Behind and Beneath The Drones

FEBUARY 10, 2014

IRELAND (incl. tax)...............€4.50

UNITED KINGDOM..............£3.00

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: PREDATOR SENSOR OPERATOR

UNMANNED WAR? The Story Of How Remote Technology Is Changing Warfare And What That Means For The Pilots Of Tomorrow

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TIME

Vol. 183, NO. 5 | 2014 2 | Conversation

DRONE SPECIAL 2014 Military

BRIEFING

4 | Unmanned War Outline of the editorial feature of this issue of Time magazine

12 | Drone Survival Made by students, the poster details the likely drones you will see in the skies in the next few years

5 | MQ-1B Predator A simple fact sheet on the most common RPA systems used today

14 | Strike Posture One man’s story of how he became a drone sensor operator and how that has affected him

6 | Introduction What are RPAS’ and why the military winces if you call them drones.

7 | Operator Angst Dry days in Nevada; the effects of distance warfare on pilots and sensors operators in the war on terrorism 9 | Culture Of Fear The effects of living in constant anxiety under drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Ballet Dancer Meryl Davis White : Jared Wickerham - Getty Images

11 | Conclusive Statement Is Drone technology changing the face of war and the ethics of those who fight it?

A United States MQ-1B Predator Drone circles the sky on Dec. 18.

Image by Charles McCain - (Bureau Of Investigative Journalism 2012).

FEATURES

6 The Unmanned War

46 | Pakistan Strikes How the US strikes in Pakistan breakdown 50 | Glossary Military jargon is full of acronyms, look here to find out what they mean.

A Contextual essay on how the rise of drone technology has brought about a new set of ethical and psychological problems for people.

by Luke Anthony Firth

14 Strike Posture

A rare interview with an active duty Reaper drone sensor operator about how he became an operator and how it has affected him.

by Luke Anthony Firth

22 Pakistan Strikes

The count of deaths and strikes within Pakistan over the past few years visualised.

Image by Pitch Interactive; text by Luke Anthony Firth

51 | The Reference Columns Find out our sources and where to go for further reading

ON THE COVER

Photograph by Ivan Sekretarev - AP

For customer service and our general terms and conditions, visit timeeurope.com/customerservice or write to Time, P.O. Box20500, 1001 NM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. TIME is published by Time Magazine Europe Ltd. Blue Fin Building. 110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 OSU. There are six double issues. Each counts as two of 52 issues in an annual subscription. There may also be occasional extra issues. TIME is printed in the Netherlands. the Republic of South Africa and the United Kingdom. Le Directeur de la publication: Richard Evans. C.P.P.A.P. No visit timeeurope.com/customerservice or write to Time, P.O. Box20500, 1001 NM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. TIME is published by Time Magazine Europe Ltd. Blue Fin Building. 110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 OSU. There are six double issues. Each counts as two of 52 issues in an annual subscription.

There may also be occasional extra issues. TIME is printed in the Netherlands. the Republic of South Africa and the United Kingdom. Le Directeur de la publication: Richard Evans. C.P.P.A.P. No visit timeeurope.com/ customerservice or write to Time, P.O. Box20500, 1001 NM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. TIME is published by Time Magazine Europe Ltd. Blue Fin Building. 110 Southwark Street, London, SE1 OSU. There are six double issues. Each counts as two of 52 issues in an annual subscription. There may also be occasional extra issues. TIME is printed in the Netherlands. the Republic of South Africa and the United Kingdom. Le Directeur de la publication: Richard Evans. C.P.P.A.P. No visit timeeurope.com/customerservice or write to Time, P.O. Box20500, 1001 NM Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

TIME February 10, 2014

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WORLDVIEW | MILITARY

THE HUMANS BEHIND AND BENEATH THE EYE OF THE DRONES

In all the whirlwind of media coverage of drones and their political consequences, We forgot to ask what effect this technology is having on those people most touched by it.

