Now don't get me wrong. I'm no gung-ho, "kill them all and let God sort them out" kind of guy and I'd best be described as a war hating peace monger but this is just WRONG! A slap in the face for the "boots on the ground"!

ABOVE the Bronze Star? For someone who sits in an secure control bunker?

Drone, cyber warriors get new medal

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

It has made my dad's bronze star with a mustard stain worth less, meaning value, not monetary. He was awarded it for his actions during Operation Junction City.

Hiding behind a video screen playing a video game from across the world does not make one a hero...their lives weren't in danger.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

No it doesn't! Not to anyone who really cares about the sacrifices the troops made. I'd be PROUD to wear the Bronze Star. The "mickey mouse" medal they're proposing should rank with the "National Defense Ribbon", a.k.a. "Fire Guard" ribbon they issued us in the '60's and '70's.

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

I couldn't agree more.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
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To future video game jockey's, it does. History has a way of forgetting about it's hero's, and remembering only the battle. Future battles will be fought by drones only, be it by air, land or sea. Those that sacrificed their own safety will be forgotten about.

I'm making sure that it won't be forgotten in my house and with my family or circle of friends.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

I don't really see where it devalues the ones who were in the field of battle. It isn't the same decoration. As long as they don't treat it like an automatic award, if you really did something worthy of recognition, I don't see the harm in it. This coming from someone with a similar background, my dad was a Korean War Marine vet with a Purple Heart w/Silver Star and a fairly good size cigar box full of medals (to be honest I think a lot of them were automatic awards just for being over there, unit citations, NATO awards, and the like). Got shrap once and shot once.
Gilly

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I had the very same reaction when I heard this on the radio yesterday. There's nothing wrong with giving someone doing a good job, recognition for it, but a combat medal for them is RIDICULOUS and insulting to those who have been/are in DANGEROUS combat. About the most danger these guys face is the coffee pot getting empty.

If the time ever comes that wherever these guys are working is physically attacked and they grab a rifle and begin returning fire, then if the circumstances end up warranting it, they should be decorated. Until then, keep them a pot full of hot coffee at hand and pay them for their service.

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Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

If you really think about the last paragraph, it begins to make sense:

The Bronze Star is the fourth-highest combat decoration and rewards meritorious service in battle, while the Silver Star is the third-highest combat award given for bravery. Several other awards, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, are also ranked higher, but are not awarded for combat.

As long as they don't give the geeks Purple Hearts for paper cuts, writers cramp, carpal tunnel, or tripping over their shoelaces on the way to the can, i am OK with it.

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I never heard the National Defense Medal called the "fire guard ribbon," but that is very appropriate. There have been zillions of people doing the same work and offering the same commitment, but just so happened they served in so called "Peace Time" so they didn't get the ribbon. That is the only qualification for this commendation, serving during specified periods of US military conflict.

The lifers are happy to get it because it fills in that row of ticket punches they where on their chests. This applies more so to career officers than to career enlisted personnel. Along these lines, I think that the officers doing their ticket punching is one of the things that led to the "women in combat" thing. For an officer to go to the highest levels, a Combat Infantrymans Badge(CIB) or other actual combat commendations in other branches, are a ticket that must be punched to make it to the top. I think that the women officers wanting a CIB for career development reasons was part of the force that led to the "women in combat" thing.

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Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Please, I don't want anyone to think that I am defending the medal for a drone pilot, because I AM NOT! I am just disspelling what seems to be a common misconception about drone flying.

Sense you mentioned video games, I think this would be a good place to point out that flying a drone is NOTHING like playing any video game yet invented. I think that most people think that flying a drone is nothing more than a video game.

The drone pilots have to be pilots trained and qualified in real aircraft. About the minimum requirements I've seen have been a Private Pilots Certificate, several hundred hours flight time and an Instrument Rating. Learning to fly, passing the checkride and then getting an Instrument Rating is not a trivial endeavor.

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Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

They sit behind a bank of video screens, hidden from real danger, most of the times from the other side of the planet. Those that actually push the drones onto the runways see more danger than the video jockey does.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

So are all non combat actions not rewardable?

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
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I guess you missed the part where it's a medal that is above a Bronze Star.

I'm not against an award or a medal, I'm against it having more weight than those awarded to people who performed acts of bravery for theirs. Flying a drone is not an act of bravery...the pilot's life is not in danger.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

It's hard to think that it would be higher than a Bronze Star in precedence...damn.

Of course though, the BS is awarded for meritorius service in combat areas AND also for valor when the award is written as such. As the first, it is equal to a Meritorious Service Medal.

Yes, I was thinking about that. The people in the sandbox maintaining them and physically preparing them for a mission come much closer to combat recognition status.

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Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution