Distinguished Warfare Medal; New medal for cyber warriors
Andy and Mustang sent us this link. Both thought it might be satire, but it comes from the Associated Press, known for (un)intentional mistakes, but not satire. But anyway, it seems that the Pentagon is hard at work creating a new medal for those folks who stand-off from the war zone but participate in combat from their remote location;
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to announce Wednesday that for the first time the Pentagon is creating a medal that can be awarded to troops who have a direct impact on combat operations, but do it from afar.
The Associated Press has learned that the new blue, red and white-ribboned Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded to individuals for “extraordinary achievement” related to a military operation that occurred after Sept. 11, 2001. But unlike other combat medals, it does not require the recipient risk his or her life to get it.
According to the AP, the new medal falls between a Bronze Star and Silver Star in order of precedence. I wonder if it comes with a valor device, you know, if they still take out the enemy but accidentally drop their Egg McMuffin on the floor, but recover it before the 5-second rule gets it.
Officials said the new medal will be the first combat-related award to be created since the Bronze Star in 1944.
According to the Pentagon criteria, the medal gives the military a way to recognize a single act that directly affects a combat operation, doesn’t involve an act of valor, and warrants an award higher than the Bronze Star.
I guess I don’t have to wonder whether it was Bite Me’s idea or not.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:40 pm
Oh brother… Please be satire.
A ribbon maybe, but a Medal?
February 13th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
I get the feeling this is intended to boost the egos of AF drone “pilots”.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:43 pm
Must be for drone drivers stationed CONUS.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I don’t understand why this medal needs to be created in the first place. We already have DFCs, Air Medals and Aerial Achievement Medals to recognize pilots and air crews.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Maybe they’ll call it the Geek Cross.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:48 pm
@2: I see it more as a way to instill pride and gain some publicity for the ‘cyber’ warriors, as part of a larger effort to recruit into these less-than-glorious roles.
Also, given the reduction in manned aircraft in the coming twenty years, it’s probably just the start of a push to adapt to unmanned but vital roles.
All in all, this was bound to happen, and may even be a good thing, and the ‘wrong’ step would have been to simply give existing medals for these sorts of roles, as that would diminish their meaning. So, while this may seem in some ways comical, I think they actually got it right here.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:48 pm
Next week teenagers will be awarded Purple Hearts for wound recieved in CoD.
February 13th, 2013 at 2:50 pm
OK great….make it and give it to Chairforce Officer but DON’T MAKE IT UP WITH A BRONZE STAR.
Holy farking SHIAT.
Pussies.
/says the 23 year retired AF E-8
February 13th, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Why not just BELOW the BSM, above the Meritorious? BSM requires you actually BE THERE. This one does not. How could NOT being in-theater (wherever it is) be less than sitting thousands of miles away and reporting back to Ft Livingroom every night?
OTOH, could this also be awarded to missileers? Space Warriors?
February 13th, 2013 at 2:56 pm
http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/
February 13th, 2013 at 3:02 pm
@6 I work in the CEMA arena and I’m sorry, I just don’t see the point in it.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:02 pm
faux medal de crotch
February 13th, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Wow.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:12 pm
@11: I understand that completely. I don’t work in your field, but I personally find it a bit strange, too. The thing is, it’s not ‘for’ people like you or me, it’s for the guys who will be coming in within the near future and have a different mindset. CEMA-type operations are growing and they need to fill positions and a happy recruit is better than an unmotivated one. Giving them some people to look up to who’ve done ‘cool things’ and had their service acknowledged helps to make those roles seem like more of a ‘legitimate’ bad-ass thing. And most 17- or 18-year olds want to be ‘bad-ass’.
Of course, it’s entirely possible I’m wrong, but putting on my strategic cap, that’s the most plausible reason I see for it – recruiting by way of ‘legitimizing’ that sort of ‘fighting’.
Also, in thirty years where 90% of air operations are unmanned, how do you recognize people who go above and beyond the cubicle-dweller next to them? Something like this was inevitable; doing it now has the other (plausible) benefits above.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:12 pm
It’s not satire, Zero. Army and Air Force Times are reporting the same.
I frankly don’t see why existing decorations (e.g., the LOM, MSM, Commendation and Achievement Medals) won’t work, depending on just how important the individual’s specific contribution or act was to the mission. All of those already exist, can be awarded for specific acts, and (since 2004) can be awarded for activities in direct support of combat operations.
Don’t get me wrong; contributions by UAV operators and cyber types are indeed important, and can be vital. But creating a new medal when appropriate awards already exist simply seems to me like one helluva unnecessary waste.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Will it be virtually awarded to their avatar?
February 13th, 2013 at 3:18 pm
Oh, come on now! You know exactly how important it is to make sure that the troops have toilet paper, facial tissues, and sockks that are not marked ‘Army Reject’.
Don’t be so heartless. Some brave soul in logistics might just make sure that the ammo for the base is actually what is supposed to go there.
Seriously, people who worked in photo intelligence during World War II were not IN combat zones, but what they worked on related to combat zones made it possible for the Allies to beat Hitler’s troops. Cryptographers were also extremely important in breaking codes. Need I remind you guys about the pigeon who ended up in a chimney with the coded message still fastened to its leg?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/124117/world-war-ii-pigeon-message-decoded
February 13th, 2013 at 3:19 pm
And someone please tell me just what is wrong with having a gedunk medal? It’s all I have.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Valor awards and you never have to set foot in theatre.
Im speechless.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Hondo #15: Thanks. I have rather personal issue with it being a medal rather than a ribbon.
For reasons unclear there are a large group of sailors and Marines who earned just a simple ribbon (CAR), and many actually got shot at in the line of duty.
Oh well…
February 13th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
“No shit, I was there. I earned this. Four server crashes because SGT. Mouthbreather brought in a file from his computer that had more viruses in it than a Camp Lejeune bar girl. I jumped in the middle of it and did three system restores while replacing a hard drive single-handed!” -Candidate #1 for the 20th annual Ballduster McSoulpatch award.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:27 pm
Ex-PH2: no one argues that the work doesn’t merit appropriate recognition. The question is whether it’s apropos to create an entirely new decoration of higher precedence than the MSM to do so vice using the existing decorations that can already be awarded to achieve the same result.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:28 pm
@17 Don’t forget about the meat stamped “Rejected by US Army”. And they say submarines get the best food…
First “Information Dominance” warfare pin and now this? YGTBSM!
February 13th, 2013 at 3:29 pm
Ex-PH2 #18: Other than the NUC mine are also gedunk awards. Still… I see a clear difference when “combat” and “medal” are used.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Anyone who has been around the block a few times, particularly in combat, knows that medals and awards are mostly political. We all know “that guy” with brass balls the size of tractor wheels who took an RPG to the face and kept fighting to repel an attack, and got maybe an ARCOM for it, and if they’re feeling generous they’ll throw a V device on the ARCOM. And then there’s “That Guy” who sat in the TOC and did a bang up job putting together PowerPoints with all the bells and whistles and gets a Bronze Star for it.