By Luke Anthony Firth

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Photograph Of Brandon Bryant, ex-drone operator who is ‘haunted’ by his time at war (The Muslim Times 2013)

Predator

Lockheed Martin MQ-1B Remotely Piloted Aerial System

Wingspan: 16.8m (55ft) Length: 8.2m (27ft) Speed: 135-217kph (84-135 mph) Range: 1,240k, (770 miles) Endurance: >24 Hours Unit Numbers: USAF: 157 RAF: 5

Unit Cost:

$20m per system (includes four aircraft, ground control station and satellite link).

Geographic Operation:

Data provided by: Drone Wars UK (2011), Martins M (2010), Reddit (2013), RAF MOD (2013).

USAF/RAF: Afghanistan CIA: Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen Iraq, Libya, Syria.

GCS In US/UK Airforce Base

Local Airbase (Usually In Country).

Pilot:

Launch Team:

Sensor Operator:

JTAC:

Flies the aircraft, launches hellfire missile.

Controls the camera and targeting laser for missile.

Image Analysts:

Constantly review the images broadcast by the camera.

TIME February 10, 2014

Launch and land the RPA from airbase.

Embedded in ground troops that command air support.

Armament:

2 x AGM-114 Hellfire Missile IR Laser Designation For Missiles And Other Airstrikes

Mix Of Four Types: • M - Fused to detonate after initial impact on wall or armour.

• K - Two shaped charge designed to destroy armour.

• Special K - K model wrapped in scored steel for anti personnel shrapnel.

• P - Newer variant follows laser designation closer.

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WORLDVIEW | MILITARY

‘A good analogy is the flying machine. It was science fiction, then the Wright brothers made it real. In WWI they were used first for observation and then we jury rigged them with weapons before designing them for combat. Then much of that technology that was developed for that spread out to the domestic world. Right now that’s exactly what we are seeing with drones.’ In recent years the use of Drones both domestically and in the military theatre have witness a near exponential increase, from numbering by the handful only a decade ago to over a 1000 large military drones in use today.

They are transforming the arena of battle with the ability to loiter in combat areas for prolonged periods without the risk of loss of allied life whilst Civilians and militants alike know that an unseen killer may be lurking above them at any time. Operators at computers, 7000miles or more removed from the combat are replacing traditional soldiers, jets and rifles. But with this new action at a distance granted through technology, what does it mean to those using it, those who live under it and moreover, what could this mean for the future of warfare? As a politically sensitive subject there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the use of drones, which in turn feeds the confusion that already exists about their very nature. A noted example comes from what we call them; the Predator 6

is by far the best recognised but watch the military cringe as by their definition it is not actually a drone. To them a drone is pilotless device that operates autonomously, often conjuring thoughts that it may be imbued with some form of independent will or ego. Rather, the Predator and all of its recognisable cousins are known as Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS). Drones in the traditional autonomous sense do still indeed exist and operate on a very small scale, but only in strict intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (IRS) roles and more importantly still requiring human control for combat operations.

This feature explores how the growing use of RPA systems affects those people involved, from the pilots, sensor operators and analysts to the civilian population. To discuss whether drones are something new, something innately good or bad or indeed simply just another technology to be determined by its users such as tanks, jets and helicopters before them. Temporarily at

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least sidelining the wider political issues that surround drones that commands most of their media coverage and instead focusing on their human impact.

The Effects On Operators. What

is it like to operate an RPA system? In truth, that is a very difficult question to find an answer to. The majority of weaponised RPA systems are owned and operated by the CIA and are fully classified.

Even those operated by the Air force are shrouded in secrecy, leaving the average person at the mercy of the news houses to inform them, but one thing is clear: The rise of drone technology has brought with it brand new questions for mankind about the roles of technology in warfare. The reduction of the act of taking a life to the push of a button on a controller followed by a bright flash on a computer screen coupled with the pseudo-intimacy of watching and learning that very life for weeks or months beforehand and watching the aftermath for hours to assess the consequences of that button push

MEN AT WAR, AT HOME 1. Inside the GCS where the RPA is piloted from Creech Airforce Base Nevada (General Atomics 2013).

