it's all just a game

During the bombing of Iraq back in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm a flight of B-52Gs launching from and returning to Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, struck targets inside Iraq. This was at the time the longest distance combat mission in history: 35 hours and 14,000 statute miles round trip, the pilots were practically home on time for their dinner with their family.

A record at the time it was nonetheless impressive, but today the round trip of killing people at the other side of the world has changed dramatically since now the pilots of these unmanned MQ-1 Predator drones literally mean the pilot doesn't have to leave home, as this PBS video details the pilots of them at their base in Nevada as they kill Taliban fighters in Pakistan.



What first came to my mind was its similarities to a video game, playing online shooters was always a great satisfaction (especially against strangers) because every time you shoot a person you know that some else will see the words 'You're Dead' across their screen, you haven't really killed anyone but it's still pretty fun and well worth it to know you pissed someone off that you'll probably never meet.

George Gittoes documentary Soundtrack To War details the PlayStation generation soldiers in Iraq and how different they thought the war was going to be for them.

This doesn't really run through with the Predator drone pilot since not only are they killing from medium altitudes but also from thousands of miles away, it's not at all the same psychologically.



Although Predator controllers do have to solve problems to succeed in the mission they don't risk their lives and in the end just have to finish the game before them regardless of how many civilians they kill in the meantime or the sovereignty of Pakistan.