Pentagon creates new medal for cyber, drone wars

Good thing. I'm glad someone finally wakes up in the Pentagon and thinks this idea stinks like a fart in the shower. Just who came up with this stinker anyway?

 

I am going to take a wait & see attitude to this "review". Hopefully, it's not being done to appease the masses so they can go ahead as planned.

Like everybody else, I have a problem with the medal ranking higher than the BSM for many of the reasons stated. However, I'm not too inclined to dismiss the role that they play either. First, every bad guy or target they can take out means that is one less instance we need to put boots on the ground to accomplish the same thing. Second, killing someone from 20,000 feet is still killing whether they're flying a bomber or a UAV. Either way, they have to wrestle with that reality. Of course they aren't risking their lives, but I'm not sure they deserve to be ripped for doing their job.

 

Hagel scraps the medal:

"Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday he’s scrapping a controversial proposed medal for drone operators and cyber troops, bowing to pressure from Congress and veterans groups. Instead, the Pentagon will create a special designation it will apply to existing medals.
The criteria for eligibility will be determined after a 90-day review by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and each of the service chiefs, Hagel said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/new-pentagon-medal-90080.html#ixzz2Qa14bz3g"

I don't see the need for cancelling it -- they merely had to adjust its ranking so that it was below the Purple Heart. But, anyway, I'm not the Secretary of Defense, so I guess my opinion is irrelevant!

 

Thanks for posting that -- its nice to hear it directly from the DoD. I'm curious about these 'devices' and what medals they will apply to.

 

DSM's are usually awarded only to flag-grade officers (Generals & Admirals). Depending on the particulars of the award, a device for the Distinguished Flying Cross might be in order.

 

I'd go with a DFC this side of pond too...As in ww2....But then we are in the realms of aircrew...you should not really be giving out our or your DFC to anyone but a trained jockey...With wings attached....We and you now training droners without any thought of earning wings or even getting flight sickness...

 

This may suffice....

 

Good. At best they should rate the Achievement Medal. All services has their own version.

 

A58...There's a yank in the Australia thread that needs your help and experience...

 

Some medals have been awarded decades past the event. I wonder if this cyber-geek medal would apply to signal intelligence? I would have no objection to returning a medal for my post-Vietnam service. (Being offered a Purple Heart for falling through a broken staircase during an alert was bad enough.)

 

Right on time....

http://www.lbc.co.uk/armed-raf-afghan-drones-now-flown-from-uk-71065

And just in time for a protest outside the base on Saturday. Better late than never.

 

Yep Biak...In fact they often work seperate cabins...but the missions are like the sharing of Trident targets for armageddon...We do what is necessary for your guys and you do same..If we have something available in air and your predator is offline for some reason...we take the mission..which opens a can of worms on the illegal part folk complain of...not just the CIA part...We keep records of missions...but do not publish when we do a yank mission and vice versa...bit like the U2 flights of old..RAF crews manned U2's with Yank stars on the bonnet...Lots do not know that...We are so intermingled its cosy...All the UK int bases for drones...be it voice intel, Humint, picture video..be it Digby, Molesworth, Colerne, Oakhanger, Rudloe, Even Waddington...and lots of others are interstaffed....hot seating the jobs and roles with no change of mission.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-22320275

Brit operational base now controlling from UK...Although for time being we keep our presence in creech


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22320685

 

FURY AT WINGS FOR 'JOYSTICK' AIRMEN

Royal Air Force Second World War badge ribbon and wings sewn onto pilot's uniform British UK

A new RAF badge for drone operators has provoked anger among veterans.
Former personnel criticised the badge as disrespectful to those pilots who risk their lives in the air – while the greatest danger to desk-bound operators of remote aircraft is ‘spilling coffee on their keyboards’.
The new wings are virtually indistinguishable from those worn by pilots. The only difference is that they have blue laurel leaves instead of brown.Veterans argue that ‘joystick’ operators should instead receive badges emblazoned with the outline of a computer.
RAF News, the Service’s official publication, has been ‘inundated’ with letters complaining about the new badge, pictured. Former helicopter squadron leader Bob Bickers, 70, from Alton, Hampshire, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Most air modellers can do that job and I’m not sure wings are the correct answer.
‘There is a pride about wearing wings – it connects wearers to people who have valiantly fought and died.’
There are two Remotely Piloted Air Systems Squadrons – 39 Squadron based at Creech, Nevada, and 13 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.
This month four RAF airmen became the first to be awarded their wings for operating unmanned aircraft.
An RAF spokesman said: ‘To earn their wings, the pilots have to achieve the highest standards of airmanship and operational prowess to operate the aircraft in Afghanistann.'

 

And there's more....

From this weekend..Admitance of what some of us already knew but had been denied for some time.


the government admitted that Royal Air Force crews have carried out more than 2,000 missions using ‘borrowed’ US armed drones. These are on top of hundreds of missions carried out by the RAF’s own Reaper drone fleet in Afghanistan.
The news prompted Conservative MP Rehman Chishti to warn that armed drone operations in Afghanistan by the RAF and the United States Air Force have become so interchangeable that Britain ‘may no longer be able to determine accountability and responsibility if civilians are killed’.


Interlocking forces
Britain is the only nation Washington has so far allowed to purchase and operate armed MQ-9 Reaper drones. UK-badged combat missions began in Afghanistan in late 2008. Yet for some years beforehand, British pilots and analysts were flying US drones under the embedding programme. An MoD spokesman said UK drone pilots follow British rules of engagement even when embedded with the US military.
Operations by RAF and USAF Reapers have now become so interchangeable in Afghanistan that it may no longer be possible to distinguish between the two. News that British crews are flying US armed drones may also help to explain anomalies that have been puzzling drone analysts.
Two apparent anomalies are the high proportion of missiles reportedly fired by UK pilots, and the low numbers of RAF-declared civilian casualties when compared to other recent conflicts.

 

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htproc/articles/20130501.aspx

Roll up...roll up...tanks or reapers...whadya want...Buy em ere...2 for one...come in great storage boxes.