2. A soldier signs one of the two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles attached to the predator (Aviation Week 2009).

3. A member of the ground crew in Afghanistan reaches a recently landed Predator in order to hit the engine kill-switch (Businessweek 2013).

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presents those pilots with dilemmas never before encountered in history.

Looking online the secrecy of the military’s drone programs is startlingly clear with only a small handful of first hand accounts ever provided by pilots or sensor operators, much less those active within the military due to strict operations security measures. However through no small feat, Time was able to secure a Skype interview with a sensor operator of an MQ-9B Reaper drone.

His first hand experience and story is featured later in this issue of Time and his comments have given some of the detailed insight into the lives of drone operators within this article.

With games such as the Call of Duty franchise, the use of RPAS like the Predator is something many people are familiar with and whilst the debate on whether games can cause violence through desensitisation or otherwise still rages. One fact stands; it is easier on the mind to kill an enemy on a screen using a games controller than Game Theory.

TIME February 10, 2014

to do it in reality. The military know this and drone operators are required to wear the same flight suit as a regular pilot whilst on mission and the GCS they work in has no windows and any contact with the outside world is strictly prohibited as to help operators separate their minds from the fact that they are sitting only a few miles from home and to immerse themselves so that although their body may be in Nevada their minds are in Afghanistan (Linebaugh, 2013). It is then perhaps an unfortunate coincidence that before operating a real RPA operators fly many simulated flight

The cost of war in blood and treasure has been reduced to little more than a pin prick and a penny

missions, the first and most basic of which is controlled by none other than an ordinary Xbox 360 controller.

A recent FAA study showed that pilots with traditional flight experience performed worse as RPA pilots than those with no prior flight experience, as they brought skill sets that were not required in the new field along with a set of expectancies that were unwanted with RPA flight. Because of this the Air force now (during its largest expansion of the RPA program) actively seeks officers with no flight training and puts them through the yearlong training program (Cummings 2013). In a year, an officer with no previous experience is asked to operate the pinnacle of military technology fighting people in a country they may never set a foot in.

As for the psychological impacts and the argument that soldiers can object if they feel that like their orders are immoral (even at the risk of court martial).

Studies have shown for years that the further disconnected from actions the more readily people will cause harm 7

to others. Stanley Milgrams famous experiment (replicated as recently as 2006) was originally undertaken as an attempt to understand how Nazi soldiers were capable of atrocities in WWII. Everyday participants were asked to harm what they believed were other participants randomly selected by means of increasingly severe electric shocks for every incorrect answer given to questions in what they thought was a learning experiment.

The results, irrespective of date or time are remarkably consistent: 6166% of people delivered all shocks including a final massive 450volt shock at which point ‘the confederate who the participant believed they were shocking had become silent after displaying extreme pain and complaining of a heart condition’.

The experiment serves to illustrate the ability of a person to follow orders, even if it causes them great mental and emotional stress (many of the participants in these experiments required post experiment therapy).

Aside from the lack of threat posed by the enemy this can be related to any soldier in combat and not specifically RPA operators. Further studies were undertaken to explore this phenomena under different conditions. In one condition, the participant was removed from the room where the confederate was situated and instead performed 8

“The mechanisms of death may change, as intimate as a bayonet or distant as a drone but the bloody facts and their weight on the human conscience remain the same.”

- USAF General David A Deptula the task of relaying the prompt to another fully compliant ‘teacher’ – a condition comparable to that as a RPA operator. Under this condition 92.5% of participants continued up to the 450volt shock, even though they displayed ‘significant discomfort’ throughout.

And now drone technology has brought this kind of moral dilemma to RPA operators who, like us are susceptible to obeying authority and performing their duty even at the expense of what they think is right and their long term psychological health as a result. ExPredator sensor operator Brandon Bryant described ‘dreaming in infra red’ for months after two particular

instances that forced him to resign. The first of which was finding what he saw as a suspicious warm ‘circle’ through his infrared on a road in front of a convoy he was protecting and raising the alarm.

