Why Drone Pilots Deserve Medals

If we mark military prowess merely by personal physical exposure, then yes, a blurry line has been crossed as Air Force pilots move from, as Blair put it, ?ten thousand feet? to ?ten thousand miles.? That makes it more difficult to justify awarding traditional combat medals to drone pilots. But that is where the proposed drone-pilot medals come in: They will help retain the meaning of existing medals, award those who perform their duties exceptionally, and, perhaps most importantly, could also help address, rather than exacerbate, a popular concern: that drones diminish accountability. Don?t we want drone pilots to be aware of their great responsibilities and to be rewarded for exercising them honorably? The proposed Distinguished Warfare Medal makes sense because it recognizes that drone pilots are engaged in deadly serious warfare. In a context where sparing civilian lives should be of the utmost importance, formalities that set apart flying a drone from playing a video game should be welcomed, not castigated. (As the New York Times? Elisabeth Bumiller reported this week, in some ways drone warfare is actually more intimate than flying fighter planes.) The flight suits drone pilots wear presumably serve the same ends.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c491bbf8ac94b09fcbdf8cb0190f2449

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