Medals for Drone "Pilots"

[jeremy]

Personally, if I see a Bronze or Silver Star without the "V" Device in it. I automatically suspect the wearer is a douche bag...
But, that comes from my upbringing. When you see persons getting them for just being an E-7 or higher and in a CZ. Kinda leaves a bitter taste in your mouth...

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Personally, if I see a Bronze or Silver Star without the "V" Device in it. I automatically suspect the wearer is a douche bag...
But, that comes from my upbringing. When you see persons getting them for just being an E-7 or higher and in a CZ. Kinda leaves a bitter taste in your mouth...

No doubt. And I've seen such personally, but E-7s and COLs want to be promoted too, you know . . .

 

[jeremy]

No doubt. And I've seen such personally, but E-7s and COLs want to be promoted too, you know . . .

So do Privates. I personally think the process should be made much harder for awards and decorations. I know of a [STRIKE]COL[/STRIKE] General that attempted to put himself in for a Silver Star with Valor, for spending a night on a FOB that was rocketed...
I won't go into how I feel about that level of douche baggery.

 

[iChokePeople]

I won't go into how I feel about that level of douche baggery.

Please discuss.

 

[HICKMAN]

What award would one of these pilots be worthy of... for say, protecting a couple of squads by bombing/strafing the crap bad guys so they could escape?

He saved lives, killed enemy, but wasn't at risk personally.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

So do Privates. I personally think the process should be made much harder for awards and decorations. I know of a [STRIKE]COL[/STRIKE] General that attempted to put himself in for a Silver Star with Valor, for spending a night on a FOB that was rocketed...
I won't go into how I feel about that level of douche baggery.

Are you speaking of Indiana's newest General Officer?

 

[jeremy]

Sooo...
Not going to answer who it was in an open forum...

I do have a touch of Tact, not a whole lot though. But, enough to not do that...

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Sooo...
Not going to answer who it was in an open forum...

I do have a touch of Tact, not a whole lot though. But, enough to not do that...

Oh that's right, you're not retired are you? PM with a name and I may be able to tell some stories.

 

[lucky4034]

Hmm. Bronze Star? Or Air Medal? If the idea is to keep them competitive with their peers, and that's a valid concern, I *believe* (having never watched an Air Force promotion board or studied their stats) that you'd still see discrimination between the two. I've listened to lots of friends who were zoomie officers discuss the Air Force's preference toward pilots, and it SEEMS that this would play there -- "Oh, a Bronze Star -- he's just a DRONE pilot..." For the record, the other branches of service have the same issues, not trying to pick on the zoomies.

In the Navy (at least when I was in... things may have changed) you only competed with your peers for advancement. I competed with other corpsman... but there were a TON of problems with that system too and a major factor in me quickly getting out when my tour was up.

I watched one particular scumbag in an air traffic control advance every cycle with average evals and ****ty test scores, while I earned top evals, Navy Achievement Medals, completed all my qualifications and supervised junior sailors and earned very high test scores only to find I was no where making the next paygrade.

I can't tell you the frustration to watch my girlfriend (at the time) who was dumb as a box of rocks (but hot as hell... damn was she hot) out rank me without trying.

 

[jeremy]

What award would one of these pilots be worthy of... for say, protecting a couple of squads by bombing/strafing the crap bad guys so they could escape?

He saved lives, killed enemy, but wasn't at risk personally.

That is the conundrum isn't it...
They deserve recognition for Jobs done well, but do they deserve the same level of recognition as someone who is present in the Combat Zone...

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Hmm. Bronze Star? Or Air Medal? If the idea is to keep them competitive with their peers, and that's a valid concern, I *believe* (having never watched an Air Force promotion board or studied their stats) that you'd still see discrimination between the two. I've listened to lots of friends who were zoomie officers discuss the Air Force's preference toward pilots, and it SEEMS that this would play there -- "Oh, a Bronze Star -- he's just a DRONE pilot..." For the record, the other branches of service have the same issues, not trying to pick on the zoomies.

In the Navy (at least when I was in... things may have changed) you only competed with your peers for advancement. I competed with other corpsman... but there were a TON of problems with that system too and a major factor in me quickly getting out when my tour was up.

I watched one particular scumbag in an air traffic control advance every cycle with average evals and ****ty test scores, while I earned top evals, Navy Achievement Medals, completed all my qualifications and supervised junior sailors and earned very high test scores only to find I was no where making the next paygrade.

I can't tell you the frustration to watch my girlfriend (at the time) who was dumb as a box of rocks (but hot as hell... damn was she hot) out rank me without trying.

There are always problems with the "human factor" involved in promotions in all the Services. In the Air Force it was "Bombers" vs "Fighters" for many years; in the Navy, it was "Brown Shoe" vs "Black Shoe". In the Army, AFAICT, it was Reserve Officers vs Academy Graduates and Combat Arms vs Combat Support vs Combat Service Support (there were too many branches for any one branch to have ascendancy). As I recall, we went through at least five Officer Rating schemes between the time I became a Warrant Officer in 1972 and when I retired in 2009. All of them attempted to address the fact that nobody "average" gets selected for promotion; everyone ends up being "superior". One bad - or even mediocre - efficiency report can mean failure to be promoted and removal from the Service, so good commanders learn ways to write efficiency reports to maximize their effect without raising any "flags". In all honesty, I don't suppose things would have been any worse if Commanders still retained the ability to write comments such as: "This Officer's inability to lead troops is second only to his inability to read a map." Or: "This Officer would be best utilized as a Stablemaster, as long as he has a competent non-commissioned officer to supervise".