First Combat-Related Award Since 1944
Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel
This would be a first. The Distinguished Warfare Medal, a nearly two-inch-tall brass pendant below a ribbon with blue, red and white stripes, will be handed out to people judged to have racked up “extraordinary achievement” directly tied to a combat operation– but far removed from the actual battlefield, according to the Associated Press which first reported the news.
Panetta said operators of unmanned, robotic aircraft and cyberweapons “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.”“The most immediate example is the work of an unmanned aerial vehicle operator who could be operating a system over Afghanistan while based at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The unmanned aerial vehicle would directly affect operations on the ground.
Another example might be that of a soldier at Maryland’s Fort Meade, who detects and thwarts a cyberattack on a Department of Defense computer system.”
This is the first new combat-related award since the 1944 creation of the Bronze Star. The new medal will be ranked higher than the Bronze Star, the fourth highest combat decoration, but lower than the Silver Star, officials said.
In taking this step, the Pentagon is explicitly recognizing the increasing importance of cyberwar and drone activities to the nation’s defense complex.
The U.S. Air Force is on record predicting that by 2023 one-third of its attack and fighter planes will
be drones.
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Along with the new award, a new breed of Terminator machines are coming.
Technology is changing the world– and the war game landscape as we’d like to see it. For example, take these remote-controlled helicopters being used in combat zones to ferry heavy equipment and supplies.
This article is one of a continuing series about drones by the Humboldt Sentinel.
This is obscene and rediculous. Extraordinary effort? What, did a drone system monitor have? Perhaps a missed meal, did they miss the first few innings of their kids baseball game, how about missing date night with their spouse? Hello Pentagon, THERE IS NO SACRIFICE for drone system operators. Hell, they call the officers of these drones pilots when most radio controlled model flyers have had more risk and injury, not to mention better skills, than these glorified computer operators. If you must give an award, how about a unit citation or achievement award. Nothing more has been earned by these people!
Wake up and respect what those that stepped up and into harms way have truly accomplished.
Many feel the same way, 135boom. It’s no comparison for those placed in harm’s way or serving directly on the front lines. A unit citation or achievement award– as you mentioned– seems appropriately fitting and more deserved than a medal outranking the bronze star.