Pentagon Announces New Medal

[MTS Cop]

Until fairly recently my department would award a medal to an officer for making three suspended license arrests in six months. Guys were getting the same medal I got for making felony assault and robbery collars for running licenses on car stops. Talk about cheapening an award.

I agree with what others said. No boots on the ground no medal. Well, at least not something on the level of a Bronze Star.

 

[Rule3]

Did they award purple hearts or the Medal of Honor to any factory workers? I always thought that medals were for service above and beyond the call of duty. If you showed up and did your job, you got campaign ribbons. If you didn't show up, or didn't do your job you went to the brig.
Or maybe I'm missing something here????

Well obviously you are. I did not say they were as important just that they are important, as is any one that serves in any capacity. Nor did I say they get the Medal of Honor or Purple Heart. I do not think that any medal for a non combatant should be anywhere near that of someone who serves in combat. Think of just Air Traffic Controllers. How much mental stress do they go through?, one screw up by them and bad things happen and has.Are they the same as a Seal Team, hell no but again they are needed. Watch the choreographed maneuvers on a Aircraft Carrier, do those pilots land without the flight deck crew?.

So re read what I wrote. Modern warfare is just that very modern. Look at all the high tech used in every branch of service. Ships, radar, smart bombs. missiles, aircraft etc. Someone has to design, maintain and operate that stuff. Without it were we would we be.??

 

[dcxplant]

Above bronze??? Uhhhh, fail.

So you smoked a bunch of guys on a TV screen from a cubicle in Las Vegas.....

NOT the same as returning fire with the snaps of rounds going over your head, mortars raining down all around you while your or your buddy, or both, are leaking from holes like a tire that went through a nail factory!!!

I agree, some kid whined to daddy.

 

[Fishslayer]

I actually had to go look in my shadow box. 2 rows + 1. And I never did a freeking thing.

Signed up in '73. Boom. I graduated boot camp with the NDM.

GCM with stars. For not getting caught.

Some I have no idea what they are.

WILL say I'm a bit pleased with the silver "E"s on my rifle & pistol ribbons. Not all the fleet types had those.

 

[old bear]

This should be no surprise; we've all been expecting something like this would happen. It's just an extension of the no loser's kid's sports everyone gets a trophy. Come on do we really want to damage the little nippers psyche? Not getting an award could scar a kid for life.

Folks have to understand there will always be winners and losers in life. The difference is, "a loser snivels well I did my best, and a winner dates the prom queen."

 

[Barbarian Brewer]

It will be termed the "Distinguished Warfare Medal" --
medal will be a 2' bronze pendant with a globe encircled by a laurel wreath, with an eagle imposed on the face of the globe.

DAMN! A medal that is two feet long? No wonder it is higher ranking than a bronze star.

 

[handejector]

a new medal designed to be awarded to drone pilots and cyberwarfare
folks who engage the enemy from a computer panel while stationed in the US

Absolutely.
Good idea.

this is the first-ever combat award that will be awarded to service members who are not actually in the "theater of operations"

combat award?????
WRONG!

It will rank "slightly above the Bronze Star and below the Silver Star" in order of precedence.

EXTRA DOUBLE WRONG!

 

[Barbarian Brewer]

Combat award, only when the drone engages another enemy drone or aircraft in a COMBAT zone.

I should have a few awesome medals for playing Halo with high schoolers last week but that never showed up at my doorstep.

 

[chud333]

Sorry this does'nt pass the smell test to me either.
Some guy sitting behind a desk pressing buttons should not be recognized
more than the grunts getting shot at. Give them some extra tickets
for a Chuckie Cheese so they can get a free set of Vampire teeth or
something but don't diminish the Bronze or Silver Star recipients
by creating a new "Hooray for the Soldier of the Future" award.
But then i'm Old School about stuff like this. Never saw fascination
with video games. I prefer to smell the gunpowder.

