A medal for real soliders

I have a question if real soliders participate in our club and have had to take ab LoA because they were deployed. I belive that they should recive a special honor in perhaps the form of a medal or citation of some sort. I was wondering what other members thought about this and whom would I submit this proposal to.

I have a question if real soliders participate in our club and have had to take ab LoA because they were deployed. I belive that they should recive a special honor in perhaps the form of a medal or citation of some sort. I was wondering what other members thought about this and whom would I submit this proposal to.


I think its a good idea, but would it only apply to US Army, or all services in the coalition?

A few DJBers are in the US military, though exactl;y who I can't tell you.

I know I might come off sounding like a jerk for this but I'm not sure if it'd be right to give them special awards, only because we are an international organization and some countries might not think as highly of American soldiers as Americans do.

Who said he was talking about American soldiers? All he said was soldiers that were currently deployed in the Middle East.(Although he didn't even say Middle East I assume thats what he meant.)

No, no special medals. If you know someone who's being deployed or is back then you can give them special thanks and what not. But yeah, no special medals.

No special medals. Leave this stuff out of the DB.

I don't agree that it has to be left out of the DB. I think we can recognize people for efforts in the real world, because we are a community, and not just about gaming. However, I wouldn't be inclined to go along with medals, or commendations. People who serve in their country's respective armies are likely to receive commendation from that country, as well as their friends and family. I think that's where it should stay, as far as official merits, and such.

I don't see any problem with commending people on the message boards, such as the Soap Box forum, since it's meant for "off-topic" discussion. I don't see anything wrong with commending people in a news post when the need arises, or even making special announcements during the meetings in #db Saturdays, or other such places. We can certainly give recognition, and we can even extend that to other areas. We can congratulate people for graduating high school or college. We can, and do congratulate people for getting engaged/married, as well as having babies. We can recognize people for their defense of their countries, and their families, no matter who they are, what country they hail from, etc.

I have to agree with BF I think there is a place for it (although not just for soliders many people perform vital roles which are just as important and stressful) but I think it should be a message board thing (or the odd news post) but not a profile thing, we are dark jedi in are profiles so RL achievement does not really have a place there (although I may request a change to Dr. Predator when I get my PhD!)

No medals. A couple of reasons:

1. The Dark Brotherhood is about escapism and getting away from the real world. We come here to avoid the problems of real life and have fun. War is not fun. War has no place in a gaming club. You keep war out of international sport, likewise you keep it out of international video gaming.

2. The Dark Brotherhood is neutral and independant. Who says every member of the Dark Brotherhood supports America? Quite frankly, as absurd as it may sound, we would have no right to refuse membership to a Star Wars fan who was also a member of a terrorist group. That's an extreme example. But not everybody supports the same wars or the same political attitudes. Formal recognition is a sign of support and taking sides in the political debate. I'm not too sure all of our members would really appreciate that, especially given that we do have members from all different backgrounds, religions, cultures and countries. While we may not have any members in the DB who are also members of al'Qaeida you get my point: there will be members who don't agree with recognising the operations of the armed forces of other countries. We're not all American. We also have quite a few Muslim members, I'd rather we not offend them, as they come here to escape the crap that goes on in the real world.

That said, if you want to commend people on the Message Boards, sure, whatever. But bare in mind what I've said: not everybody supports the actions taken by America, Britain and whatever other countries. Not just in terms of Iraq, but in terms of Vietnam, World Wars, Colonial Wars, etc. This is a very multi-culutural club. Try talking about this kind of stuff for five minutes on IRC and you'll get into a seriously heated argument.

I agree with goat on this one, (for a change)

I second that. No brotherhood medals for IRL stuff!

I agree with bf.

We're not giving medals for military action, nor was it just aimed at rewarding American soldiers. If you look at the original statement, it only mentioned "real life soldiers." This wasn't a question about rewarding people for being "good American patriots," or anything of the sort, and I make this statement just so everyone remembers that.

Also, we've pretty much solved the issue. Anyone who wants to recognize anyone (be they military or otherwise) for some point of commendation, can do so on the message boards, in the Soap Box forum. I'd say the general membership can feel good about that, and it's not going to show favoritism by any means, only that one of the membership simply wants to recognize a friend.

alright I never said just American and I know that we have some anti-war supporters and beside I was just kicking it around. Because I got an e-mail from a friend who is in the Rogues now who is currently deployed in Iraq (OP Silent)

Like I said I was just kicking it around. If it seems like a bad idea to some people, or that the RL shouldn't take part in the DB, or some other reason why you don't think it should happen it makes no never mind to me. I just thought that someone who is risking their life for what we have not only in the US but in the UK and other people who enjoy the same freedoms and liberties that americans enjoy.

But anyway... I just thought I'd say what I thought.

alright I never said just American and I know that we have some anti-war supporters and beside I was just kicking it around. Because I got an e-mail from a friend who is in the Rogues now who is currently deployed in Iraq (OP Silent)

Like I said I was just kicking it around. If it seems like a bad idea to some people, or that the RL shouldn't take part in the DB, or some other reason why you don't think it should happen it makes no never mind to me. I just thought that someone who is risking their life for what we have not only in the US but in the UK and other people who enjoy the same freedoms and liberties that americans enjoy.

But anyway... I just thought I'd say what I thought.




And that's the reason why we don't discuss politics in here. Topic closed.

I just thought that someone who is risking their life for what we have not only in the US but in the UK and other people who enjoy the same freedoms and liberties that americans enjoy.

The trouble with that is that you could equally say "I just thought that someone who is risking their life for what we have not only in Iraq but in the rest of the middle east and other people who enjoy living their lives as they see fit without intervention from the West." (sic. - I realise this isn't a proper sentence )

I'm not trying to start an argument or extend the topic ad infinitum... but Callus, you need to be very clear that, whilst you have an absolute right to support your soldiers in war, this isn't an American club. There are probably many anti-war supporters and maybe even some people who take the opposing view to yourself in this club. Would you be happy for an Iraqi soldier who has just returned home after fighting American soldiers to be given the same (proposed) medal as your American friend?

Either way, I agree with Goat. It's far too complicated to bring RL politics into the DB. Chat about it on the forums/irc by all means, but bear in mind how diverse this club is, and try and be sensitive to other POVs.

Oops, I didn't realise Khan had actually closed the topic Ah well...