The convoy had communications jamming equipment activated to stop remote detonation of IEDs and Bryant with the rest of the air team were forced to watch powerless as when the second vehicle crossed the circle it exploded, killing 2 soldiers and severely injuring 3 more (Popular Science, 2013). The final straw for him however came when after conducting POL on a suspected Al Qaeda leader the call came to launch a strike at the hut he was occupying that was thought to be empty, moments before the missile hit a child stepped outside before disappearing in the white flash of the hellfire, as per mission operation the Pilot and Sensor then had to observe the impact site for a number of hours to determine strike effectiveness as neighbours and family reacted and rushed to the dead (Spiegel Online / Nicola Abé. 2012)(Power M 2013).

Comparing RPAS’ to conventional aircraft highlights this key difference – where a traditional aircraft missions last less than 2 hours and typically have 2-3 minutes maximum total exposure, flying in dropping bombs on an area and returning to base often without seeing the bomb site. Drone operators

have flight times for full 8 hour shifts and have target exposure for weeks or months prior to a strike and hours after. Making them far more aware of the consequences of their actions than nearly any other soldier in history, whilst never leaving home soil. The notion has even been put forward to alter the definition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to that of a ‘Moral Injury – A tectonic realignment and a shift in focus from the violence done to a person in wartime towards his feelings about what he has done to others, or what he has failed to do for them (Cummings, 2013). My contact describes his worst moment as an operator as arriving on scene moments after some militants had ambushed and killed a number of US troops, but by the time his Reaper was in range they had dropped their weapons and become ‘unarmed’, the rules of close air support (United States Marine Corps, 2009) meant that they could not fire upon the militants and instead had to allow them to walk away, to possibly kill again.

It stands as little surprise perhaps, that when in 2011 the USAF psychologists completed a mental health survey of 600 combat drone operators they found 46% suffered from ‘clinical distress’ and the programme had a 29% burnout rate and later found that operators demonstrate the same levels of depression, anxiety, PTSD, alcohol abuse and suicidal TIME February 10, 2014

Using satellite connections internationally, RPAS’ suffer a 2 second delay, because of this ground launch crews handle take off and landing (Wired 2010).

LEFT

CENTRE Public

displays of anti American sentiment reflect the 17% approval rating of RPAS’ by Pakistani civilians (Public Service International 2013).

RIGHT In

December 2013 last year heavy anti-drone protests at the AfghanPakistani border halted US supply convoys from crossing (Salon 2013). ideation as regular troops (Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, 2011). Again the Air force seem to know this and after completing an after action report containing all video and audio of a strike as well as each operators personal account they are required to visit the base Psychiatrist before returning home. Suddenly very severe the operator told me how after his first ‘kinetic strike’ he drove straight to the base church and had his conversation with God to ask him to ensure that every strike he ever has to make is as sombre as the first. To him, without the context of war going on around you it is a wholly different experience to kill.

Situated firmly in the uncanny valley RPA technology has brought about a new breed of soldier, one in a perpetual grey state between war and home life.

Whilst saved the psychological stress of physically being on the battlefield, operators suffer the effects of blurred ethical lines on the conscience. It is easier to shoot a man you do not know

who is shooting at you and move on than to shoot a man who could never have harmed you, who you have watched for months playing football with his kids, sleeping with his wife atop their home, waking up and smoking on his doorstep. It is easier to live at home than to be away in the desert risking life for months, but harder to separate war and home when you switch between the two each day with only a 20 minute drive to decompress and then cannot talk to your spouse or family about what you have witnessed or had to do during the day (Wood, 2013). Perhaps then, from the side of the force with the drones, this is the warfare of the 21st century information junkie world, infinitely connected but emotionally isolated.

What could be more fitting for the warfare of the Twitter age than being in front of banks of computer screens controlling killer flying robots lurking in the skies on the other side of the world?

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COLLATERAL DAMAGE Although

touted for their highly ‘surgical’ nature, it is estimated that hundreds of civilians are still killed by drone strikes each year (Japan Times 2013).

The

Effects

On

Civilian

Population.

