I'm not an idiot, I simply lack empathy or understanding how someone who voluntarily signed up to fly drones in a time of war could not have been mentally prepared for what he was doing; thousands of soldiers get their hands actually bloody and don't whine and cry about the things they've seen.
Last edited by Clevername; 2013-06-08 at 05:15 PM. Reason: typo
Nothing funny about it. It's a pretty cold hearted individual that can push a button to launch a nuclear missile and not feel any remorse just because the target is hundreds of miles away. This is the same thing, but on a smaller scale.
Snipers sometimes feel guilt for killing targets that have no realistic chance to fight back. It doesn't have the same sense of "honorable" combat as engaging someone head-on (though depending on the intent, like taking out a suicide bomber before he reaches his target it can be very honorable). Drone pilots very much go through the same emotions.
When you can end the lives of hundreds of people remotely with little to no effort, I think that will have a negative impact on the mind. If you can murder so easily, your own life seems extremely vulnerable in return. And what you eyes don't see, your mind fills in - and the mind is very vivid and creative.
So I think you're wrong to laugh at someone's suffering. Extremely wrong.
But some still get PTSD. Just because you volunteer, know what you are getting yourself into, and are told what you are getting yourself into doesn't mean you are immune from PTSD. I think you just don't understand what PTSD is since your comments don't mesh with facts and reality of PTSD.
"Man is his own star. His acts are his angels, good or ill, While his fatal shadows walk silently beside him."-Rhyme of the Primeval Paradine AFC 54
You know a community is bad when moderators lock a thread because "...this isnt the place to talk about it either seeing as it will get trolled..."
A lot of drone pilots didn't specifically sign on for that purpose, they joined the service and their talents were deemed suitable for that role and were assigned as such.
A lot of soldiers on the frontlines do experience PTSD, but even setting that aside, it's different when the target can fight back. "It was him or me. Every I target I killed could fight back." No so with drone pilots, so there's a different sense of "guilt".