The Secretary of Defense recently authorized a new medal for military service members, the Distinguished Warfare Medal (pdf). It can be awarded for members of the armed forces “who distinguish themselves, on or after September 11, 2001, by extraordinary achievement, not involving acts of valor, directly impacting, through any domain, combat operations or other military operations” which basically gives drone operators or cyber operators an opportunity to be recognized. This is not necessarily a bad idea, until one looks at the line reading that it “provides an avenue to recognize appropriately extraordinary direct impacts on combat operations warranting recognition above the Bronze Star Medal.” The order of precedence has stirred up a number of veterans calling the award an insult to those performing valorous or heroic acts. The term “xBox Medal” is definitely being thrown around within the ranks already. A petition is already on the White House website requesting the precedence be re-evaluated.