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64 Comments
- jrm125, on 10/23/2009, -3/+21Split. It certainly de-personifies the horrors of war. On the other hand, it keeps our men and women safe.
As humans...I think it's an over all bad move to remove the horrors war brings in general and we shouldn't separate ourselves from that. I don't want to lose US troops...but honestly, the further removed we are from how terrible war is, the more wars we'll likely embroil ourselves in. - CanadianCheese, on 10/23/2009, -2/+16Agreed 100%. The day war has no consequences for one side is a bad day for humanity.
EDIT: Oh, and if that day ever comes, then it will automatically legitimize terrorism as a war tactic. - inactive, on 10/23/2009, -0/+9I sunk your battleship
- iopasd, on 10/23/2009, -1/+8inevitable
- SumoSniper, on 10/23/2009, -0/+5I think he was just having trouble expressing the way by which the system works. His intention is to shoot the ordered target, which I'm sure he's never failed to do. Whether that was the correct target isn't really up to him, and as such it's a difficult question to answer.
- norwegianlegion, on 10/23/2009, -1/+6Dugg for PBS. More people need to watch this and quit watching the mainstream monopolized networks.
- Mujokan, on 10/23/2009, -1/+5I think the decision to make the hit is at the intel level, and that the policy on what level of civilian casualties can be accepted comes from even higher up. A drone operator has more real-time info than a bomber pilot.
- Mujokan, on 10/23/2009, -3/+7The tech itself is fine. The problem is at the policy level.
You aren't going to get good policy by banning drones. It's an issue at the top command level that only got back to a modicum of sanity after Rumsfeld was kicked out. - trailmix10, on 10/29/2009, -2/+5Integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do
That probably won't mean much to you, but he's not lying. - Nicoon, on 10/23/2009, -1/+4↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A
- trailmix10, on 10/29/2009, -1/+4"The only difference between drone strikes and getting people to strap bombs to themselves is our way is much more technically advanced."
And our bombs are lazer guided, so we're not hitting non-combatants.
And we're not targeting non-combatants.
And we're not purely religiously motivated.
And our objective is not to strike fear into the population, only those who wish to kill us.
And we always have troops on the ground to verify the target.
Would you like any more differences?
From jp3-07.2: The term “terrorism” is defined as “the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”
UAVs are used to kill people who want to kill us or our countrymen before they can manage it. - BohicaTwentyTwo, on 10/23/2009, -2/+4A proper population-centric counterinsurgency plan, as recommended by GEN McChrystal and initally approved by President Obama, relies less on drone attacks. Instead, it uses troops on the ground who work closely with the civilian population to show their willingness to share their hardships while improving their security.
A counter terror focused plan, as forwarded by Vice President Biden, requires much less troops, but relies heavily on drone attacks special forces commando raids to kill terrorists hopefully before they can find a safe haven within the civilian population. - OliveStreet, on 10/23/2009, -2/+4As an American, I would rather have drone strikes instead sending actual US soldiers into harms way.
But it's got to be recognized that this is the US's version of terrorism. The only difference between drone strikes and getting people to strap bombs to themselves is our way is much more technically advanced.
The other thing to keep in mind is that a war cannot be won without putting actual people on the ground. Ask any general and he or she will tell you the same thing: Air combat only serves to terrorize and dishearten the enemy. It takes real people to occupy and hold territory. And without taking and holding the territory, the enemy will never leave and thus the war continues on. - tgc1, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2This is how Skynet happens. But don't worry, it'll all be over soon.
- iopasd, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2nicely put
- FakeHipster, on 10/23/2009, -1/+3For more, read the New Yorker this week. There's an article about Predator drones thats pretty interesting.
- wompninja, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2Ender's Game
- finneybear, on 10/23/2009, -4/+6I think the unmaned drones are awsome. One more awsome tool in our arsonal. The pilot does not get killed and gets to come home to his family alive. Fight them over there. War is hell and there is nothing fair about it. I think our military deserves anything they need to help them. Our president is ignoring them and letting them slowly get picked off one by one. I say to our troops give em' hell and America cares about you.
- gallagherFTW, on 10/23/2009, -0/+2based on real Pentagon documents i hear http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64779.html
- gallagherFTW, on 10/23/2009, -1/+3he looks down (i think in regret) then looks up and nods his head yes while saying no. I'm no "Cal Lightman" (Lie to Me) but that's pretty obvious he wasn't telling the whole truth.
i wonder if his son has ever asked him how many people he'd murdered that day at the dinner table. - pureopium, on 10/23/2009, -1/+2War = Depression
- BotchaMcCoola, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Sounds like you are on top it. How would you have prevented the Egyptian and Saudi 911 terrorists or any more like them that may be dreaming up something now? You may call the Afghanis and Iraqis terrorists but they don't scare us like the 911 types.
- dabestdefense, on 10/24/2009, -1/+2or does it kill future enemies?
- overtoke, on 10/23/2009, -1/+2you didn't dismantle anything
- stevebee, on 11/01/2009, -0/+1You think when it's a soldier directly shooting another soldier they don't hit people they never intended to hit?
- L0NER, on 10/23/2009, -2/+3the masters of war would use killer robots to ravage civilians, not preform some silly battle bots scenario.
- dalittle, on 10/23/2009, -1/+2It will work great against unfunded / unorganized enemies. Problem will be with an opponent with EMP or jamming technology. Then these remote weapons become useless.
- caution, on 10/23/2009, -1/+2For intel, yes.
For trigger pulling, no. - zantos420, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1good Lord :/
- Mujokan, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Not free.... http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/0910 ...
- bobo105, on 10/23/2009, -4/+5"So you don't think you've hit someone you've never intended to hit?"
"Err, no. I've- I've err" *Pause* "no"
Why do I get the impression that he's lying? - Manguskahn, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1Outstanding retort, chubbs.
- R3v0lution, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1If its as ***** as the execution of the movie GAMERS then I think it would blow.
- vertinox, on 10/23/2009, -2/+3This statement is false... As Europe knew how bad WWI was and still went headlong into WWII.
- BotchaMcCoola, on 10/23/2009, -2/+3The important thing is not to over-react to terrorism. You don't start wars over a terrorist crime unless you are as painfully stupid as Germany was in WW1 (Archduke assassination by Serb terrorists). The USA is doing 4 times as much damage to itself - each year -as the 911 crimes caused. What's the plan chief, make the Chinese laugh themselves to death?
- dabestdefense, on 10/24/2009, -0/+1I wonder what his ping is?
- trailmix10, on 10/29/2009, -1/+2What about the radicals in the middle east who go out and cohere 13 yr olds to strap bombs to their backs and go home every day like it's a normal job?
- m0rph, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1"The presence of women or children also would spark a robotic no-no."
So all the bad guys need to do is be drag queens or midgets to be exempt from robotic fire? - trailmix10, on 10/29/2009, -0/+1Well the latency for these things from Nevada to the Middle East is about 2 seconds, so we really shouldn't be needing the Korean's amazing reaction time.
- FriedBananaman, on 11/26/2009, -0/+1In a way I feel like these pilots controlling Predators and Reapers should probably be in closer to the area where they're fighting. Away from their families. Why? I feel like knowing that there are people in civilian settings who do this as a job could make it an easy mark for a business environment. A corporation could become a mercenary. Mercenaries Inc. The most powerful corporation in the world. The idea of these planes probably scare the ***** out of the enemy combatants and will make more people against us. Plus the targets of these planes would probably be so convinced that we are the devil that they might try and go for the people in the computer rooms.
The pilots of these planes could be one of three people: One, he/she could be perfectly disciplined and execute their duties. Two, he/she could disassociate from the killing, despite being reminded daily how it is definitely real, the excitement, fear, and anxiety could be too much for people to handle so that part of the brain becomes ignored more and more to help cope and function. This would lead to a lack of emotions and an increase in civilian deaths. And lastly three, he/she may not be able to handle the stress and actually suffer from PTSD. However, I suspect all three of these types of pilots may have varying degrees of PTSD.
What makes PTSD worse is being reminded of loss. When you see others lose their lives and live in a condition where your life could end at any time, being reminded that you have a family through constant telephone communication can make it worse in people with bad cases. Imagine actually living with your family while you're working this job. Around children. I'm sure the Air Force would say that most people are fine and it isn't very prevalent and the truth is that could very well be. I hope so, because if that's not the case then you may eventually bring the war to our soil again. But maybe that would be a good thing.
Imagine if a large percentage of the united states were employed by the Air Force to pilot the planes. You could have wars where all we would need to do is park a carrier next to a country, defend the carrier, and let the predators do all the work. You would win wars easily and if the system was democratic enough you could let the people decide when we are being inhumane, if we should get out of the wars we're in or if we should invest more heavily in areas of real danger. If we looked at this positively that might be good for the world. But would people really conduct themselves like that? Would all the years upon years of violent video war games condition us to kill for entertainment? I hope none of this happens at all to begin with. I don't know if we're responsible enough as the heavily, corporate-lobbied, governmental system that we are today to handle something like this getting out of control. Look at credit card companies, they're crazy... I could go on and on and on... but I won't. - duewydo, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1oh man, thanks for the reassurance. I feel better now.
- Xviper78, on 10/24/2009, -0/+1These people know that it's not a simulation, Ender didn't.
- iopasd, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1why? as stated elsewhere in this thread, they have real time information awareness.
- Nicoon, on 10/23/2009, -0/+1You could always alternate the frequency over a spread spectrum to counteract the jamming. As for EMP, wouldn't you think it would be better (and easier) to simply shoot the planes down?
Two reasons why shooting down the planes would be better than an EMP charge:
1) You wouldn't inflict damage on yourself. EMPs on high altitudes would be *bad*.
2) You'd still have to deliver the payload through a delivery system such as a missile. - austin63, on 10/24/2009, -0/+1Yes, uh, just one for the luckiest guy in the military
K&M or dual thumb-sticks? - Nicoon, on 10/24/2009, -0/+1Both your proposed countermeasures would severely cripple yourself more than the enemy.
- inactive, on 10/23/2009, -1/+1 It's sad but necessary and I hope they take the time to keep these soldiers fit mentally.
- dalittle, on 10/23/2009, -1/+1What if you had the capability to jam all frequencies for short periods? And the advantage of an EMP is you hit everything including what you do not know is even there.
- hasslinthehoff, on 10/23/2009, -1/+1And then Neo woke up in his pod covered in goo...
- Groovydoo, on 10/23/2009, -1/+1As long as Korea is on our side, Game ON!
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