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November 1, 2013
Confessions of an American Drone Operator
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..... 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. - - - G.Q.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at November 1, 2013 6:56 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
These guys are pilots?
Posted by: BillH at November 2, 2013 8:19 AM
This entire work has been proven to be Bullshit. The author is a lying, glory seeking, piece of crap. Not one thing he wrote was even close to the truth. He has been proven to be a self serving phony of the lowest sort. Disgraceful!
Posted by: Roger in Republic at November 2, 2013 11:16 AM
Since when does the Air Force allow smoking inside the containers where they fly UAVs?
Posted by: Scott M at November 2, 2013 10:33 PM
Scott, as I remember from the early 70's (yes, the Air Force had drones back then, look it up) they did not allow smoking in the vans. I was a drone-tracking radar operator and also a smoker at the time. The size of the van we used was about 8' x 12' and I suspect that wasn't enough cubic feet of air space to accommodate two breathing people and cigarette smoke as well. That being said, I suspect you could smell the stale cigarette smoke (and sweat) on my clothes when the door was shut. And BillH, yes the drone-flyers back then were pilots who could no longer fly planes for physical or other reasons.
Posted by: drdave at November 3, 2013 7:10 AM