The Distinguished Warfare Medal is just more political fodder.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:31 pm
And here silly me thought that “Power Point Ranger” was sarcasm. Obviously a concept before it’s time.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
I agree, Zero, but I knew some guys who came back from Vietnam who were really PO’d that a nurse who got shot over there was given a Purple Heart. That was 1972. By 1992, those kinds of unkind remarks had stopped.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:40 pm
Any award is only worth what the approval authority thinks that it is worth. To a certain extent whether or not you get one depends on who wrote it and what kind of a job the one shop did moving it through the process. If you’ve got a nice award you probably think that you deserve it (and you probably do), but there are plenty without such awards who also deserve one and never get it.
Hondo is perfectly correct, there are plenty of existing awards that could have filled the bill here, there doesn’t seem to be much need to create a new one.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:43 pm
Same is true in the Army, Zero. Only in the Army a badge (CIB, CMB, or since about 2005, CAB) vice a ribbon is used to ID getting shot at by or exchanging fire with the enemy. So far as I know, it’s only the USAF that gives a medal for that (their new Combat Action Medal).
Before the CAB, in the Army it wasn’t unknown for soldiers to get shot at and go home with only a campaign or expeditionary medal. In general, you had to have (and still do) an Infantry, SF, or Medic MOS to qualify for the CIB or CMB. Until the CAB was instituted, other specialties – even if assigned to or serving in an Infantry or SF unit – were by reg pretty much SOL. (However, it does appear that during Vietnam USARV wasn’t above making a rather large number of local exceptions to DA regs and/or looking the other way at times regarding the CIB.)
February 13th, 2013 at 3:43 pm
REMF award. Wow.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:45 pm
After they proposed a medal for not shooting an enemy very little surprises me anymore.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:45 pm
So you can set on your 4th Point of Contact playing with your joystick and get a medal higher in order of precedence than Soldiers with ARCOM w/V devices or the Bronze Star…. WTF!! If they spill their coffee and burn themselves do they qualify for a Purple Heart???
February 13th, 2013 at 3:47 pm
And they say submarines get the best food…
Don’t count me among them. And seriously, a medal for that? What’ll they call it? The Playstation Medal? That’d be as stupid as giving coner Chiefs NAM’s for supervising field days during ORSE workups!
Oh wait, I’ve seen that. Nevermind.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Do they get the campaign awards associated with whatever conflict they were pressing buttons for?
February 13th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Ex-PH2 #27: Point taken. Wasn’t me BTW. Happily my interaction with military nurses (other than a stint at Balboa with pneumonia) was rather pleasant. [grin]
I still insist that a medal in this case is nuts.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
I can see it now- DWM’s by every pogue wanna-be. Who, on a major base, DOESN’T contribute to an effort overseas somehow?
From where I personally sit, right now, I affect every footstep (in a VERY small way) in places over there- yet no way do should I qualify OVER someone who’s physically there. My team here could easily justify dozens of DWM’s given what we do. Remember, BSM/V, SS, and others are PER ACTION typically, not just ‘tour awards’.
I will be very interested in how this thing gets written…
February 13th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
I’m not certain what benefit is gained by an additional medal, unless comment 14 is close to the mark. Placing it above the Bronze Star also seems incorrect, but what do I know…
February 13th, 2013 at 3:52 pm
I always told my Joes a little quote from Mark Twain when they would see fat slobs fromm HHC like our mess sgt getting high awards for doing jack during our year in Iraq and they got a thankyou ARCOM for the year over there,never mind how many IEDs,RPGs, or bullets we dodged.
“It is better to deserve honors and not have them, than to have them, and not to deserve them.” Mark Twain
I firmly believe that all those S shop pukes and staff officers that got Bronze Star service awards or MSMs for spending one year inside the wire look down on their racks on those rare times when they have to wear their class As and choke on it, because they know they didn’t do anything except be in the right job with the right rank to “rate” that award.
At least that’s what I hope happens.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Now that I’ve had 30 seconds to think about it, I think I would turn it down in favor of a coupon for free ice cream for life from Baskin Robbins.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!! MMMMMMONSTER KILL!!
February 13th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
@39 Ex-PH2, that would be very very dangerous…….I don’t PT anymore.
February 13th, 2013 at 3:58 pm
@33 Didn’t you know that the primary mission of any submarine is to work up for the next ORSE?
February 13th, 2013 at 3:59 pm
@40 Andy, okay, then how about adult beverage of your choice (maybe a very, very aged Macallan single malt) instead?
February 13th, 2013 at 4:00 pm
UAV officers gotta feel loved too!
http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force-to-award-61-more-bronze-stars-1.42274
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/04/air-force-tech-sergeants-take-heat-bronze-stars-041612/
Shit like this cheapens those awards for people that truly earned it.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:03 pm
@41 & @43: I can get booze and ice cream, how about free .223/5.56 for life
February 13th, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Christ, that sounds just like my last ENG. And concur with the free ammo for life.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:08 pm
This is what happended:
A bunch of senior and flag officers from DIA, NSA, NGA, and SECDEF, along with one E-9 from the USAF, were all conference on selecting the next generation of comfortable arm chairs and tactical office funiture for DoD elements within the beltway.
One officer said, “with all the work we do, why don’t we have our own medal”?
The Air Force E-9 said, “yeah great idea, I have never deployed, my highest award is the USAF Training Ribbon. Oh and I have the USAF Basic Military Training Honor
Graduate Ribbon, yeah anyway … great idea … ah … sorry for interrupting sir”!
“So it is settled, we will call it the Distinguished Warfare Medal”, said the flag officer as he gloated about their collective accomplishments for the day.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Yeah, we got yelled out by squadron because our battery cycles were so high we were predicted to need battery replacement two years early.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Does it come with Playstation or Xbox credits?
February 13th, 2013 at 4:11 pm
I am disapointed that our door gunner on the space shuttle did not chime in. This is right up their gun sights. I almost forgot about the IDWB, nothing says get the hell away from me or I will kill you like a computer geek warfare badge. Now they will have the Medal to go with it.
As crazy Uncle Leon leaves for the farm, is anybody whispering good ideas to him or just the fuck nuts are getting to him.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:12 pm
@49 XBox Live Gold membership
February 13th, 2013 at 4:13 pm
FatCircles0311: the USAF article from 2000 you linked (the first one) can’t happen any more, amigo. That (and a couple of related similar incidents) is precisely what led to the requirement in the 2001 Defense Authorization Act that receipt of the BSM requires receipt of combat or imminent danger pay.
In short: the BSM requires actually being there. But if it’s awarded as an EOT award, well, that’s about all it means – you did MSM-level work in a combat zone.
