Hagel drops controversial medal for drone operators

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

Hagel drops controversial medal for drone operators

By Courtney Kube, Pentagon Producer, NBC News

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday eliminated the Distinguished Warfare Medal, overturning one of Leon Panetta’s last acts in the position.

The award — which had come to be known as the Nintendo Medal — recognized drone pilots and cyber operators.

Now, instead of a medal, individuals will receive a pin that will be placed on another existing medal — similar to a V that is pinned to a Bronze Star to indicate an award with valor.

The medal was established to “recognize the achievements of a small number of service men and women who have an especially direct and immediate impact on combat operations through the use of remotely piloted aircraft and cyber operations,” Hagel wrote in a statement.

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Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/15/17765235-hagel-drops-controversial-medal-for-drone-operators

[Fantastic Anarchist]

1. Nintendo Medal? Good Grief.

This ain't Mario Kart.

[MADem]

2. I have a great deal of respect for Leon Panetta, but I thought that medal was a turkey, too. nt

[rakeeb]

3. I never understood the perceived need

for a separate medal for UAV operators. There are plenty of existing medals to choose from.

Their situation reminds me of when we were getting ready to rotate out of Afghanistan in February 2002, the J1 provided us with several examples of recently approved BSMs to help us write the ones we needed to get done.
One of those examples of approved BSMs was for an Imagery Analyst who served on board the USS Bataan, for detailed, timely and valuable imagery analysis that directly aided in the success of several operations.