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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.
I'm not in the business of relieving you of your sense of chivalry and fair combat. If I could kill terrorists with mind bullets or an Android tablet while sipping a mai tai on a beach I would happily do so.
Drones help good guys kill bad guys in greater comfort. Greater comfort means more dead bad guys. If we make the good guys comfortable enough: eventually we will run out of bad guys and our politicians will have to make up new enemies to kill to keep the war economy going. This is the ultimate goal that we should all aspire to achieve.
When we question if it is in good taste to take something that is given so freely: America's military is doing it's job well.
What matters is this:
Medals inspire young men to imitate success. To me, success is putting bad guys in a hole in the ground. If drone operators do that job well: I want every High School Senior to see them getting a medal so the next generation of drone operators will want to imitate that success.
The ideal scenario for me is that killing bad guys is so low risk, it is seen as a conventional boring government job and the electorate loses its love affair with putting our men and women in uniform in harm's way.
Voters say "Support Our Troops" like they wear their favorite athlete's jersey. They like the idea of a fair fight for the same reason they like watching NASCAR(because dog-fighting prison inmates is considered too vulgar and "uncivilized").
My job will be complete when the words "war" and "murder" leave the same bad taste in your mouth and our killing machines are so good there's a big green button in the White House that instantly neutralizes all dissent from foreigners with no collateral damage to innocent civilians or structures. When we are so good at it: we never have to fight another war again then we can stop giving medals.
Until then: I say make it shaped like an X-Box controller.
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.