Record Number of Drone Pilots Quit

A chilling new post-traumatic stress disorder: Why drone pilots are quitting in record numbers 
A raft of data suggest our remote-controlled war games are taking a steep psychological toll on their players
Salon
PRATAP CHATTERJEE,
TOMDISPATCH.COM
FRIDAY, MAR 6, 2015

The U.S. drone war across much of the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa is in crisis and not because civilians are dying or the target list for that war or the right to wage it just about anywhere on the planet are in question in Washington. Something far more basic is at stake: drone pilots are quitting in record numbers.

There are roughly 1,000 such drone pilots, known in the trade as “18Xs,” working for the U.S. Air Force today. Another 180 pilots graduate annually from a training program that takes about a year to complete at Holloman and Randolph Air Force bases in, respectively, New Mexico and Texas. As it happens, in those same 12 months, about 240 trained pilots quit and the Air Force is at a loss to explain the phenomenon.

On January 4, 2015, the Daily Beast revealed an undated internal memo to Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh from General Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle stating that pilot “outflow increases will damage the readiness and combat capability of the MQ-1/9 [Predator and Reaper] enterprise for years to come” and added that he was “extremely concerned.” Eleven days later, the issue got top billing at a special high-level briefing on the state of the Air Force. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James joined Welsh to address the matter. “This is a force that is under significant stress — significant stress from what is an unrelenting pace of operations,” she told the media.

In theory, drone pilots have a cushy life. Unlike soldiers on duty in “war zones,” they can continue to live with their families here in the United States. No muddy foxholes or sandstorm-swept desert barracks under threat of enemy attack for them. Instead, these new techno-warriors commute to work like any office employees and sit in front of computer screens wielding joysticks, playing what most people would consider a glorified video game.
read more here

Not new and not improved. I checked the posts on Wounded Times for the drone pilots. Here's how far back the reports go. The link to the original source is up.

Remote warfare ushers new kind of stress
July 2009 CNN
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 than an hour
Some pilots welcome operating from the U.S. rather than being deployed overseas

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

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.

"That lack of control is one of the main features of producing stress," said Air Force Col. Hernando Ortega, who discussed results of a survey of Predator and Reaper crews at a recent conference in Washington, D.C. They ask themselves, he said: "Could I have done better? Did I make the right choices?"

The Air Force is only now becoming aware of the toll — which Air Force psychologists call combat stress — posed by drone crews' job, even as the drone workload is growing.
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PTSD in Drone Pilots shows how non-deployed are at risk too

The drone pilots getting hit by PTSD without having to set foot in combat can help with understanding how non-deployed troops can suffer from it as well.

Women are more likely to suffer from PTSD as pointed out by the Mayo Clinic. Here is the list of causes. Notice right at the top is combat exposure.

Kinds of traumatic events
Post-traumatic stress disorder is especially common among those who have served in combat. It's sometimes called "shell shock," "battle fatigue" or "combat stress."

The most common events leading to the development of PTSD include:
Combat exposure
Rape
Childhood neglect and physical abuse
Sexual molestation
Physical attack
Being threatened with a weapon
But many other traumatic events also can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, including fire, natural disaster, mugging, robbery, assault, civil conflict, car accident, plane crash, torture, kidnapping, life-threatening medical diagnosis, terrorist attack and other extreme or life-threatening events.

So how can they get it without risking their lives? Seeing it happen in front of their own eyes.
There have been few studies on non-deployed forces and the psychiatric illness. NON-BATTLE INJURY & NON-BATTLE PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS IN DEPLOYED AIR FORCE MEMBERS by Melinda Eaton in 2010.

The overall incidence of non-battle non-drug psychiatric illness in deployed Air Force members was 7.76 non-battle non-drug psychiatric illnesses per 1,000 person-years deployed. The incidence of non-battle non-drug psychiatric illness increased as the operations progressed with the invasion phase and both stabilization phases having a higher incidence rate than the buildup phase. Higher incidence rates were also seen in females, junior officers, and the Reserve members. Results from this study are intended to facilitate the development of proper training and prevention programs to maximize operational efficiency as well as to reduce non-battle injuries and non-battle psychiatric illnesses in a deployed environment.

There have been even less studies on how many develop PTSD after training even though the method of training has changed over the years to reflect the way wars are fought. Gone are the days when members of a nation wore uniforms and respected the rules of war.

