Gunship, I was referring to an RPA fratricide incident that went down poorly under the circumstances I laid out; my reference to your background was to indicate that your are well aware that global SA that saves a frat is worthy of an award more valuable than a Bronze Star awarded to a guy at Bagram who processes award packages. Your response confirms your recognition of whether that's a recognizable achievement.
Moby, who said the Bronze Star is a combat based medal? It's not. The medal is routinely awarded for "meritorious service" which may include being a public affairs officer, running a FSS, or processing awards packages. The requirement to even be in a combat zone was imposed in 1999.
So, should the RPA driver who saves a fratricide above get a lesser medal than a deputy public affairs NCO who never leaves Balad AB? Should that deputy PAO get an award more valuable than a Purple Heart?
There is a lot of complaining about the first case potentially happening, but there sure hasn't been a lot if complaining about the second case that DOES happen almost daily.
PS: why is the fratricide issue such a worthy concern for a gunship crew but not for an RPA crew that is dropping GBU-12s and AGM-114s with half the SA building tools (or less) than a manned platform? They're just RPA guys, right?
As for my character, Gunship, I leave my preconceptions at the door. In this matter I have been rock solid consistent; as I've said many times on many threads on this board on this subject: The toughest part of being in combat for anyone firing or dropping ordnance IS NOT being in combat, the toughest part is KNOWING that you're not killing the wrong people. Do a search, you'll find that statement by me. I think the gunship crew you reference would agree. I give proper credit to shooters who employ air ordnance no matter where they sit, because that gunship crew would be having just as hard a time with the aftermath even had they employed via RSO. If there's anything I am past, even as someone who's been there done that, is all of this "I'm great because I exposed myself to danger" trash. The RPA, cyber, and intel communities are making SIGNIFICANT inputs into these combat operations and I don't begrudge their efforts because of where they sit.