Amusingly, you can win a medal for valor if you drop a 500 lbs. bomb from a F-16, but you get a thank you note for manning a successful drone mission. The Air Force doesn’t consider piloting a drone to involve combat and so it doesn’t involve courage. But I have to wonder how much courage it takes to fly a F-16 when there is no opposing Air Force and no anti-aircraft artillery. There is something to be said for performing a mission successfully and getting credit for it. But aside from the physical danger inherent in being a fighter pilot (whether in training or on an actual mission), I don’t see much distinction between the F-16 and the drone pilots.
Casual Observation
