Bonehead award?

[cool_chick]

I think the turnoff amongst some here is that it is higher than the Purple Heart.

[Mo~]

[dontworrybehappy]

People need to remember, those guys operating those drones aren't there because they flunked out of combat school, they're there because they are brilliant and can operate these very complex machines with precision accuracy. So I must ask, should their reward be any less than that of a grunt? Grunts are grunts because of their lack of education. I know a grunt, that guy couldn't figure out how to turn on a computer, but with a gun, he is downright scary.

[Mo~]

They reward already is greater, in safety, ability to return to life as before, employment opportunities and everyone kissing their asses for being "heroes". But, thank you for pointing out that people who don't meet certain educational snobbery requirements deserve to get shit on continuously.

[cool_chick]

[exploited]

A drone operator frequently has to be the one to pull the trigger on a village with one or two insurgents, and gets to see the aftermath in full HD. The PTSD rates are insanely high.

To say that they can just return to life as normal brutally undermines their contributions, and the damage done to their life.

http://americanlivewire.com/american-dr ... -soldiers/

[Mo~]

Not nearly as much as those who see the people they kill.

OK, personal story time. Every man in my family has served in the military during war 4 generations back. The two I know of personally are my brother and my nephew.

My brother joined at 17 years old during Vietnam to serve his country. My mother decided not to argue the forgery he committed to enlist because the only way he could afford an education was with the GI Bill and he promised to go to school when it was over. He was assigned duty as a helicopter gunner over the DMZ in Korea. The enemy had a nasty habit of booby trapping their wives and children and then sending them to the Army camps to beg for food and candy where they would detonate themselves taking out as many of our boys as possible. My brother's "job" was to shoot them before they got to camp and if they didn't detonate when they were shot, another group of men would come out and set off the booby traps right where they lay. There was no real way to disarm them whether the person was alive or dead.

My brother was raised to never hurt and in fact to protect women and children. It was hell for him, but he knew that if they made it to camp they would blow up his comrades and that they were already dead anyways because they couldn't be disarmed. So, he looked through the scope of his gun, targeted them between the eyes and fired hoping the shot would take them out instantly and destroy enough of their faces that the guys coming in to detonate them wouldn't have to look into their dead eyes and faces when they did it. He was injured in combat and received a Purple Heart and, I believe, a Bronze Star for saving a guys life another time.

My nephew couldn't afford to go to school, so he joined the Air Force in order to get an education. By going Air Force and with his grades he was assured of never having to carry a gun in combat and receiving his education while serving. He became a Communications Officer, served duty at the White House during which time his biggest risk was riding a couple vehicles back of the POTUS during motorcades and, of course, 9/11. He got me a crystal thingy when the Clintons were in France not even realizing what Baccarat was til I told him. No biggie, his job paid him large bank. He did also wind up serving in the Korean DMZ, but it wasn't exactly "hot" anymore and his job meant he got nowhere near any action. He has never fired a weapon at another human being and was never shot at though he is certainly responsible for many deaths. He retired at 40 after 20 years of service.

My nephew now lives in his home state on a full pension along with Veterans Health Care for life from the military with his wife and child and he gets +$100K a year in the private sector due to the education and security clearance he received from the military while serving.

My brother never got his education. He never got over killing those women and children he had to look in the eyes before firing either and he saw their faces in his dreams and even, sometimes, when awake. It really didn't help that returning vets at the time were being spit on and called "baby killers", considering that is exactly what he had to do even if he tried to do it as mercifully as possible. When he was 22 he couldn't take seeing those faces anymore and he couldn't forgive himself for what he had done, so he killed himself. I was 8 years old and never got to know him. Neither did his daughter whom we met at his funeral. All I remember of him as a child was whenever a plane flew overhead running to my mom and asking if it was bringing my bubba back. Last time I saw him was when they brought him to us in a box.

I don't know what happened to the crystal thingy my nephew got me. I think I left it at my sister's house before I left for home. I KNOW the dolls my brother sent my sis and me are in safe storage at her house waiting for my girls when they are old enough to understand how very much they mean.

So, tell me folks, which one of the boys received the most psychological damage and the most reward for their service?

[spacemonkey]

We sanitize overkill by just calling it collaterol damage. Regardless if its manned or not, someone still has to hit the fire button don't they? If not, thats fkn scary as hell.

[Mo~]

My nephew's service awards will reward him far greater back home than my brother's Purple Heart ever did and it ain't nearly as scary to hit a fire button at a distant target as it is to pull the trigger on someone shooting back at you.

[exploited]

You realize that drone operators see more detail than most ground troops right?