As training for ground forces has evolved, so too has the training for pilots when they sit in a building thousands of miles away from combat, watching, waiting and witnessing what is happening to the ground forces as well as civilians topped off with armed drones able to participate in the action.

This is a good look at what we're talking about.

Drone Pilots Are Found to Get Stress Disorders Much as Those in Combat Do
New York Times
By JAMES DAO
Published: February 22, 2013

In the first study of its kind, researchers with the Defense Department have found that pilots of drone aircraft experience mental health problems like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress at the same rate as pilots of manned aircraft who are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The study affirms a growing body of research finding health hazards even for those piloting machines from bases far from actual combat zones.

“Though it might be thousands of miles from the battlefield, this work still involves tough stressors and has tough consequences for those crews,” said Peter W. Singer, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written extensively about drones. He was not involved in the new research.

That study, by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, which analyzes health trends among military personnel, did not try to explain the sources of mental health problems among drone pilots.

But Air Force officials and independent experts have suggested several potential causes, among them witnessing combat violence on live video feeds, working in isolation or under inflexible shift hours, juggling the simultaneous demands of home life with combat operations and dealing with intense stress because of crew shortages.
read more here

Air Force Paying Extra to Keep Drone Pilots

US Air Force Announces $15K Yearly Bonus to Retain More Drone Pilots 
Military.com
by Brendan McGarry
July 15, 2015

"In a complex global environment, RPA pilots will always be in demand," Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a statement. "We now face a situation where if we don't direct additional resources appropriately, it creates unacceptable risk. We are working hard to put solutions in place to bring needed relief to our airmen and ensure our actions show their value to our mission."

The U.S. Air Force will offer a new $15,000 annual bonus beginning in fiscal 2016 to entice more drone pilots to stay in the service.

The service on Wednesday announced the critical skills retention bonus for experienced operators of MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones who agree to a five- or nine-year service extension. Many airmen in the field have been leaving due to stress and burnout, creating a shortage that has forced commanders to scale back missions.

With total values ranging from $75,000 to $135,000 -- half of which could be paid up front -- the so-called re-up bonus will be offered to drone pilots in the 18X specialty code with at least six years of experience. It will take effect Oct. 1 and supersede a previous temporary increase in monthly incentive pay.
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PTSD price drone pilots pay for remote kills

PTSD And Drones: Emotional Costs Far Away From The Battlefield
(VIDEO)
HuffPost Live
Posted: 10/10/2012

Post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers returning from the battlefield is well-documented. But when drone pilots run missions from a world away, combat stress is just as serious.

HuffPost Lives Ahmed Shihab-Eldin spoke with several experts on the subject, discussing the likelihood of PTSD among drone pilots and how they are effected by the combat stress.

According to a recent survey of 900 drone crew members, 46 percent of active duty pilots reported high levels of stress.

Dr. Wayne Chappelle of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine described the symptoms of PTSD during the segment, noting that there are very clear markers -- including hyper-vigilance, avoidance and re-experiencing -- that must be met in order for the disorder to be considered PTSD.
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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.

Military Drone Crews, psychologically, they're in the middle of combat

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

Drone Pilots PTSD Study Links 17 Symptoms

Study: Drone Pilots Suffer PTSD Like Soldiers In Combat
CBS News Cleveland
August 21, 2014

For some of the pilots, the symptoms can be the same as for veterans returning from combat tours.

Pilots of remote controlled drones can suffer the same symptoms of PTSD as military personnel who have been under enemy fire.
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

DAYTON, Ohio (CBS Cleveland) – They are miles from the battlefield, watching war through video monitors and computer screens, but the men and woman who remotely operate military drones can still show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reports Live Science.

About 1,000 Air Force drone pilots completed questionnaires that listed 17 symptoms characteristic of PTSD, such as recurring nightmares, intrusive thoughts, trouble falling asleep and difficulty concentrating.

Researchers found that 4.3 percent of them suffered from moderate to severe PTSD.
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Drone pilots and PTSD

Combat Stress Felt Far From Front Lines
Mar 11, 2013
Associated Press
by Lolita C. Baldor

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- The gritty combat in Afghanistan is thousands of miles away.

But the analysts in the cavernous room at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia relive the explosions, the carnage and the vivid after-battle assessments of the bombings over and over again. The repeated exposure to death and destruction rolling across their computer screens is taking its own special toll on their lives.

The military has begun to grapple with the mental and emotional strains endured by personnel who may never come face to face with a Taliban insurgent, never dodge a roadside bomb or take fire, but who nevertheless may be responsible for taking human lives or putting their colleagues in mortal danger.

Now, for the first time, an Air Force chaplain and a psychologist are walking the floor of the operations center at Langley, offering counseling and stress relief to the airmen who scrutinize the war from afar.

Sitting at computer banks lining the expansive room, the Air Force analysts watch the video feeds streaming from surveillance drones and other military assets monitoring U.S. forces around the globe. Photos, radar data, full-motion video and electronically gathered intelligence flows across multiple screens. In 15- to 20-minute shifts, the airmen watch and interpret the information.
read more here
also
Hagel Will Not Reduce Drone Medal's Precedence
Mar 08, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will not alter the ranking of the recently announced Distinguished Warfare Medal, intended for drone pilots that has drawn controversy because it takes precedence over the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart.
In a letter to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the first group to come out against the new medal's ranking, Hagel said he is satisfied with the criteria and placement of the new medal. The medal is intended for drone pilots and cyber warfare specialists whose actions have a direct impact on combat operations.
"I have discussed at length the reasoning and process leading up to establishing the DWM with the [service secretaries and chiefs] and accept their judgment that the award is at the appropriate level," Hagel said in his letter.
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Confessions of a Drone Warrior

CNN Reported this back in 2007 about Drone Pilots and PTSD

"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.

Would have been great if someone did something about all of this back then. And now for the rest of the news that came because they didn't.
Former drone operator says he's haunted by his part in more than 1,600 deaths came out in June of 2013

Confessions of a Drone Warrior
GQ
Matthew Power
October 23, 2013

He was an experiment, really. One of the first recruits for a new kind of warfare in which men and machines merge. He flew multiple missions, but he never left his computer. He hunted top terrorists, saved lives, but always from afar. He stalked and killed countless people, but could not always tell you precisely what he was hitting. Meet the 21st-century American killing machine. who's still utterly, terrifyingly human

From the darkness of a box in the Nevada desert, he watched as three men trudged down a dirt road in Afghanistan. The box was kept cold—precisely sixty-eight degrees—and the only light inside came from the glow of monitors. The air smelled spectrally of stale sweat and cigarette smoke. On his console, the image showed the midwinter landscape of eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province—a palette of browns and grays, fields cut to stubble, dark forests climbing the rocky foothills of the Hindu Kush. He zoomed the camera in on the suspected insurgents, each dressed in traditional shalwar kameez, long shirts and baggy pants. He knew nothing else about them: not their names, not their thoughts, not the thousand mundane and profound details of their lives.

He was told that they were carrying rifles on their shoulders, but for all he knew, they were shepherd’s staffs. Still, the directive from somewhere above, a mysterious chain of command that led straight to his headset, was clear: confirmed weapons. He switched from the visible spectrum—the muted grays and browns of “day-TV”—to the sharp contrast of infrared, and the insurgents’ heat signatures stood out ghostly white against the cool black earth. A safety observer loomed behind him to make sure the “weapon release” was by the book. A long verbal checklist, his targeting laser locked on the two men walking in front. A countdown—three…two…one…—then the flat delivery of the phrase “missile off the rail.” Seventy-five hundred miles away, a Hellfire flared to life, detached from its mount, and reached supersonic speed in seconds.

It was quiet in the dark, cold box in the desert, except for the low hum of machines.

He kept the targeting laser trained on the two lead men and stared so intently that each individual pixel stood out, a glowing pointillist dot abstracted from the image it was meant to form. Time became almost ductile, the seconds stretched and slowed in a strange electronic limbo. As he watched the men walk, the one who had fallen behind seemed to hear something and broke into a run to catch up with the other two. Then, bright and silent as a camera flash, the screen lit up with white flame.

Airman First Class Brandon Bryant stared at the scene, unblinking in the white-hot clarity of infrared. He recalls it even now, years later, burned into his memory like a photo negative: “The smoke clears, and there’s pieces of the two guys around the crater. And there’s this guy over here, and he’s missing his right leg above his knee. He’s holding it, and he’s rolling around, and the blood is squirting out of his leg, and it’s hitting the ground, and it’s hot. His blood is hot. But when it hits the ground, it starts to cool off; the pool cools fast. It took him a long time to die. I just watched him. I watched him become the same color as the ground he was lying on.”
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Drone Pilots go from carnage to dinner table

Drone operators return to combat amid growing research they can suffer emotional strain, PTSD
Associated Press
Article by: JULIE WATSON
September 29, 2014

Then they might analyze the carnage and damage from bombings before driving home to eat dinner with their families and maybe play soccer with their children — a jarring shift that may contribute to stress, mental health experts say.

SAN DIEGO — President Barack Obama has assured Americans he opposes sending U.S. ground troops to crush Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria — well aware the country is not ready to return to the battlefield with its war wounded still recovering from a decade of conflict.

But airmen have been sent back into combat in the region with the focus on airstrikes, divided between fighter pilots and drone operators.

While drone operators are not physically in harm's way — they do their work at computer terminals in darkened rooms far from the actual battlefield — growing research is finding they too can suffer some of the emotional strains of war that ground forces face.

"It can be as impactful for these guys as someone in a foxhole," said Air Force spokesman Tom Kimball.

The Bush and Obama administrations have both used the 2001 authorization of force against al-Qaida to justify drone strikes against terror targets in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, drone operators pulled long shifts at U.S. bases, watching full-motion video across multiple screens. Some would follow the daily life of locals for months to assess threats before an airstrike was ordered.
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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.
read more here
They circled above and watched U.S. soldiers die in front of them

Reporting on Veterans inconsistent

Reporting on Veterans inconsistent
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 6, 2014

Media focus on ‘moral injury’ masks disregard of civilian war suffering, by Edward Rasserman in the Miami Herald is a very interesting read. Rasserman is right on what he wrote however it is based on a limited ability to discover what has actually been reported.

It is not the media as a whole to blame because reports have been out there for decades writing about the human price being paid by those we send to fight our battles. Sure, some skip over the details, minimize the report down to a certain predetermined word count their editor has space for. They only have a limited time to gather data, research, search and interview. Whatever the reporter is told by those they speak to, the end result comes from those constraints along with their own personal views. In other words, they take the easiest way out to deliver the story they want to.

"I was also impressed, once again, by how serious the news media’s coverage has been of today’s veterans. As early as 2007 conditions in the Army’s flagship Walter Reed Hospital prompted Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage by The Washington Post. The problems of brain injury, suicide rates, prosthetics, unemployment, psychological impairment, and the adequacy of the Veterans Administration’s response, continue to get sustained, compassionate news treatment unlike any that Vietnam-era veterans ever saw."

The reports have been out there all along however the best reporting does not come from the big boys in the press world. They come from cities and towns across the country covering local stories and trying to make a difference in their own communities.

Unlike the press, I don't have to worry about space or word count. I also don't have to worry that something I posted in 2007 will be gone. The link to the post on Wounded Times still works however the link to KCEN does not.

Rising suicide rate among U.S. soldiers hitting close to home
kcentv.com
Updated: Aug 22, 2007

The stress of combat is taking its toll on many soldiers.

In fact, according to the U.S. Army, last year there were 99 suicides; 30 of those happened in war zones.

It’s not a new trend, the same happened during wars like Vietnam.

According to the U.S. Army in 2005 there were 12.8 suicides per 100,000 soldiers.

That number increased last year with the army recording 17.3 suicides per 100,000 soldiers.

Staff Sgt. Derrick Degrate said he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress disorder after seeing too much in war.

"[I saw] people getting shot up, people getting blown up," Degrate said.

It took its toll, and while on a tour in Iraq he admits he tried to take his own life.

"So, I attempted suicide and, you know, and I was admitted to the hospital," Degrate added.

He said he was hospitalized for three days and then sent back to duty.

Stars and Stripes was reporting back in 2007 "VHA officials say 36 percent of the 1.5 million veterans enrolled in the VA health system have at least one mental health issue." Yet another article out of McClatchy reported "934,925 Veterans being treated by VA for PTSD" with a chart. Pretty shocking until you know that at the same time two wars were increasing the number of disabled veterans, the VA budget was no where near what it should have been. Staff was not added to take care of the increase and claims processors were not increased to take care of the claims.

There was trouble brewing back in 2006. The 2007 VA budget President Bush submitted sounded like a good thing until you knew what else was going on. "It takes a $13 million bite out of VA research. It also fails to provide sufficient funds for staffing and training in the Veterans Benefits Administration to address a claims backlog fast approaching one million." The budget also cut 1.2 million Priority 7 and 8 veterans along with increasing enrollment fees and payments for medications.

In 2006 the Hartford Courant was reporting on "mentally unfit being forced to fight" as soldiers were being redeployed with medications and no therapy. Later fantastic reporting covered more of this with Potent Mixture: Zoloft and A Rifle

As you can see, it isn't that the reporters are not doing their jobs.

The reports on Drone Pilots and PTSD have been out there and you can find more about drone pilots here. Reports on the suffering of servicemen and women suffering because of the civilian casualties have been out there along with suffering for their own brothers. There have been reports on healing as well but until the national news media actually exams their reluctance to pay attention to these reports, actually do research into how we ended up where we are, there will continue to be people unaware of what has been done all across the country.

As stated, links to news reports die as stories move them out of the way. The history however remains a factor in where we are and what we did not not know.

If you read something out of a known politically connected "news" source, then you will find the information they want to provide. It does not matter which side they are on. If you read major news reports you need to check out what else has been reported on the topic, no matter what that topic is, or you will be limited to what they want you to know as well. Consider the limitations the press has because it is important in all of this but then consider their lack of knowledge on the topics they are assigned. Most of the time they have little knowledge but are expected to get the story from interviewing people while lacking the ability to ask questions or challenge what they have just been told.

That is how we got here with reports making us believe that the backlog of claims are new, suicides are new along with everything else. Nothing is new but when news becomes history, it make it easier to think now is all that matters.

Guardian Angels Fly Over Ukraine. Why Isn't NATO?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 5, 2022

We have all heard the leaders of NATO nations say they will not enforce a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine. They say they don't want to start WWIII. The problem with that is, it already started. It started when Putin decided to invade Ukraine and didn't care what came with that choice for war.

Why aren't they explaining at what point do they plan to actually do something to stop him? What is risk of stopping him now? Do they actually think that prolonging the end result will be better than minimizing the slaughter of the Ukrainian people?

Putin hates many things. Democracy is bad for him. NATO is bad for him. His own people don't matter to him so what makes anyone think he will stop after Ukraine? He already started WWIII. The other thing they're missing is the simple fact that angels are already flying over Ukriane and could really use some help.

(WESH) "Kyiv needs you and your drone at this moment of fury!" read a Facebook post late last week from the Ukrainian military, calling for citizens to donate hobby drones and to volunteer as experienced pilots to operate them.

One entrepreneur who runs a retail store selling consumer drones in the capital said its entire stock of some 300 drones made by Chinese company DJI has been dispersed for the cause. Others are working to get more drones across the border from friends and colleagues in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

"Why are we doing this? We have no other choice. This is our land, our home," said Denys Sushko, head of operations at Kyiv-based industrial drone technology company DroneUA, which before the war was helping to provide drone services to farmers and energy companies.

Putin has targeted civilian populations, hospitals, schools and power plants without ever once considering how that will expose the entire world to poisonous clouds. How many more civilians deaths are acceptable? 

The Times UK

Kurilo, from Chuhuiv in the eastern Kharkiv region, narrowly escaped after a Russian missile struck her home on Thursday and she thanked a “guardian angel” for saving her life. “I never thought such a thing could happen. I never thought this would truly happen in this lifetime,” she said as she emerged in shock from the town hospital after treatment. Her comments were reported by Euronews and AFP.

Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception angels

Some say we should mind our own business because their eyes are closed to the simple fact that the entire world can in fact become another target of Putin's hatred. He started WWIII and it is up to the rest of the world to stop him.

I believe in God. I believe that we will all have to answer for what we have done while on this earth. We will all die one day and it will be too late to do the right thing when we had the chance to. Will the leaders of NATO have to explain whey they did do everything in their power to prevent more death?

I am praying for all of them to open their eyes and see what evil and lies are. Praying they see what truth and goodness are. Praying they open their hearts and minds so that God will give them the courage and strength to do the right thing. Praying God shows them the way to do the right thing before it is too late.

Putin already had his prayers answered when Satan began to deliver death at his hands.

It is time for better angels to fly over Ukraine!

DOD announces the "Distinguished Warfare Medal"

DOD announces the "Distinguished Warfare Medal"
By Jennifer Harper
The Washington Times

Drone pilots, heads up.

A new award becomes available, Defense Dept. officials say, in a few months. That would be the Distinguished Warfare Medal, meant to provide DOD-wide recognition for “extraordinary achievement, not involving acts of valor in combat, directly impacting combat operations of other military operations,” according to a memo from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday. The new “DWM” ranks below the Distinguished Flying Cross, but above the Bronze Star.
read more here

VFW wants Distinguished Warfare Medal rank reduced

VFW Wants New Medal Ranked Lower
Feb 14, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan

Barely 24 hours after the Pentagon announced its new medal for cyber warriors and drone pilots, the Veterans of Foreign Wars is demanding the decoration's ranking be lowered.

The Distinguished Warfare Medal is ranked above both the Bronze Star with Combat "V" and the Purple Heart – medals typically awarded for combat in which the servicemember's life is at risk.

"The VFW fully concurs that those far from the fight are having an immediate impact on the battlefield in real-time, but medals that can only be earned in direct combat must mean more than medals awarded in the rear," VFW National Commander John E. Hamilton said in a statement released Thursday. "The VFW urges the Department of Defense to reconsider the new medal's placement in the military order of precedence."

Hamilton said the new medal and its ranking "could quickly deteriorate into a morale issue."

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, who announced the new award on Wednesday, said the military needed a medal that recognizes that post-9/11 warfare is different with servicemembers at consoles in the U.S. directly affecting the outcome of enemy engagements.
read more here

DOD announces Distinguished Warfare Medal

Pentagon to review military medals including Fort Hood victims

Pentagon reviews will focus on military medals
The Associated Press
Published: March 20, 2014
12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has launched three separate reviews on how military medals are awarded, in the face of broad criticism over the inability to recognize heroism in incidents such as the Fort Hood shootings and aborted plans to create a new award for drone pilots.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signed a letter Thursday formally ordering a comprehensive yearlong study in military awards, saying it will primarily focus on whether the department adequately recognizes all levels of combat valor and if the award processes are appropriate.

In comments to Congress last week, Hagel said that as the U.S. comes out of its longest war, it's an appropriate time to do a complete review of all military decorations.

"As we scale back combat operations in Afghanistan at the end of this year, it is imperative that we use the lessons learned from 13 years of combat experience to improve the Department of Defense decorations and awards program," Hagel said in his letter to the Joint Chiefs and senior Pentagon leaders Thursday.
read more here

Fort Bragg Soldier charged with beating toddler, infant

Soldier charged with beating toddler, infant

Raeford, N.C. — A Fort Bragg paratrooper has been charged with beating his two young children, including one that is 7 weeks old, authorities said Tuesday.

Sgt. Alex Wayne Mages, 22, of 106 Dotson Drive, was charged with one count each of felony child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, felony child abuse inflicting serious injury and felony assault with a deadly weapon. He was being held Tuesday in the Hoke County Jail under a $150,000 secured bond.


Video here
Soldier charged with beating toddler, infant

go here for more
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3984269/

Mages was an unmanned drone pilot. Before you think that there is no chance he was affected by this, read this and understand there is a chance it was because he served. Don't assume anything yet.

Remote-control warriors suffer war stress too
by Scott Lindlaw / Associated Press
Thursday August 07, 2008, 3:45 PM



MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. -- Working in an air-conditioned trailer nicknamed the Dumpster, Predator pilots peer into Iraq through a bank of computers, operating by remote-control the drone via keyboard and chat software -- and occasionally unleashing missiles on enemy fighters.


When their eight-hour shifts are done, they merge onto the highway and blend into the Southern California suburbs.

For the growing number of air national guardsmen involved in unmanned combat missions, it can be a whiplashing daily transition, and one that is taking a toll on a few of them.

"When pilots finish their job sitting in the ground control station, they climb out of that thing, hop in their car and then they drive home, and they have just been basically at war," said Col. Albert K. Aimar, commander of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing here.

A Predator's video cameras are powerful enough to allow an operator to distinguish between a man and a woman, and between different weapons on the ground, unit commanders say. While the cameras' resolution is generally not high enough to make out faces, it is sharp, they say.

Aimar, a weapons system operator on F-4 fighters in the 1970s, said flying unmanned Predator drones in combat can weigh on a pilot and on the sensor operators who control cameras and weapons systems.

"When you come in (with a fighter) at 500-600 mph, drop a 500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said Aimar, who holds a bachelor's degree in psychology. "Now 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."

The 163rd has called in a full-time chaplain and has enlisted the services of psychologists and psychiatrists to help ease the mental strain from this remote-controlled fighting, Aimar said.

"We've been doing this for two years now, and we're pretty adaptable," Aimar said. But, he said, "It's causing some family issues, some relationship issues. It's just not something we ever had to deal with."

Similarly, chaplains have been brought on at Predator bases in Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
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/remotecontrol_warriors_suffer.html