Add a “V”, and it’s a different animal entirely.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Just got the criteria emailed; for individual actions.
Also, based on other criteria, most of the actions FOR this are so completely, utterly classified as to defy description here…
February 13th, 2013 at 4:17 pm
I had this idea for a float made up of seriously intense vanilla ice cream, a bourbon-infused chocolate sauce, with some rum-soaked maraschino cherries topping the whipped cream. And no crushed nuts. Wrong texture.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:18 pm
What’s next, the Combat Cyber-Administration Badge? All of us Vets have seen those who got awards just because of “who they knew and who they blew”, and this reeks of being one such award!
February 13th, 2013 at 4:24 pm
@35 -Zero, not pointing a finger at anyone re: disgruntlement. It was 40 years ago.
February 13th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
Wow! This is great! So, if the air conditioning goes down, does one warrant a “V” device for valor? /sarc
February 13th, 2013 at 4:59 pm
@57 – That will most likely qualify them for Hardship Pay!!
February 13th, 2013 at 5:10 pm
I recall reading at the time that there were more awards made for Urgent Fury than there were boots on the ground. If that was actually the case it would appear the term REMF has already been redefined and the current inventory of awards and decorations is more than adequate.
February 13th, 2013 at 5:38 pm
Front Page Drudge Report:
USA: MEDAL FOR DRONE WARS
HIGHER THAN BRONZE
February 13th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Does this mean that us intel weenies get a DSC?
February 13th, 2013 at 7:07 pm
That medal looks familiar. I’m thinking that it’s either T.R.U.S.H. from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or K.A.O.S. from Get Smart. Those were 1960s TV shows, kids. I’ll have to do some Googling now but I know I’ve seen that logo somewhere other than Germany.
February 13th, 2013 at 7:08 pm
They continue to not approve the Cold War Service Medal, but create this one.
February 13th, 2013 at 7:08 pm
Correction: T.H.R.U.S.H not T.R.U.S.H.
February 13th, 2013 at 7:21 pm
motivational candy. get some hooah
February 13th, 2013 at 7:28 pm
when I look at that medal all I hear is this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsv1YOFNys
February 13th, 2013 at 7:33 pm
I have to agree with something a battle buddy said earlier today when he commented on this story in stripes. It is about as useful as the GWOT medals we started getting almost a decade ago. It is also just as stupid.
February 13th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
@64 – Maybe SMERSH?
February 13th, 2013 at 7:41 pm
I’m sure someone already said it. I’m too flabbergasted to read all of the comments.
But, YHGTBFSM!
February 13th, 2013 at 7:49 pm
Craziness! More medals for those “flyers” wearing those flight suits that go home every evening. And before anyone cries BS on me, I have never seen combat and I’m a Cyber Surety Airman. I just don’t see a point to these medals. Personnel who have seen ACTUAL combat will have their bronze stars outweighed by this BS medal?
February 13th, 2013 at 7:53 pm
I wonder if it comes with a valor device, you know, if they still take out the enemy but accidentally drop their Egg McMuffin on the floor
“Disregarding the risk to himself of getting sticky fingers from the Diet Coke recently spilled on the keyboard…”
February 13th, 2013 at 8:03 pm
WHOA #71 Sticky keys can pose a HUGE obstacle to operations!
February 13th, 2013 at 8:24 pm
Remember the Drone operators tried to get Combat Air Crew wings and earn air medals for flying the Drone missions. They were turned down on that issure.ith the prestige of the Pres’s KILL SWITCH. The Pres can have a valor medal.Seriously, higher than the Bronze star?I say NO to this as a medal or a ribbon.
February 13th, 2013 at 8:29 pm
Sticky keys + belly button lint = a dangerous situation requiring the dexterity of a Ninja, the courage of a Lion, and the stamina of a Bull to extricate one self from. Not for the faint of hearted. If you’ve never experienced “furry keys” before, you sir have not ‘been there’.
Leave me be now, I’m practicing my 11 yard stare whilst I warm up for a field excercise,…on CoD.
February 13th, 2013 at 8:42 pm
I earned Jock Shiite while in and I’d rather have nothing than something so meaningless. Does the airman who refuels a cargo plane headed to the bad place get one? How about the sailors who signals the L-CAC to launch, do they get one? Why not give the soldier, who cuts the supply order in Georgia, one because the pallet of c-rats winds up in Afghanistan!
Aren’t there enough awards out there already? NCO Professional Development? TWO Overseas Service ribbons? Basic training honor grad? Weapons expert? Basic training grad? At Matty’s AF graduation there were some airmen with three, tres, (3) ribbons and they hadn’t left the base?! They’d been in LESS THAT (2) months?!
February 13th, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Isn’t Kim-il-short-round in NORK wearing one of these?
Would a Service Member have the balls (or female female equivalent..I defer to PH2 on this) to wear one of these with guys and gals that have really been shot at (other than gang shoot outs in Las Vegas and the Nellis strip)?
ALL Service Members contribute in the “logistics tail, et al” and their contributions are invaluable. But, a REMF medal is absurd. Oh, this is Obama land now.
February 13th, 2013 at 8:52 pm
In my humble opinion….Ranks right up there with an administrative bronze star… acknowledgement for handling large amount of paper without getting paper cuts…..
New medal —- acknowledgement for using your keyboard without getting carpel tunnel.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Definitely a kinder, gentler military. Kumbaya!
February 13th, 2013 at 9:07 pm
@74
No shit, there I was… joystick in one hand, Big Gulp in the other, a half-eaten bag of Doritos next to the monitor. I knew right away something was wrong, something just didn’t feel right… then it hit me. Someone had changed the height on my ergonomic chair! Calmly, I set the joystick aside, too a drink of soda, and reached down to adjust the lever…
February 13th, 2013 at 9:31 pm
Guys, guys, listen up! It’s a drone medal.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/13/16952708-panetta-announces-medal-for-drone-pilots?lite
No joke.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Well, at least they won’t be eligible for a Courageous Restraint Award.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:34 pm
@76 “Would a Service Member have the balls (or female female equivalent..I defer to PH2 on this)”
The female equivalent is: chutzpah (pronounced hootspah).
I would still take a lifetime supply of B&R ice cream over this nonsense.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:41 pm
Since I happen to be one of those Cyber folks, NOT the drone kind, figured I through in my $.02. Would it be nice to have something equivalent to an air medal or some special recognition that was uniquely ours for all the long hours (weeks, months, sometimes years) working to enable boots on the ground to conduct sometimes just one mission, raid, etc against a high value target? Yes. HOWEVER it should not in any way be rated that high. Maybe eqiv of an MSM but ceartenly NOT eqiv or higher than a BSM and no where near a Silver Star. For the drone folks awards already exist. Any award for cyber or drone folks should in no way be rated as high as one awarded for actions involving no kidding bullets coming at you.
-Ish
February 13th, 2013 at 9:44 pm
As I said at B5, “I wonder, does the “operator” get a Purple Heart, to go along with the Distinguished Warfare Medal, if he/she bends his/her fingernail back and breaks it, while hitting the space bar on his keyboard”?
February 13th, 2013 at 10:53 pm
Some seventy years ago the CIB, EIB, blue cord, and blue disc were adopted to entice people to join that most inglorious of branches–the Infantry. Having special accoutrements for the uniform was supposed to offset the fact that the Infantry was considered the least glamorous branch in the Army–tankers got to ride to battle in one of the newest innovations in modern warfare, Cavalry still had that élan identified with it that went back for centuries, and aviators had a very dangerous job that was offset (somewhat) by a more comfortable lifestyle when not on missions.
Those changes way back when did wonders for attracting young men to the Infantry; how many of us here consider receiving our CIB and/or EIB as well as our blue cord the pinnacle of our career?
That said, I can understand the desire to attract some of the current (and future) generation’s brightest young men and women to a career that lacks the pay and prestige they might otherwise receive (I’m fairly certain that a majority of technical jobs in the military are severely underpaid compared to civilian positions). Where this medal goes wrong, IMHO, is placing it above the BSM. In fact, why even go so far as to adopt another medal when superior performance and/or branch identification could be recognized more easily by a series of badges (e.g. perhaps a modification of the aviation badges for UAV operators)? I do not mean to denigrate the service of those who support combat Soldiers from a safe distance, but they are not the ones out there putting their lives on the line. As others have said, where is the fairness in giving a 9-5 (or even a 0600-2200) computer operator a DWM when there are Soldiers on the ground for a year who are lucky to get an AAM when they return?
This is the second assed up move in terms of order of precedence for a new decoration since I joined. The first was the CAB. It could either have been Tier II like the CMB or the latter should have been moved up to Tier I.
February 13th, 2013 at 11:16 pm
@75, 77 : The Army even awards a medal to troops that were BSA Eagle Scouts, no joke! Many a smartassed recruiter has told many a young aspiring victim (*OOPS*, Recruit) to bring proof of their Eagle Scout badge to MEPS and AG reception BN and the Drill Sergeants would eat them for a snack in basic & AIT, they did in my OSUT unit!
February 13th, 2013 at 11:56 pm
I know you guys dont like Hagel, but at least he was a Vietnam Infantyman.
This was ridiculous. Tell me that this is not part of “O’s” grand scheme.
The man calls out video games, but not Hollywood on “Gun” violence.
Wonder how video game experience/knowledge will be used in the non-”combat” recruiting paradigm ten years down the road.
I want to puke. Maybe they (the drone “pilots”)should have qualification with Ravens first.
Just an obervation.
February 13th, 2013 at 11:57 pm
I know you guys dont like Hagel, but at least he was a Vietnam Infantyman.
This was ridiculous. Tell me that this is not part of “O’s” grand scheme.
The man calls out video games, but not Hollywood on “Gun” violence.
Wonder how video game experience/knowledge will be used in the non-”combat” recruiting paradigm ten years down the road.
I want to puke. Maybe they (the drone “pilots”)should have qualification with Ravens first.
Just an observation.
February 13th, 2013 at 11:59 pm
Sorry for the grammatical errors.
This was not beer; computer issues.
February 14th, 2013 at 12:04 am
Looking at the design, I’d opine that the new DWM had proponents from the USAF. It looks like a cross between the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Arial Achievement Medal.
I don’t know what to make of this medal, though. Should suitable recognition be given to UAV operators that find and kill enemy combatants? Should there be suitable recognition to those operators that detect and effectively save troops on the ground from IEDs or other threats? Perhaps single handedly and directly through real-time communication sent across the planet? Certainly some recognition is warranted. Is it more appropriate placing that recognition higher in precedence than the Bronze Star? I don’t know.
The BSM doesn’t have a requirement for the recipient’s ‘personal safety’ being at risk in its criteria, yet it’s still higher than the Purple Heart. I think as much fun as it is to malign this new decoration, I have to pause to acknowledge how much those operators really do contribute to the battlefield today.
[quote]In the order of precedence, the Distinguished Warfare Medal will be below the Distinguished Flying Cross, and will be limited to achievements that are truly extraordinary. “The member’s actions must have resulted in an accomplishment so exceptional and outstanding as to clearly set the individual apart from comrades or from other persons in similar situations,” a DOD official said.[quote\]
I don’t know what to make of it until I see the award criteria in the revised DOD Manual 1348.33-V3. I do know that if the award becomes misused like the GWOTSM or vague like the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal the recipients will also receive a chuckle at their expense. I mean, if one person gets awarded this for accurately monitoring events on a screen why can’t everyone else?
I also think that they should paint little medals on the drones for each one awarded. That should really tick off the poor Airman that has to maintain and arm these things.
February 14th, 2013 at 12:09 am
Now I will say this the drone drivers used to watch over us and keep us alerted to stuff that was ahead of us. Now this purely is an AF officer medal, I doubt we will ever see an Army Enlisted Drone pilot get one.
February 14th, 2013 at 1:03 am
@86, are you sure you aren’t thinking of the fact that Eagle Scouts go in one pay grade higher when enlisting
February 14th, 2013 at 1:31 am
If Obama and his trusty cohort have their way, they’ll be giving out MOH’s for cyber “battle.”
February 14th, 2013 at 2:59 am
I’m okay with this (no Bronze or Silver star, just a CIB grunt) it reflects the changing notion of what a battlefield is, but it ought to rate below a Bronze Star, IMO. We’re not too far away from when the idea of ‘mechanized Infrantry’ won’t include tracks and tanks, or even people, and instead will mean dropping robots on the battlefield that’ll shoot via remote command and probably blow up if an unauthorized person tries to pick ‘em up. It’s a changing world, either accept it or get out of the way.
February 14th, 2013 at 3:22 am
It’s odd how DOD started off this war saying they wanted to limit excessive awarding practices, yet a decade later they’re still creating awards for the same period of service. Between wasting millions developing a camo pattern that doesn’t work in any environment, building up armored vehicles that can’t go anywhere, and now wasting time coming up with more pointless awards, I’m not even remotely surprised that the liberals want to gut our military. The tragedy is the country as a whole suffers because of dog and pony shows like this.
February 14th, 2013 at 3:31 am
“Achievement Unlocked”
Congratulations, Airman Smith, go to the sharepoint and download your medal.
February 14th, 2013 at 7:15 am
Really? is this award specific only to the AF? I can’t believe that they just had to devalue the Bronze Star Medal, with or without the V… this makes me fucking sick! I think the award of Commendation Medals, Achievement Medals, or hell an Air Medal (in extreme circumstances) were good enough. Not the Distinguished Flying Cross though, I think you should actually be deployed to get that… but really, above the Bronze Star Medal?
February 14th, 2013 at 7:32 am
@92, Mitch: Yes, at least when I first enlisted back in ’91, the Army awarded enlistees a ribbon for being an Eagle Scout.
February 14th, 2013 at 7:41 am
I came in in ’96 and graduated Basic as a PFC because of being an Eagle Scout. Never heard of a ribbon. Although my recruiter, jackass joker, tried to convince me I should wear it on my Class A’s at graduation. If only he’d have kept a straight face, I might have fallen for it.
Ooooh, I feel a movie quote coming on!!: “Your son is a member of an elite paramilitary organization; an Eagle Scout.”
February 14th, 2013 at 7:43 am
That should should say “….tried to convice me I should wear my Eagle Scout ribbon….”
February 14th, 2013 at 9:29 am
I went in the Army in 90 and there was no ribbon or medal for an Eagle Scout. I was one and could have gone in as an E3 and that was it, I did any way for JROTC. Simply put all it did was give me a few dollars more each month. By the time we got out of AIT we were all E3′s so it did not matter.
The medal thing is insane, it seems part of the larger mentality of everyone gets a trophy and no hurt feelings and so people who did not go down range and compete with awards for promotion. Simply put thought there are stil AAM’s ARCOM’s, MSM, etc that can all be given for outstanding work above and beyond normal duties. Lets face it we all no there are MOS’s that will not go down range but provide great service and do their jobs, not just the drone guys, but some in the medical field that do rehab etc, and others. All this may do is build resnetment in the ranks and cheapens other awards.
February 14th, 2013 at 9:37 am
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=119290 Let’s see: there’s the Congressional, the Cross, the DSM, the Stars, the PurpleHeart…no…wait…let’s do the ‘Warfare Medal’, and bracket it with a coupla stars, silver’n'bronze; (we can always reserve a few GoldStarz for qualified collateralized Otherz.)
February 14th, 2013 at 9:40 am
What a waste. UAV operators can already receive the Aerial Achievement Medal.
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1997/n19971201_971531.html
I wonder how much $$$$ it’s going to cost to make these.
February 14th, 2013 at 9:55 am
Another gedunk medal?
There are some legitimate reasons for an award like this:
- The Norks launch a long-range missile with a nuke toward the left coast. Someone manages to hack into its guidance system and deep six it before it gets too close. Since the Norks are working on exactly this, I would not object to it.
- Iran launches a missile at a US base somewhere — e.g. Kapisa province, since that’s heating up — and a drone operator is able to stop it. Iran already has working long-range missiles.
Those are examples of legitimate reasons for this award. Otherwise…sorry, but it seems like another gedunk medal to me.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:10 am
I will personally throat punch the first POS I see wearing this crap.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:16 am
I am an MQ-1 Sensor Operator and unlike most of you, I read the article. It is a combat award but it is not a valor award. It is very specific that it will NOT be a valor award so that it doesn’t take away from the already existing awards. From the specific award criteria: “Awarded in the name of the Secretary of Defense, the Distinguished Warfare Medal may be awarded for extraordinary achievement to members of the United States Armed Forces. This achievement must have taken place after 11 September 2001, and may not involve acts of valor”
To answer why another medal was created, RPA crews are not authorized Air Medals or Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Air Force simply won’t allow it because those medals are reserved for crews of manned aircraft. Interesting enough, one can earn a DFC for “extraordinary achievement” that didn’t involve getting shot at by the enemy and get a “V” device denoting valor for the award if earned for heroism. Air Medals can also be awarded for meritorious achievement without the risk of life. Aerial Achievement Medals are an Air Force-only award. This new medal is a DoD-level award.
Lastly, it’s not just for RPA crews. There are plenty of other military specialties that will qualify for this award, such as Cyberwarfare or other intel specialists.
As someone in the RPA field, I can tell you right now that just because we’re not physically on the battlefield, doesn’t meant that we’re not immersed in it. I regularly fly armed overwatch missions to support our guys on the ground with close air support and to assist with combat search and rescue. Hate on it all you want, I’ve done more for the fight in my first year in this job than I did in 12 years of aircraft maintenance and probably more than most of you ever have or will. This job is a mental drain as the lives of our brothers/sisters-in-arms are on the line and they’re counting on us to keep tabs on them from overhead. This job isn’t easy and it’s not like playing “Call of Duty” or any other video game for that matter. We make no mistake about it and we take our job very seriously. We’ll fly over a target for days and even weeks at a time to get that perfect strike, and then we’re watching his shredded corpse to see who comes and picks up the pieces… to the point that we’re possibly even watching the funeral of the man we just killed. Regular battlefield grunts don’t get that level of intimate with their targets. We see a man plant an IED and then go home to his family. We see his wife and kids. We see their evening dinner and even see them sleeping.
It’s a twisted world that the RPA guys are a part of only to hear and see all of the derogatory crap from our fellow military members saying that we don’t deserve recognition for what we do. It’s bad enough that we get it from the liberal news media and our own countrymen but now even our brothers and sisters-in-arms are treating us with the same level of respect as the hippies did to returning Vietnam vets. Thanks, but don’t worry, we won’t think about how you treat us when we’re circling overhead of you on the battlefield just so you can get a couple of hours of sleep without having to worry about getting ambushed.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:17 am
The Eagle Scout Medal was never authorized for wear on any uniform of the U.S. Military.
February 14th, 2013 at 10:19 am
Reminding me of Keenan Ivory Wayans in that movie:
“And I got this one for typing, and I got this one for colating, oh, and this was for running the company picnic!”
February 14th, 2013 at 10:47 am
The Panetta good idea factory is working at warp speed!! This medal is an attempt to legitimize drone warfare. We can’t just kill those that need killing and be done with it, we got to feel good about it!!!
February 14th, 2013 at 11:08 am
“Regular battlefield grunts don’t get that level of intimate with their targets.”
Yeah, we just get to hear their screams, watch them die close up, and smell the smell of burnt, torn bodies. Plus we run the chance of them maiming or killing us in the process. Other than that it’s not very intimate.
February 14th, 2013 at 11:13 am
@106 your level of intimacy is a friggin joke. try being face to face with these people everyday while they play nice and then turn around and try to kill you. try sitting in a shura listening to their lies. try being on the ground being told you have to save the life of these POS who just tried killing you or your brothers. fucking unbelievable
February 14th, 2013 at 11:16 am
Now it’s official…the First Garatrooper Medal!
February 14th, 2013 at 11:41 am
Mark: nothing prevents the award of an MSM, Commendation Medal, or Achievement Medal for the type of service you describe. All are now authorized for acts performed in a hostile fire zone as well as acts performed in other areas. Ditto the LOM if the act is sufficiently outstanding.
And if you’re serving in-theater, you can be awarded a BSM.
This is nothing but an unnecessary award pushed by a few folks who got butt-hurt because others correctly do not equate sitting in an air-conditioned office in CONUS or Kuwait with being shot at in Iraq or Afghanistan. Both are important and necessary; but one is bona fide combat service while the other is fighting by remote control.
