New Medal Designed To Honor Cyber Soldiers

bios10h writes "The Boston Globe writes that the Pentagon is creating a new medal to honor cyber soldiers. '[The] troops who launch the drone strikes and direct the cyber-attacks that can kill or disable an enemy may never set foot in the combat zone. Now their battlefield contributions may be recognized with the first new combat-related medal to be created in decades. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Wednesday that the Pentagon is creating a medal that can be awarded to troops who have a direct impact on combat operations, but do it well away from any combat zone.'"

Comments

Err ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the whole point of medals to reward someone for putting their life on the line to protect their country?

I'm sure these drone pilots are doing a good job and all but I wonder how their life could possibly be on the line in a nice cushy bunker somewhere.

I suspect this medal may well end up being called a Clayton's medal, the medal you get when you're not getting a medal.

Captcha: evasion: something drone pilots don't have to worry about too much :-)

Re:Err ...

[caffiend666]

Not all awards are for risking ones life. Some, like the Army service ribbon are given simply for completing training. Some medals are given for achievements not necessarily related to heroism, like the Army Commendation Medal. Technically speaking, people are risking their lives to complete basic training, though.

Although there are no significant physical risks in fighting remotely, these service members are still going through significant stress and risking PTSD in their jobs. Yes, 'it's like playing a video game'. But there are real lives on the line, there is no pause button, and possibly endless days doing a single task. Doesn't matter if it's just pushing buttons in an airconditioned room, they lose sleep and their sanity just the same. Not to mention watching films of people dying, the ones they just killed.

I've read of facebook image filterers suffering from PTSD and depression. Now, imagine if those image filterers had to decide not just whether to block the image, but also whether to kill the people in the pictures.

Re:A Terrible Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

"... for those too chicken shit to face combat."

Like you?

Order of Precedence

[anglico]

If you want to give out a medal for flying a drone, fine, I don't have a huge problem with it as long as you're great at it. What really irritates me and a lot of other service members is it's ranking in the 'order of precedence'. What I've read is it ranks above some combat medals, specifically the Bronze Star, which is really pissing off the 'boots on the ground' troops and I don't blame them for being mad.

Stress

[Baldrake]

The Christian Science Monitor had an interesting piece a while back on the stress of remotely participating in combat:

At the end of the day, these pilots get in their cars and drive home to their families, mow the lawn and make dinner, or take their children to soccer practice.

The result is an "existential conflict" in some UAV pilots, says Col. Hernando Ortega, surgeon for the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency. It is "a guilt feeling, perhaps – or a 'Did I make the right decision?' " he explains." 'Was this a friendly fire incident? Was it a good outcome? Was it a bad outcome? Could I have done it better?'"

It's obviously not comparable to driving a LAV in convoy wondering when the next IED is going to detonate. But it appears to be a much tougher job than many of us would think.

Re:Stress

[Mitreya]

... stress of remotely participating in combat

The result is an "existential conflict" in some UAV pilots, says Col. Hernando Ortega, surgeon for the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency. It is "a guilt feeling, perhaps â" or a 'Did I make the right decision?'

Mayhaps part of the problem is that some of the drone-related operations are so blatantly wrong that soldiers who are executing them must feel the inevitable guilt. Not "was it right or was it wrong?", but "why did I just kill a group of civilians on purpose?".

For example, an attack on the funeral procession of "militants" killed earlier in the day
(quotes around militants are added by me, since at least nowdays that is defined as "adult males")

Re:Let me guess

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad it's just another Free-to-Play turned Pay-to-Win. If you want to have any chance at making the leaderboards you need to spend some money on proper kit: Faster target acquisition software, cluster munitions, engine boosters. This is not good for competitive gameplay and several influential clans are considering dropping out.

To combat this trend, the US Army stated on their official blog that they are considering opening a marketplace with vanity items instead, like custom paint jobs and "death-tunes" you can play to your unsuspecting victims just before you bomb them (Apocalypse Now style, yeah!)

I also heard a standalone expansion is in the works - it's called "X-51A WaveRider" and has already been postponed after a game-breaking bug has been found in the beta version.