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Subscribe to RSSThe Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded for extraordinary achievement in things such as operating drones or taking part in cyber warfare. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
They fight the war from computer consoles and video screens.
But the troops that launch the drone strikes and direct the cyberattacks that can kill or disable an enemy may never set foot in the combat zone. Now their battlefield contributions may be recognized.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced 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.
"I've seen firsthand how modern tools, like remotely piloted platforms and cyber systems, have changed the way wars are fought," Panetta said. "And they've given our men and women the ability to engage the enemy and change the course of battle, even from afar."
The work they do "does contribute to the success of combat operations, particularly when they remove the enemy from the field of battle, even if those actions are physically removed from the fight," he said.
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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.
Officials said the new medal will be the first combat-related award to be created since the Bronze Star in 1944.
A recognition of the evolving 21st Century warfare, the medal will be considered a bit higher in ranking than the Bronze Star, but is lower than the Silver Star, defense officials said.
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.
Over the last decade of war, remotely-piloted Predators and Reapers have become a critical weapon to both gather intelligence and conduct airstrikes against terrorist or insurgents around the world. They have been used extensively on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and northern Africa.
Over the same time, cyberattacks have become a growing national security threat, with Panetta and others warning that the next Pearl Harbor could well be a computer-based assault.
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The Pentagon does not publicly discuss its offensive cyber operations or acts of cyberwarfare. Considering that secrecy, it's not clear how public such awards might be in the future. The federal government, for example, launched a broad leak investigation after reports surfaced that the U.S. and Israel may have been responsible for the Stuxnet computer virus that attacked computers in Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities.
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.
"The extraordinary achievement 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," according to the Pentagon's list of criteria for the medal. It could include the "hands-on" but remote launching of a weapon and could specifically include efforts in space or cyberspace.
The medal is a brass pendant, nearly two inches tall, with a laurel wreath that circles a globe. There is an eagle in the center. The ribbon has blue, red and white stripes.
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Right now my .357 Desert Eagle is much more valuable to me than my 2 Purple Hearts and 2 Bronze Vs. Looks like keeping my weapon just might get me and and a whole lot of liberals killed. WTH bring it on.
CSM USA RET Airborne Infantry 23 yrs.
He!! don't you know, these are only Targets for when the MB comes a callin
I'd like to hear from a Vet or someone currently in the military. As far as I'm concerned anyone serving in the military during war/wars deserves recognition. Because these wars have lasted so long most of our military personnel joined during them and for that they deserve more than a metal. Those of you that think other wise, SHAME ON YOU!
Confussed - I am a USMC Vet. What you don't seem to understand is how this is an insult to people that have put their life on the line, in combat verses someone that works in an office as a typist. Not that there is any shame in being a drone pilot. They are a valuable part of the modern day Military but they are not a combat vet. This is disrespectful to those that earned a medal threw heroic means. Drone pilots deserve the same recognition for being Veterans but not combat Veterans.
All Veterans are Honorable but this is the Obama / Liberal, "Everyone gets a medal, whether you win or lose mentality".
Is a fighter pilot getting shot down, the same as a drone pilot getting a blister, on his joy stick finger?
In my opinion this is also disrespectful to combat vets who fought valiantly but did not receive a medal for just doing their jobs.
On a slightly different but related topic:
I know a couple of USAF guys who rate wearing wings because they sent commands to satellites whiloe sitting in a air conditioned room in (I won't mention the name of the island in the middle of the south Atlantic Ocean) .
It always irked me because I earned my wings by actually flying. Carriers, remote fields, night time, insertions- you know stuff that could actually kill you and your crew members.
I do understand how you feel but I wonder if someone that joined the military with the intent on fighting got stuck in a job of support with never being able to get his boots on the ground is fair to him/her? I know and do not expect him/her to get a Purple Star but again I think there should be something to show his/her duty during war time. I'm not a vet although it was a dream of mine as a child but things happened and I wasn't able to fulfill my dream. I have the utmost respect for all vets and do have a step son who is in Afghanistan right now and on his 19th year of duty, Marines. Thank you all for your service and God Bless You.
I'm not being antagonistic toward you but:
1) It's Purple Heart not purple star (tho' I did chuckle at your mistake...lol)
2) The point most of the negative commentors are making is that their are men whom have been awarded Bronze Star Medals for acts of heroism in a combat zone and this medal now has precedence over it. Also there are millions more who served along side those medal recipients at the time of those actions who were never awarded- this is an insult to both.
Just what the military needs, another worthless, inflated medal for the "special" people that wear flight suits in an air conditioned room, never leave the ground, and don't have to worry about being shot down (except at the club by his buddies wife/GF) We already have decorations for this type of "Achievement", it's called the Commendation Medal. Each service has one. If the zipper suit sun gods want something special to wear on their uniforms, how about just putting a "D" device on the Commendation Medal? It could stand for Drone, Dumb, Daring, Dashing, etc. And in case you're wondering, I'm a retired USAF officer.
What a disgrace. As a die hard liberal, I'm TOTALLY disappointed in how this Administration has turned the military into a laughing stock. Panetta can't leave soon enough to get a true warrior like Hagel into office. Otherwise, we will be issuing Medals just for being Gay.
dmill - Thanks for putting "What is Right" over politics. This is a disgrace.
Just more political B.S. from wothless adminitstration.
Perfectly put MrTamborineman...
I wonder if John Kerry (Purple Heart for a piece of rice, in his butt) will give this medal to the recepients?
Welcome to the new progressive vision of the miltary where you wear out your pants much faster than you do your boots.
How about the guy or gal on board a naval vessel who pushes the button to fire a missile. Do they now get medals also?
To answer your question based on my experience....no.
Only the Officer-in-charge gets the medal.
SNAFU.
The Nazis had a similar medal for oven operators.
Higher than a Bronze Star... disgraceful.
White House petition - ()petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/rank-distinguished-service-medal-appropriately/Z1VCwm87
White House petition. (http://)wh.gov/dPqz
This is an insult to all combat veterans and just shows how out of touch the Obama Adminstration is. They have no idea what they are doing.
Although, I agree that the people that fly drones have a huge impact on our wars / conflicts, they are not combat veterans. They were never at any time in danger. There life was never on the line. There is a huge difference between the two. By creating this, it takes away from people that heroically place their lives in danger, while serving this Country.
Does anyone think that flying a drone from safety is the same as a fighter pilot that is flying missions, in a war zone or a Marine that was storms a beach?
Panetta and Obama are idiots. What can you expect from to cowards.
Complete and utter disrespect for our combat veterans.
I hope the first awardee of this medal gets handed back to whomever tries to give it to them. I'm sick...truly.
The Commendation medal, which was created at the end of WW II as the Commendation ribbon, was quite adequate for this sort of drone-driver recognition. Basically, we now have yet another kind of fruit for the proverbial ribbon-rack fruit salad.
I'd like to know what committee (and who was on it) came up with the idea to give this medal greater precedence than the Bronze Star.
This is not only a complete joke but a slap in the face to every combat veteran regardless of whether or not they as individuals won a combat medal.
Are the guys who maintain and keep the drones in readiness going to be recognized? How about the sensor operators? No. Anyone else waiting to see the ratio of officers to enlisted ranks who end up receiving.
Another SNAFU.
Apparently, Mr Panetta doesn't know much about military awards and decorations. There are already awards for that type of non-direct combat service. And not one of them is for valor, but for service of outstanding performance. I'm wondering which politician's son or daughter is sitting in one of those video game rooms, flying one of those drones, and mommy or daddy wants them to get on the fast track to general, but can't get it without some type of combat award.
Right now, I'm wondering when my grandson, (8 years old,) is going to get one for shooting down five enemy planes on his computer screen, while flying different types of aircraft.
Wow! Even my wife, (who hates the military, because of me being gone so long in my 23 1/2 years of service,) just saw that on TV and said it was totally stupid, ignorant, and a slap in the face to all that have served in combat. That's like giving congress medals for watching ESPN on the bar room TV, instead of doing something that actually amounts to something. (This is not to say those drone pilots, and their camera operator partners are not performing a useful service for their country, as they are doing a lot more useful work than the people considering this ridiculous medal.)
I do think someone has something of a sense of humor though - the ribbon looks a lot like the USAF Good Conduct ribbon, and the medal insignia looks a lot like that worn by "bird" colonels.
But, as far as giving this medal the ranking they are proposing, that is a real slap in the face to anyone that has actually earned a valorous service medal. Typical Washington, D.C. thinking, no consideration of reality.
This administration is making a joke out of our armed forces.
A medal? How about a pink beret to go with their No-max suits. That way they won't be mistaken for the security team wearing the tiger-striped BDUs outside.
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Use it! Call, write, email your representative in congress. Complaining about it anywhere but to him/her will
do us no good! The Army and Marines have entire buildings named after recipients of the Bronze Star with a 'V' device for Valor. What is this new medal telling their families? These once great men are just above average
now? WTF people? Get to your representative and fill their inboxes/mailboxes with how THEIR VOTERS feel!
A medal? How about a pink beret to go with their No-max suit. That way, they will not be mistaken for the security team outside wearing the tiger-stripe BDUs.
Hey, I got a name for it! How about the PS3 award? Or maybe, the XBox award?
How about issuing them boots with steel tipped toepieces to kick some dumbass congressmen and senators in the butt.
Does anyone remember Panama? The Army flew hundreds of troops into the country from Texas, unloaded then loaded them back onto the aircraft and flew them back to Texas, just so they could get the CIB (Combat Infantryman Badge). After that, no medal really counted, in my mind.
/VV
This is a disgrace. A medal that is higher than a bronze star for computer nerds that have never had a round pop by them????? As unbelievable as all the other crap from the Obozo administration. By the way, the jornalist is wrong as they usually are! The bronze star is awarded for Valor against the enemy, when it is awarded with the "V" device. So now we have a nerd sitting at a computer, that is nowhere near an enemy force, whose life is never in danger, while an infantryman who is dodging bullets and watching his friends die is awarded a lower classed medal for Valor. There is something very wrong with this picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The drone medal will become a staple of late night comedy, maybe even the subject of the next Catch-22.
I guess the Air Force lobby has a strong voice in convincing Panetta to give medals to airmen jealous of their peers actually deployed in harms way. These warriors were getting all the credit while the zoomies back at Nellis sat around in their climate controlled trailers or bunkers watching video games, so the Air Force brass whined to Panetta to get their boys medals. Hey Leon, do they get a V device for that as well?
What a slap in the face to the combat vets that earned their Bronze Stars in battle. I am retired military and we already have medals for outstanding achievement such as the Navy or Marine Corp Achievement or Commendation medals and the Army and Air Force have similar commendations.
I have a retired Navy friend who live in Arizona and was flying drones over Afghanistan from an Air Force base in Arizona. I can see these guys receiving Achievement or Commendation medals for superior or outstanding performance because it is a difficult and very technical area of expertise.
But the bottom line is that it pales to the conditions that our front line grunts have to contend with on a daily basis. Take a guy like Meat Suit who wrote in earlier post # 4.2 who also flew drones but he did it from on the ground in a combat zone working directly with our troops under attack. Meat Suit is the kind of military man that should get a Bronze Star for not only his outstanding performance but also the combat conditions he performed it under. This new medal would be a slap in the face and mean nothing to a Marine like that.
Shame on you Panetta. Maybe we should come up with a "Brown" star appropriately like an @!$%# that , we could award to Obama, Clinton, and Panetta for their performance in Benghazi.