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DoD Award To Recognize Drone Operators (securityweek.com)
wiredmikey writes: According to a Pentagon memo due out today, the US military will create a new way to recognize drone operators and other service members who contribute to America's fighting efforts from afar. The military is set to introduce a new "R" designation — known as a "device" — that can be attached to medals given to drone operators and other non-combat troops, such as cyber warriors who hack enemy networks. Former defense secretary Chuck Hagel nixed a proposed new combat medal for US troops who launch drone strikes or cyber attacks, after a torrent of criticism from veterans and lawmakers. Drone pilots have complained of low morale, long hours and of the psychological impacts stemming from killing people remotely.
For what?
Aren't military medals supposed to be for noble things like bravery, heroism, or honour? What's honourable about taking out an opponent from so far away that the risk to yourself is nonexistent?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Are hiding in holes. Are not risking their lives. Do not deserve to be called soldiers.
the psychological impacts stemming from killing people remotely
Also called conscience, but no worries... a little piece of decorative metal will make it so worth it!
-1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
The only way to win is not to play.
No metals, just points for targets and efficiency.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
I hereby decree that drone operators shall be given honorary PTSD.
Just fucking NO!
Many in my family have received medals, Gold, Bronze, Silver Stars to name those I remember clearly, there where others, over the courses of their military careers. In each case it was because they put there lives on the line for their country. On more than one occasion my father almost didn't come back from his combat postings. When I was a child he showed me each medal and told me the story of why it was given to him, and the names of the people who didn't come back from those missions. Giving a combat medal to someone who hasn't actually faced the real possibility of death in combat just feels like the DoD is spitting in the face of every service person who ever put they're lives on the line for their country.
How the fuck does a joystick jocky sitting in a cozy air conditioned room and going home to a safe warm bed in the USA qualify for a combat medal??
How about they start issuing medals to gamers who play Call of Duty while there at it? It as about the same risk level.
I acknowledge that the drone pilots do face certain job related stress factors but if they want to just say "I can't take it" and walk away in the middle of a mission they can do it if the want to. You don't get that option in a real battle field.
If the DoD wants to give the drone pilots and other non combat personnel recognition then print out some nice looking frame-able certificate, give them some time off and call it done, but do not call it a "combat medal"
Just remembered the there was no "Gold Star" medal for the US Army. You get one of those if your in the family of a soldier who died in the line of duty. My dad told me about them and I had friends who wore them.
Drone pilots have complained of low morale, long hours and of the psychological impacts stemming from killing people remotely.
Yes, they should be required to be up close and personal before qualifying for medal. I'd say 72hrs straight hours in the field without sleep and personally watching the life fade out of their opponents eyes as they plunge their dagger deep into them should be the minimum for any medal to be earned.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
If one can't celebrate risk-free mass murder, in the name of patriotism and duty, with a couple of medals, then the job isn't worthwhile. It makes the medals handed out for disobeying orders and mass murdering unarmed men and women, seem cheap and hypocritical.
You have to make the reward fit the audience you're dealing with. They have to understand and value what they get.
20 years ago I would have said what you need is a high score board. But today, well, probably giving them some purple uniform pieces with over-the-top shoulder parts would be more fitting.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
These people are the ultimate REMF.
They are obviously *waay* to the rear and - I suppose owing to faulty or outdated intelligence - quite a few of their targets turned out to be families. Some will have been families of terrorists, others not even that. From what I read, drone attacks have a similar effect in radicalising people in the surrounding areas as suicide bombers do. That includes the 911 crew.
Do REMFs normally get medals above and beyond those for "I was involved in that campaign"?
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
Most civilians have no idea what military medals are for. The military has many different kinds of medals:
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Today military decorations include:
Orders of Chivalry;
Bravery awards, in the form of a cross, star or medal on a ribbon;
Distinguished service awards, in the form of a cross, star or medal on a ribbon;
Campaign medals worn on a ribbon;
Service medals worn on a ribbon;
Awards for entire units, in the form of Battle honours, Campaign streamers, Fourragères, or unit citations.
I have been awarded many medals for distinguished service (Meritorious Service Medal, Commendation Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, etc) that are not combat related. Spending weeks helping clean up after a natural disaster such as a hurricane or flood is not the same as fighting in combat, but the Humanitarian Service Medal is awarded to those that help in areas that need additional manpower to get people back to livable conditions.
If you RTFA you would see that DoD *rejected* the idea of a new medal and instead proposed adding two new devices (pins worn on a medal) that would denote either C for combat or R for remote. If a soldier was awarded any of the existing medals, they could add the C-device or the R-device onto it to show how the medal was earned. No new medals, just a new device to show Remote participation.
Perhaps they deserve the Plastic Star for heroically steering a drone past (into?) enemy fire?
There are awards for serving in a war, albeit in a non-combat role - they can have those (as someone else said - even the cooks and motor pool guys get those medals).
Achievement unlocked, "Bloody Mess: Destroy a house of worship with at least a 2:1 combatant:civilian ratio"
Oh and hats, we should have hats....
Silence is a state of mime.
Is the classic DoD response. Have a problem w/ morale, working our guys relentlessly. "Well cheer up Sgt. Jones add this new 'R' to that medal on your chest, instantly you will have more self esteem, & be all the rage w/ the ladies, or maybe even the guys (wink)." How many engineers in here recognize the 'receive plastic thingy if you are successful, hundreds to thousands die if you screw up," paradigm?????
That cup of coffee kept that marine alert long enough to dodge that IED!
Entitles the bearer to a half-off discount on La-Z-Boy purchases for the rest of their lives.
They could outsource it to Microsoft and tie it in to their XBox accounts!
I love Slashdot, did any of you read the article?
A device, they are not making a medal, they are making a device to put on medals.
Background: US Marine with 10 years of service, all of my medals were for just doing my job.
This obviously has nothing to do with recent (Nov. 20) DemocracyNow story about four whistle blowers army drone operators and their open letter to Obama...
And this is what we're reduced to.
Now we have participation trophies in the military.
Everyone's a winner.
What's the point of these if everyone gets them?
There are different medals for different things, and you'd better believe that members of the military look at, say, a Silver Star or a Distinguished Service Medal very differently from an achievement medal. Medals of lower value do still have value. The offer a chance for recognition in front of your peers, in a persistent way (since you wear ribbons or medals on some of your uniforms), they provide a persistent proof of competence and capability in your personnel file (helpful for determining promotions), and they document important and meaningful aspects of your career, such as that you were in an active combat theater with its concomitant risks, even if you didn't actually get injured or do anything heroic. To an experienced service member, a glance at another person's "fruit salad" tells you a lot about who they are and what they've done, not merely by the number of commendations but by their type.
Exactly, even mediocre medals have worth, and they are in the military, and operating a drone is skilled work, so give them their mediocre medals.
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Drone operators don't kill for awards. They kill for high score credits.