USAF Enlists Shrinks To Help Drone Pilots Cope 587
An anonymous reader writes "Flying drones from halfway-across the world used to be considered a cushy military job. But the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have become so dependent on the robo-planes that the Air Force has called in chaplains and psychiatrists to help these remote-control warriors cope. 'In a fighter jet, "when you come in at 500-600 miles per hour, drop a 500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said Colonel Albert K. Aimar, who is commander of the 163d Reconnaissance Wing here and has a bachelor's degree in psychology. But when a Predator fires a missile, "you watch it all the way to impact, and I mean it's very vivid, it's right there and personal. So it does stay in people's minds for a long time."'"
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:5, Informative)
Jeremiah,
I have to disagree with you here. While I believe that our current policy with respect to Afghanistan and the export of the war on drugs to that region of the world is remarkably short sighted, indeed even foolish in both the long and short terms. I would also agree with you in that the current war in Iraq is a disaster of epic historical proportions that has been mismanaged by members of our government who have lied to the American public to further their own goals.
However, characterizing the work of the 432nd as equivalent to terrorist bombings is hyperbolic extremism. The work that I witnessed was remarkable in that the UAV squadrons have the time and take the effort to minimize collateral damage to both civilians and religious institutions. For instance, I watched while crews waited and followed confirmed roadside bombers while they left a Mosque crowded with other people. The crews waited patiently for those bombers to get to a safe distance before engaging them, preserving the life of everyone else in the mosque. This sort of thing happens every day and I'd argue that UAV operations are far more surgical, minimizing collateral damage because of the time that the crews are allowed to invest in their mission.
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:5, Informative)
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:1, Informative)
Bullshit. The goal of terrorism is to effect change through terror. One way of creating that terror is to hit civilian targets, although it's not the only way; often militaries use the excuse that the targets they're hitting serve a military purpose as well (broadcast facilities, power plants, water reclamation facilities, etc).
Bombing crap in order to make the enemy scared is terrorism. Shock and Awe was most certainly terrorism.
Show me where I said that. I said nothing of the kind. I said that there is nothing inherently wrong with the techniques and tactics used in asymmetric warfare. It also happens to be more competent and more intelligent, as shown by the obvious relative success of such tactics in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq. In a strictly numbers-based sense, such techniques are indeed better.
Which is why, if you'd read my comment, you'd notice the first sentence was 'it depends on how you define better'.
Re:I'm sure UAV piloting isn't easy, but (Score:4, Informative)
When an F-16 pilot's missions regularly last 10 hours straight, maintain full situational awareness of the field rather than the "Hey, you've got some friendlys to the west, try not to kill them" approach most fighter pilots exhibit, and forces him to watch the people he's killing blow apart rather than take a quick "Bombs away, and so am I" approach, we'll call it as demanding as a UAV mission. K?
Or rather, why don't you drop the machisimo and realize that stress comes in many forms and just because the different ways an F-16 pilot is stress don't match the ways a UAV pilot is doesn't one or the other can't equal or surpass the other.
Or are you one of those dicks who thinks that physical stress is the only kind out there and people affected by mental stress should just 'rub some dirt on it and man up'?
Re:Anatomy of your enemy: Anti-Flag (Score:5, Informative)
Er, a *very few* *specific* people attacked the US. I'll agree with you that those people responsible should be dealt with.
As far as Afghans go, "they" didn't attack your country, any more than "you" killed thousands of civilians in Iraq. By your logic, if Iraq had the resources to do it, the whole US should be a radioactive crater.
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:4, Informative)
First of all, the Taliban were not the official govenment of Afghanistan. They were not recognized by the US as a government and they did not have an extradiction treaty with the US. They were just the most powerful faction in a drawn out civil war. I'm not sure they would've been able to capture and deliver Osama Bin Laden.
Secondly, the US provided no proof of the involvment of Bin Laden. Most countries do not extradict people without proof.
I guess you are right. I mean, unless we had a VIDEO TAPE [npr.org] of Osama Bin Laden admitting to planning 9-11, I guess we shouldn't have gone in.
(Source is NPR, so take with salt):
According to a translated transcript issued by the Pentagon, bin Laden says the attacks on the World Trade Center did more damage than expected. "...we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower," he says, according to the transcript. "We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all. (...Inaudible...) due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped for."
This is just a crock of... (Score:3, Informative)
I am stationed at a base where they actually do this stuff, and they only have 1 shrink at the moment who just arrived. They were down to none, and had a civilian contractor filing in.
Trust me -- The USAF wants you to think they do what's right, but that is just Grade-A disinformation (or propaganda if you prefer).
In all honesty these people are pushed into dealing with their problems on their own, and the AF just covers their butt.
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:5, Informative)
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:3, Informative)
Re:UAV missions more demanding that you might expe (Score:3, Informative)
The Japanese were NOT about to surrender. It's a pride thing [associatedcontent.com]. Anyone in Japan's position who had the word "surrender" in their vocabulary WOULD have, but their military leaders pretty much didn't until they experienced the "vaporizing a cuple[sic] of important population centers" and realized that they would lose what they took through their early war action, period. Moreover, Hiroshima and Nagasaki actually weren't huge population centers... they were much more industrial centers, with a lower civilian population than MANY of the other targets that could have been hit.
Read a history book sometime, rather than sound bites. As well as books from BOTH sides of the Pacific. It might open your eyes.