OrionHunter
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The navigator takes another look at the target area – a flat-roofed mud house, with a shed nearby – a home for goats. The navigator receives the order to fire. He marks the roof of the house with a laser. Next to him, the pilot pulls a trigger that launches a Hellfire missile. Time to impact: 16 seconds. As the moments tick by, the navigator watches. He has the ability to divert the missile from the target for nine seconds after launch. Nothing happens… for 13 seconds. Then a child walks out around the corner of the mud house. Three seconds later, the house, the shed and the child are gone.
The pilot and the navigator are halfway across the world from their target in Afghanistan, sitting in a room in New Mexico. The craft they are handling is a Predator drone, the US’s weapon of choice in its Afghan war.
The American Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimated that more than 168 children had been killed by drone attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of the war. The American response – as demonstrated by a US military quote in the Military Times – was to label children as legitimate targets.
In Spiegel Online, Nicola Abe profiles one of America’s drone warriors. He is the navigator in New Mexico, a 20-something called Brandon Bryant. Bryant has completed 6000 hours operating drones in his six-year stint with the US Air Force. In that time, he says, “I saw men, women and children die… I never thought I would kill that many people. In fact, I thought I couldn’t kill anyone at all.”
Bryant’s first missile killed two men, and left a third in mortal agony. The man’s leg was missing and he was holding his hands over the stump as his blood flowed onto the ground – for two long minutes. The incident left Bryant weeping on his drive back home. He broke up with his girlfriend, as the couple could not handle the stress the job put on him.
Bryant quit the air force after he found himself asking, “Which motherfu@ker is going to die today?”
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Not all Americans are gung-ho about drone attacks. Many of the so called drone warriors suffer pangs of guilt and extreme trauma as they watch the death and destruction they cause after pressing the red button on the joystick.
The pilot and the navigator are halfway across the world from their target in Afghanistan, sitting in a room in New Mexico. The craft they are handling is a Predator drone, the US’s weapon of choice in its Afghan war.
The American Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimated that more than 168 children had been killed by drone attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of the war. The American response – as demonstrated by a US military quote in the Military Times – was to label children as legitimate targets.
In Spiegel Online, Nicola Abe profiles one of America’s drone warriors. He is the navigator in New Mexico, a 20-something called Brandon Bryant. Bryant has completed 6000 hours operating drones in his six-year stint with the US Air Force. In that time, he says, “I saw men, women and children die… I never thought I would kill that many people. In fact, I thought I couldn’t kill anyone at all.”
Bryant’s first missile killed two men, and left a third in mortal agony. The man’s leg was missing and he was holding his hands over the stump as his blood flowed onto the ground – for two long minutes. The incident left Bryant weeping on his drive back home. He broke up with his girlfriend, as the couple could not handle the stress the job put on him.
Bryant quit the air force after he found himself asking, “Which motherfu@ker is going to die today?”
e-paper Sign-in
Not all Americans are gung-ho about drone attacks. Many of the so called drone warriors suffer pangs of guilt and extreme trauma as they watch the death and destruction they cause after pressing the red button on the joystick.