Chuck

 

[retarmyaviator]

Morale is better when troops are recognized for their contributions. Makes sense to me.

Out
West

Not when it is done at the expense of those who actually get their boots dirty.

 

[Alnamvet68]

While I find this type of award highly objectionable and disgusting, the day these pogues start awarding Air Medals and the DFC to these cyber/drone pogues will be the day I return my medals to Congress.

Combat awards should be just that...recognition for putting one's life at risk in a combat zone. For years, many non-infantry types bemoaned the fact that they, while having served in a combat zone and actively engaging the enemy, they were not eligible for the CIB. The Army finally fixed that with the Combat Action Badge which was not branch or MOS dependent; serve in a combat zone, engage the enemy, you get the badge. Medic's get their own badge, Combat Medical Badge. The Navy and Marine Corps didn't award badges, but if you were actively engaged in combat as a sailor, Coastie, or Marine, regardless of MOS, you were awarded the C.A.R, Combat Action Ribbon.

We aviators don't really get combat badges...the Air Medal is a typical award for participation in aerial ops, but it's not specific to combat ops. My wings are achievement and recognition enough.

All that being said, I am of the opinion these office weenies at the Pentagon see that we may no longer be in a war, and having some sort of warfare badge or medal recognizing one's participation in "combat" will be needed if they hope to climb that promotion ladder.

 

[retarmyaviator]

I'd have to say no. give them a commendation medal without precedence, this from an Army E-6 who served in central America in the 80's when we got nothing of any kind for our service, wounded, gallant, or otherwise.

You want a hero chit for your titsalad, put on your boots and pick up a rifle!

I was there too, few folks realize it took an actual act of Congress in 1996 to MAKE the Army recognize that we had folks there.

 

[M29since14]

...I am of the opinion these office weenies at the Pentagon see that we may no longer be in a war, and having some sort of warfare badge or medal recognizing one's participation in "combat" will be needed if they hope to climb that promotion ladder.

I wondered about that but didn't want to be the one to say it.

This subject reminds me of the furor over the development of the atom bomb. Many of our warriors, most notable among them General Patton himself, were aghast at the weapon. The fear was that war would become "too clean" and thus have the potential to run amuck, unrestrained. Drone warfare certainly has that potential on a smaller scale, but of course just like nuclear weapons it simply is not something one can just intellectually disallow and walk away from. We'll either be the leader or we'll be the target, and rewarding the people who are good at what they do is a necessary part of the process of developing and maintaining the expertise and leadership. Still, I don't see how anyone can fairly consider a drone pilot, safely doing his job half way around the world, to have been in "combat."

 

[Old TexMex]

Before we start stamping out a fresh batch of gongs, maybe we ought to take care of the veterans who just need decent medical therapy and their medical disability. There's a way to do this.

 

[msgdan]

Not only do we have drones in the air but we must have drones on the ground with not enough to do thinking up this stuff. Crazy.

Kinda goes along with something stupid that we heard about awhile back, 'courageous restraint'. Makes me mad.

 

[Rangerpat]

I wonder if the medal comes with a "V" for valor or a "C" for computer?

 

[Alnamvet68]

I wonder if the medal comes with a "V" for valor or a "C" for computer?

Neither...it will come with the letters R E M F

 

[kozmic]

Will it be called the "Miss Pac-Man" award?

 

[bushmaster1313]

First, it should be an e-citation not a medal.


Second, it should be below any decoration worn by anyone who spent anytime in hostile territory.

But I am just a civilian who never served.
What do I know.

Is there a medal for "just" being in a place where an IED could blow up in your face?

 

[galena]

According to my Son (Army Major with two Afgan tours) it ranks just below the Distinguished Flying Cross, above the Bronze Star and above the Purple Heart!........he is one POed Major and I am one POed old retired L/C. Troops deserve recognition for jobs well done; however, this new award is a slap in the face to the boots on the ground guys, the air crews, and the Swabbies in the line of fire.