If you’re not personally at risk of getting shot, amigo, you’re not serving in combat. I can buy folks on a base in Afghanistan (or Iraq, when we had folks there) getting combat awards – IDF, infiltration, and/or perimeter gunfire is a real threat and can be deadly. But folks sitting at a AFB in CONUS or in the Baltimore/DC area getting a “combat award”? Get freaking real.
February 14th, 2013 at 11:50 am
I was nothing but a Marine grunt in Vietnam. This will sound petty, but I just have to say it: I was awarded a BS w/V for Valor in VN. I did not ask for it, did not know I was getting it, and, frankly, at that time I did not give a rat’s ass about it. But,these many years later, I now feel as if my award adds up to nothing. These men who sit far, far, far away from the fight now can get an award HIGHER than mine for pushing buttons? My brothers and I lived in hell in the jungle. We fought THIS CLOSE with the enemy. My friends died fighting hand to hand in shit that most people cannot even imagine! And, now, some man sitting in an office, drinking a coke, pushing some buttons, and watching a screen has pushed my award one step under his? What have we come to that pogues trump the warriors that do the fighting? We fought!They sit in an office and push buttons!For those that do not believe me, look my name up on the net! And, whether or not you believe it, I NEVER have said a single word to anyone about mt award because, compared to the men I fought beside, I was a Boy Scout…This makes me sick…
February 14th, 2013 at 11:59 am
@106
Your entire post did NOTHING to support your cause. Seriously. You are trying to justify the unjustifiable.
Your work IS important. We all know that. And us groundpounders appreciate it. Any kill you make is one less we have to worry about.
But..an MSM would suffice for ANY conceivable action you may have to take however.
February 14th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
More divide and conquer from the Good Idea Fairies in Arlington County. :\
And Mark, while I don’t denigrate what you actually do, at the same time I do not recognize it as anywhere near as ‘intimate’ as the experience of the grunt in the field, and neither would anyone else with more than a couple brain cells left to rub together. Really man, your post above is one of the most startlingly stupid things I’ve heard expressed by a serviceman in a long, long, time. Really.
February 14th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Yeah, Mark’s post definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Those that see my posts know that I never downplay anyone’s service, but his whole “more interment than the grunts” post pissed me off.
February 14th, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Last time I was in Iraq some jackass flying a drone fired a hellfire during a firefight and hit a command humvee nearly killing an officer and his driver. They still have nightmares about it to this day and can no longer serve, so thanks Mark for the “extra two hours of sleep” that they can no longer get because guys like you were “protecting” them and think they deserve an award that rates higher than a bronze star with valor…
February 14th, 2013 at 3:29 pm
To clarify on the whole Eagle Scout thing, at one time, students at certain military schools who held it were allowed to wear a special Eagle Scout medal on their uniform while at the school. But I think they discontinued that
February 14th, 2013 at 3:35 pm
@98 A Proud Infidel
No guy. No they don’t. And never have.
I have been in since 88 and my Master Sergeant is an Eagle Scout…no such thing.
They do however get to enlist as E-2s in all branches.
Army Awards and Decorations:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armymedals/l/blarmedal.htm
Notice…no “Eagle Scout” medal or ribbon on there anywhere
February 14th, 2013 at 4:00 pm
OK … The Eagle Scout Medal is probably the kickinest award any young man could prossibly achieve, however … it never has nor will it ever be part of any US Armed Forces Uniform.
BTW … I am a huge supporter of Scouting Programs:
“The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. The BSA provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness.
For over a century, the BSA has helped build the future leaders of this country by combining educational activities and lifelong values with fun. The Boy Scouts of America believes and, through over a century of experience, knows that helping youth is a key to building a more conscientious, responsible, and productive society.”
Notice, no mention of military here. Although, most branches reward recruits for the skills that an Eagle Scout brings to the military.
February 14th, 2013 at 4:03 pm
The only time that the Eagle Scout Award can be worn with a military uniform is when it is being awarded to a Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman, or Coastie. Afterwards, it’s to be taken off and sent home. It’s a military regulation thing and NOT a Scouting thing.
From: scoutinginsignia.com
February 14th, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Certainly, a military service member can earn a DFC for “extraordinary achievement” that didn’t involve getting shot at by the enemy and get a “V” device denoting valor for the award if earned for heroism. Big difference between heroism and extraordinary achievement and the shame is it appears the rear echelon support is clueless of the difference.
Air Force officers have been awarded Distinguished Flying Cross for experimental parachuting from over 40, 0000 feet during the 1940s and 1950s. A couple of them died in the process. Consequently, asserting RPA crews are not authorized Air Medals or Distinguished Flying Crosses because they are reserved for crews of manned aircraft conveniently ignores the risks of injury and death exposed to by service member performing duties on manned aircraft.
DOD Manual NUMBER 1348.33, Volume : For all individual combat awards, notarized eyewitness statements, with contact information for the eyewitnesses, must be submitted. These statements must contain a complete description of the individual’s actions and must be in the eyewitnesses’ own words, not on a prepared form. The individual being recommended for the award may not submit a statement.
Pertinent to this there were more than twenty nortorized eye witness (at least ten civilians) statements resulting in me being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary heroism. It was awarded for my activities and performance after I left the hovering helicopter more than for crew duties I was doing before jumping into the water to rescue a bunch of people. FYI- – the DFC is the highest award for heroism possible for enlisted service members for not in combat heroism. The 10% extraordinary heroism in retired pay when it was presented to me 14 years before I would have 20 or more year’s active duty service eligibility for retirement. The point of this disclosure was loss of my life risk was significant as was the loss of life of the twenty I rescued. This is what differs the medal presented for heroism from the medal awarded for extraordinary achievement.
DOD Manual NUMBER 1348.33, Volume 1 continues to define combat as armed fighting and combat heroism as an act or acts of heroism by an individual above what is normally expected while engaged in direct combat with an enemy with exposure to enemy hostilities and personal risk. The lack of personal risk is why RPA crews are not authorized Air Medals, Distinguished Flying Crosses or Bronze Star with V device (for valor). This why the other combat valor medals of Silver Star, Air Force Cross, and Medal of Honor is beyond the personal risk human performance of RPA crew duties.
Other definitions of personal risk human performance applicable to awards for heroism that RPA crews not within the operational environment RPA crews perform their not immersed in danger or exposed to hazard and physically demanding duties in are:
heroism. Heroic conduct; courageous action.
gallantry. Nobility of behavior or spirit. Heroic courage.
intrepid. Bold, fearless, dauntless, very brave, not afraid.
valor. An act or acts of heroism by an individual above what is normally expected while engaged in direct combat with an enemy with exposure to enemy hostilities and personal risk.
