Drone Is Suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

This came in this morning and right away I felt my blood pressure go up. I clicked the link and it was broken. No surprise there but it did leave me wondering what the hell they were thinking putting it up in the first place.

This Lethal Drone Is Suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder And Can No ...
Business Insider

At least no more real than the concern of troops who wrote it. Kandahar, Afghanistan – In the latest setback to America's drone war over Pakistan, one of its MQ-9 Reapers was recently diagnosed with a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
broken link

Reaper drone pilot talks about "kill shot a world away"

A Day Job Waiting for a Kill Shot a World Away
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: July 29, 2012

HANCOCK FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.Y. — From his computer console here in the Syracuse suburbs, Col. D. Scott Brenton remotely flies a Reaper drone that beams back hundreds of hours of live video of insurgents, his intended targets, going about their daily lives 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan. Sometimes he and his team watch the same family compound for weeks.

“I see mothers with children, I see fathers with children, I see fathers with mothers, I see kids playing soccer,” Colonel Brenton said.

When the call comes for him to fire a missile and kill a militant — and only, Colonel Brenton said, when the women and children are not around — the hair on the back of his neck stands up, just as it did when he used to line up targets in his F-16 fighter jet.

Afterward, just like the old days, he compartmentalizes. “I feel no emotional attachment to the enemy,” he said. “I have a duty, and I execute the duty.”
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Military Drone Crews, psychologically, they're in the middle of combat

Stress of combat reaches drone crews
By DAVID ZUCCHINO
Los Angeles Times
Published: March 18, 2012

BRIAN BENNETT/LOS ANGELES TIMES
Reporting from Washington — Drone crews protect U.S. ground troops by watching over them 24 hours a day from high above. Sitting before video screens thousands of miles from their remote-controlled aircraft, the crews scan for enemy ambushes and possible roadside bombs, while also monitoring what the military calls "patterns of life."

Only rarely do drone crews fire on the enemy. The rest of the time, they sit and watch. For hours on end. Day after day.

It can get monotonous and, yes, boring.

It can also be gut-wrenching.

Crews sometimes see ground troops take casualties or come under attack. They zoom in on enemy dead to confirm casualties. Psychologically, they're in the middle of combat. But physically most of them are on another continent, which can lead to a sense of helplessness.
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Robotic warfare pilots had to watch troops die then go home

The next time you have a tough day at the office, think about what they go through doing their jobs.

'They circled above and watched U.S. soldiers die in front of them'
Story Highlights
Robotic warfare allows pilots to control armed vehicles without risk to themselves

Military experts are now looking at the psychological impact this may have on pilots

Pilots now transition from battlefield to home environment in less thna an hour

Some pilots wlecome (welcome) operating from the U.S. rather than being deployed overseas


From Nic Robertson
CNN Senior International Correspondent


(CNN) -- The Pentagon has revolutionized warfare during the past decade, making unmanned aerial vehicles, known as UAVs, a staple of modern combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.


A USAF technician at Creech, Nevada, checks Hellfire missile attachements on a Predator.

Remotely-controlled drones, such as the Predator and the Reaper, have allowed the U.S. military to spy on and attack enemy combatants without putting their own forces at risk, thereby making UAVs a must-have.

Some describe it as a version of post-traumatic stress disorder, often more associated with soldiers directly in harm's way. Peter Singer, an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign team and author of 'Wired for War,' described one encounter with a frustrated non-commissioned officer.

"She actually banged the table, saying: 'No one is paying attention to this issue of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] among my men and women, no one's paying attention to it," Singer says. "And she talked about a scene where they were flying a drone above a set of U.S. soldiers that were killed and the drone was unarmed at the time and they couldn't do anything about it. They just circled above and they watched U.S. soldiers die in front of them." Watch the debate about the impact of UAVs on pilots »

USAF fighter pilots like Major Morgan Andrews remotely control drones from Creech airbase in Nevada. Less than an hour after targeting he'll be back in suburban Las Vegas, his drive home more physically dangerous than the combat mission he has just undertaken.
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They circled above and watched U.S. soldiers die in front of them