't do much during the war (he was probably angry Rene gave his name as the flagbearer though).
Despite all the above, Rene gave a good performance for the war effort/propaganda when they needed to make a show for the people.
It was propaganda, and Renee bought into it to try to maximize his exposure. I felt that was obvious in the movie. Rich people loved him for “love of country”, and easily discarded him when he was actually looking for a square job with those same connections.
In other words, they love him when it suits their agenda (because he’s popular to root for), but they’ll discard him when the populace has forgotten about him. In the movie, it actually hits the point harder with the Native American character - that actually suffers PTS, and quietly dies alone…without any recognition.