The derogatory crap is the RPA crew members equating their duties having the same KIA, WIA, and captured prisoner war risk in the performance of duties from the rear area as those on the battlefield or driving around in convoys between operating bases an locations in the AOR.
The derogatory crap is the RPA crew members asserting combatants on the battlefield do not get the watching the video monitor psychologically level of intimate duress of watching the get killed and then being the by video monitor surveillant of the kill site for more targets and intel. It completely ignores the service member on the battlefield must deal with the service member(s) immediately around them that just became KIA and WIA. RPA crew do not face this reality and they certainly don’t smell the burnt and dyeing or hear their screams of pain. Nor does it take into account the physical search of enemy dead and wounded for intel purposes and that once captured the enemy combatant is given the same medical care that is given to our wounded.
The derogatory crap is the RPA crew members suggesting many or most sortie produces some result of beneficial direct impact on combat operations. If this was true number of combat sorties would be an eligibly qualification as is for the aerial achievement medal. Also participation in combat operations as a combatant until now had presumption of significant risk (proximity to the enemy), personal physically demanding hardship presence on the battlefield, and/or extended family separation by the Service member. The DOD press release says exactly what this medal is and isn’t and that expectation is few will meet the extraordinary achievement eligibility qualification standard.
“The medal provides distinct, department wide recognition for the extraordinary achievements that directly impact on combat operations, but that do not involve acts of valor or physical risk that combat entails,” Panetta said.
It will not be awarded for acts of battlefield valor, officials said. It will be awarded in the name of the secretary of defense to members of the military whose extraordinary achievements directly impacted combat operations, and cannot be used as an end-of-tour award.
In the order of precedence, the Distinguished Warfare Medal will be below the Distinguished Flying Cross, and will be limited to achievements that are truly extraordinary. “The member’s actions must have resulted in an accomplishment so exceptional and outstanding as to clearly set the individual apart from comrades or from other persons in similar situations,” a DOD official said.
The military department secretary must approve each award, and it may not be presented for valorous actions. “This limitation was specifically included to keep the Distinguished Warfare Medal from detracting from existing valor decorations, such as the Medal of Honor, Service Crosses and Silver Star Medal,” the official said.
February 14th, 2013 at 6:03 pm
This whole idea is stupid….
Completely stupid…but hey, I’m still cleaning the dirt off my boots and my CIF gear.
February 14th, 2013 at 11:55 pm
Again, more comments from people who don’t know dick about the RPA programs and all I see is JEALOUSY from anyone who is outright complaining about a medal that they’ll never rate. Thanks for proving my point.
February 15th, 2013 at 12:07 am
@ 123 … johca … well said!
February 15th, 2013 at 12:14 am
@125…
Oh it isn’t jealosy my friend…it’s shame
The fact that you aren’t ashamed says a lot about your character
Maybe you and the aircrew from Whiteman AFB who got BSMs for sending the B2s over to Kosovo back in 99 can belly up to the bar sometime for a cold one and relate “war stories”
February 15th, 2013 at 12:27 am
@125
Like most od us has stated we are taking nothing away from what you do. We are grateful for it.
The point is that I can’t conceive one thing that you could possibly do that wouldn’t rate an MSM at the highest.
An MSM is a damn good award. And appropriate for your circumstances.
But to tell me that my Staff Sergeant on my last deployment who led the remnants of an ambushed Afghan platoon back into the kill zone, through the attackers, engaging them in a hand grenade match, rescued the survivors and brought them out and received a BSM w/V
Yet some guy sitting in a control shack CONUS will now be eligible for a higher level award?
That make ANY sense to you?
February 15th, 2013 at 1:24 am
@125 LOL!
February 15th, 2013 at 1:49 am
Many of us eventually get over the fact that the awards system is fowled up, but adding a redundant decoration (as others have stated, the DWM covers little that existing awards do not already) will not remedy it. In the Army, at least, Selfless Service is a value ingrained in men and women from the time they first see a Recruiter. I can understand that service members like Mark who might benefit from this would support the new medal. Heck, I’ll even admit that perhaps it is a little bit of jealousy on my part–not because I won’t rate the DWM, but rather because Soldiers I’ve known have been buried with less.
As a Standard Honors NCOIC in Arlington National Cemetery I took part in a number of active duty funerals. These young men (so far as I know I never laid an active duty female to rest) were recipients of the Purple Heart and, in most cases, the Bronze Star. They laid down their lives for their brothers-in-arms and the last moments of their lives were spent much more “intimately” than any rear echelon support technician will ever know. The same holds true for those service members my team welcomed home to Dover AFB. Those of us who have been in heavy ground combat know that our lives are precious and that no trinket can replace them. Still, when the guns go silent and we survivors move forward we want as much recognition as possible for those who remain forever behind.
IF this medal is awarded properly and very conservatively I have few qualms with it. Given the nature of today’s military, though, I have few doubts that it will become the next BSM–awarded to anyone who served in a position deemed worthy of the medal. Some of those awarded it in such a manner will no doubt downplay its significance, and others may refuse to wear it at all. However, worst case scenario is that the DWM will cater to those ticket punchers and self-servers who will flaunt it and place themselves on a pedestal, especially around those service members who spent months getting physical with the enemy (Infantry, Cavalry, etc).
As for me, I’m on my second COMBAT deployment, and despite being on a brigade staff I can rest well knowing that I am at least in country and not stuck trying to inflate my ego as a stateside desk jockey. If I never earn another personal decoration so be it. The Presidential Unit Citation and Combat Infantryman Badge my unit and I earned ten years ago mean more to me than any shiny medal. I know what my comrades and I have done in battle and in garrison and can sleep well without the recognition others yearn for.
February 15th, 2013 at 2:05 am
As a side note, has anyone else noticed the tendency that some have to brag about their decorations? I’ve rarely heard a valor award recipient play up their awards, but I’ve heard a few too many NCOs and officers talk of “their” Bronze Star or MSM. I’ve even had a few tell me that I haven’t made E-7 yet because I “need” an MSM. If that’s the criteria, they can keep that second rocker.
I guess that what I’m getting at is that the DWM may just add fuel to that fire in certain communities. I can picture a young SSG or 1LT being looked down upon for lacking the “necessary” awards to go with their assignment history. And that, IMO, is one of the worst things about today’s Army. Too much fluff and not enough substance. I’ve heard Jonn and other veterans who served well before me talk of their awards, and they damned sure didn’t feel obligated to receive an award based on duty position or competence alone. How long until the DWM becomes another “great job” PCS/ETS award?
February 15th, 2013 at 6:20 am
I love the irony of Mark above accusing others of “JEALOUSY” in his last comment above. The fact of the matter is that the DWM appears to have originated because people who never served in combat got jealous of bona fide combat decorations received by those who did.
