On Tuesday, The New York Times published the latest look at drone pilots. These Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle operators are suffering such a high rate of exhaustion and stress that
the US Air Force has been forced to cut drone missions down from a high of about
65 a week. They also currently have about 500 fewer pilots than they need.
Though they get to fight their wars in safety, and see their families
every night, these new type of soldiers suffer from a surprisingly high burnout
rate, and equivalent levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to fighter pilots.
And though when that news first broke two years ago, the temptation
to be withering and unsympathetic was strong (okay,
maybe that was just me), perhaps that kind of a mental reaction says something
vital about the dangers of war to the human soul. Even people who aren’t themselves
in danger suffer when they’re killing innocent people.
Part of the stress comes from the fact that these 1200 pilots
are not in a battlefield setting. Strangely, but logically, controlling a surveillance
and/or killing machine from thousands of miles away, concern about backing up
manned personal, or more likely, worrying whether you’re hitting a would-be
terrorist or some innocent civilians is stressful, no matter if you are safe
in some bunker in Nevada. Seeing your spouse and kids a few hours later heightens
the alienation inherent in such a job. You’re on duty, but you’re at home. It
has to be disconcerting. After all, PTSD doesn’t tend to be about cracking up
on the battlefield. It’s about dealing with a banal job or life after you’ve
been trained to be on edge all the time. These pilots have to do that daily
in a manner which must feel like psychological whiplash.