The DFC and SM are for valor and heroism, respectively. There is no way a drone "pilot's" mission measures up anywhere near that. Drone operators can take their ARCOM or MSM equivalent and head on back home... you know, like they do every night after they "fly" their missions. No BSMs, no "war" medals, and definitely no "special" medals just for them. Next the cyber guys are going to be asking for something "special" too, because you know they are in the fight too.
I think we have too many award as it is. Example: a medal for not getting an Article-15 or a court-martial for three years? (
Good Conduct Medal) Seriously, in an all-volunteer Army? Isn't that why you get a paycheck and the right to wear that uniform in the first place? Dump the GCM and give troops a numeral device to wear on their respective service ribbon for every year of honorable service.
DFC and Air Medals... outlived their usefulness. We already have numerous valor awards, if a pilot does something heroic, put him in for a BSM(V), Silver Star, etc. Air Medal... see the preceding sentence in cases where it involves valor, otherwise, why do you get a medal for either doing your job or taking a taxi to work? Why not hand out special awards for people who go on convoys? I think statistically, that shit is WAY more dangerous than flying.
Maybe something we could look at is trimming down the number of medals, but creating a "C" (for combat) device to denote lower-level awards (MSM, ARCOM, AAM, and their joint/other service equivalents) to show which awards were given for service (i.e. physical presence) in a designated combat zone.
Once we get this uniform ridiculousness settled, the DoD should take a long hard look at its medals policy.