February 15th, 2013 at 7:50 am
What’s next, the Combat Zone Coffee Brewer’s badge? After A-stan, I have doubts about Bronze Star Medals if they don’t sport a “V” on them, I saw REMFS get those for brewing the Brigade Staff Ooficers’ coffee and keeping their AC running while Grunts like me and my compadres who regularly went outside the wire came home with the usual ACM’s, but hey, I came home unscathed and so did most of my buds,….
As for the Army Eagle Scout award, I just remember hearing something about it 20 years ago when I was a wet-behind-the-ears “Joe” at Fort Lost-in-the-woods……
February 15th, 2013 at 8:15 am
Infidel–I heard it was the actually going to be the FOBBIT Commendation Medal. First awardee, Mattis Chiroux.
February 15th, 2013 at 10:46 am
Hey Mark… I served in Combat long before your drones were even a possibility and I survived without them.. BLUF your precisous drone is a combat mutiplier no doubt but it is just a licky-chewy.. a nice to have item so please don’t think for a minute that we are ‘jealous” I wouldn’t trade one minute of the time I have spent with my brothers on the ground and in the mix, for the safety of an air conditioned office in Nevada. Let’s face the facts you will never measure up to the boot heels of an American Fighting Man/Woman and you know it and you probably cry into your pillow at night because of it, but you do perform a valuable service that makes the jobs of the guys and gals on the ground much easier and safer you are fulfilling your duty, just don’t try to equate what you do to anyone who is putting their life and limb in harms way on the ground. Your job in No way deserves a higher award than my PFC who stayed behind his M2HB provding supressive fire as enemy fire pinged off his gun shield and RPG’s detonated under his truck so that his buddies could extract the wounded.
February 15th, 2013 at 3:29 pm
I have my father’s medal rack, and I know he was always worried that the lack of a Purple Heart would keep him out of Arlington. (It didn’t.) He was called to active duty 8 December 1941, landed at Normandy, and stayed over there till ’46, earning a Bronze Star in the process.
And this Nintendo medal will outrank that Bronze Star….
February 15th, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Response to 125-Mark: Whether I know or don’t know what RPA crews day-to-day participation in operations is irrelevant. I’m however confused about being rated for a medal; rate suggests amount, quantity or relation of units of measurements, or an estimated worth or strength or capacity appraisal.
The operational capacity is unmanned and the unmanned device cannot be remotely operated to do something beyond its design specifications nor can it adapt to a changing operational environment. The system can be hacked and the system can malfunction and when such happens it’s not the same of the manned aircraft pilots trying to land with armed hot ordnance that could fall off and explode or bounce just right against the fuselage and explode on landing touch down.
I left the word conspicuous off the list in my previous comment. Conspicuous is defined for valor and heroic purposes as “attracting attention by being unexpected, unusual, outstanding, remarkable, striking. Unfortunately, the human performance of RPA crews don’t even meet this standard by doing high risk training.
All the military services have military occupations or tactical (combat) unit duty positions that require aggressive training programs to prepare personnel to perform mission essential high risk tasks in a variety of environments. Although the expectation of these training programs is to perfect, practice, and be tested doing mission essential skills the participation in high-risk training does not necessarily imply that hazardous duty or incentive pay is justified or that the training is voluntary. Yet RPA crews to easily suggest RPA mission duties is at all times and places conspicuous human performance confronting the same risks at equal or higher “rate” as the infantry service member or others on the ground in the military area of operations or crews of manned aircraft flying in combat airspace.
There are plenty of medals existing to recognize extraordinary achievement and the conversation is why are these medals not worthy enough and what justifies and validates a new “combat” Medal. The new Distinguished Warfare Medal not only creates confusion of who is and who isn’t a combat veteran it also reduces the giving recognition for extraordinary achievement during wartime the Bronze Star without V device acknowledges and recognizes.
Being a combat veteran and receiving a combat medal or badge until now indicated the service member being involved in actual combat with physical being there presence in the active combat zone having being there participation under circumstances involving grave danger of death or serious bodily injury from enemy action. With the establishment of the Distinguished Warfare Medal all the going above-and-beyond in the face of personal risk, with lack of personal discomforts and troublesome inconveniences of weather, climate, and severance from off duty civilian life and activities. Jealousy is not my frame of mind, your disrespect to those service members who never get recognition or acknowledgement for going above-and-beyond in the face of personal risk and accomplish high-risk training before being put there in harm’s way is my frame of mind.
February 16th, 2013 at 12:03 am
I linked to your blog as well as the fellas over at Black Five. The synopsis of my utter disgust can be viewed here:
http://aroundotown.blogspot.com/2013/02/there-are-no-words-that-can-express-gun.html
February 16th, 2013 at 1:20 pm
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/lower-precedence-new-distinguished-warfare-medal/5KdnkBBN
February 16th, 2013 at 1:54 pm
The thing about Stolen Valor is that medals have value by society. Society values bravery in combat.
By having an award for not-dangerous situations (unless you count eating 7-11 burritos while the drone your piloting hits turbulence), Society learns to not value awards, and by extension courage.
A society that does not value courage is easy to govern.
February 17th, 2013 at 5:59 pm
The reasoning justifying the new way of combat need for Distinguished Warfare Medal is the only service members having eligibility to be recommended for it are not receiving imminent danger pay and concurrently as result of units assigned to, duty position and duty location lack eligibility for award of the Combat Infantryman badge, Combat Action Badge, Combat Medical Badge, Combat Action Ribbon, Air Force Combat Action Badge, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Purple Heart and other combat campaign and unit combat ribbons and badges.
The distraught caused by this new “combat” Medal is its precedence disconnect of below the Distinguished Flying Cross and presumably above the Bronze Star Medal (combat medal-for recognition of heroic or meritorious achievement or service). This precedence unless clarified will and most probably as result of being a combat medal will give it precedence above the Soldier’s Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Medal and Airman’s Medal (all noncombat medals and all awarded only for heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy).
Consider also the only service members having performance of duties eligibility for the new and combat special Distinguished Warfare Medal also apparently lack eligibility to be recommended for award of the Combat Infantryman badge, Combat Action Badge, Combat Medical Badge, Combat Action Ribbon, Air Force Combat Action Badge, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and other campaign and unit combat ribbons and badges.
What is the being in combat essence of “exceptional acts” and “achievements that are truly extraordinary” that can clearly set the individual apart from comrades or from other persons in similar situations.” Courage and bravery clearly isn’t required. Enduring physical discomfort and hardship clearly isn’t required. Above average physical ability and stamina clearly isn’t required. Psychological flexibility and adaptability to fight or flee clearly isn’t a requirement. Potentially being present to assist and aid to stop bleeding and carry a wounded in action member of the unit to safety clearly isn’t a requirement. Being worried the bathroom or coffee break might be on-top of an IED or under the snipers sight or within indirect fire (mortar, artillery) range clearly isn’t a requirement. More importantly, unlike those on the actual battlefield, psychological support is often just in the next room should too much body parts and blood be seen through the video feed.