A major component of the Obama administration’s use of RPAS’ has been the expansion in the use of “signature” strikes to include many more so-called “signature” strikes based on “pattern of life” analysis. These strikes target “groups of men who bear certain defining characteristics associated with terrorist activity, but whose identities aren’t known” (Klaidman, D, 2012).

The majority of these strikes occur within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and Afghanistan where the Taliban and other non-state armed factions are most active.

In these areas, it is hard to imagine that there is any way that the extensive use of RPAS’ in these areas especially could not have a substantial impact on the general civilian population. There is a distinct fear that a strike could come 10

from anywhere at any time, even to the point that attendance to daily routines and social gatherings which are of central importance to the tribal societies is severely diminished (Human Rights Council, 2012). Often when a drone flies overhead, civilians report that if they cannot see it, they can hear it.

They call them ‘Buzzers’ or ‘Fruitflies’ from their signature engine whine, a sound that signals a spread of cold fear through the population as one taxi driver in Islamabad described: ‘We are always thinking that it is either going to attack our homes or whatever we do. It’s going to strike us; it’s going to attack us. No matter what we are doing, that fear is always inculcated in us. Because whether we are driving a car, or we are working on a farm, or we are sitting home playing cards– no matter what we are doing, we are always thinking the drone will strike us. So we are scared to do anything, no matter what.’

-Interview

with

Saeed

Yayha

(anonymised name), (Stanford Law School And NYU School of Law, 2012).

With the economic and human risks so drastically reduced as they are in the case of RPAS’ (35 Predator drones cost roughly the same as a single F16 combat jet whilst the fuel of a single flight of an F4 Phantom jet could provide 200 predator flights. Associated Press, 2011). It has enabled the touch of war to extend to more places, for much longer than ever before dreamed.

When conducting long term missions, when one drone returns for fuel another will take its place. Creating a constant presence of fear of death to those living beneath. Psychiatrists in Pakistan are increasingly reporting patients presenting symptoms of pervasive worry about future trauma, emblematic of “anticipatory anxiety”. Mental health professionals who work with drone victims conclude that these symptoms are largely attributed to the patient’s belief that they could be attacked at any time (Nabila Ur Rehman / Washinton Post, 2013)(Lavallee, 2013).

There is strong evidence that this constant pressure and frustration becomes a powerful recruitment tool for the very targets of the RPA strikes. Militants can simply say, “Your government’s not doing anything, the United States hasn’t even apologised and this is the only way to make revenge”. This manifestation shows itself where would-be terrorists have cited drones as motivation. Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to bomb New York City’s Times Square in 2010, said in court that “until the hour the US pulls its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and stops the drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen and in Pakistan … we will be attacking US, and I plead guilty to that” (Bollier 2013).

It seems too that due to the targeting nature of an RPA strikes of military age males (especially at gatherings) who are often the sole income source for the traditionally heavily patriarchal families Women are often the most affected by the usage of RPAS’. Losing not only a husband, father or brother, but also find difficulty where strict sharia law is enforced by the Taliban dictates that they should not be allowed to leave their homes without the accompaniment of a male family member or husband (Stanford Law School And NYU School of Law, 2012). Nor can they pick up arms and become a fighter in the same way that grieving men do, compounding the reported feelings of extreme frustration and fear.

A particularly distressing element coming from the areas where drone strikes are most common is the impact that civilians are no longer providing medical assistance or even going near strike sites for days after for fear of repeat attacks, something not reported from traditional methods of war (Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, 2012). Signifying a significant subversion from human instinct as a direct result of Drone warfare in particular. It should be noted that there are indeed groups that support the use of Drones, those who live in fear of their Taliban occupation and men controlling their villages at gunpoint.

Brutally killing those who dissent from Knock On Effects.

TIME February 10, 2014

FEARFUL FUTURE Many

see the widespread covert use of armed drones as a prelude to a darker future as depicted in science fiction for decades (Terminator 1984). their laws and leaving the bodies in the streets. To these people who are not few in number the political arguments of national sovereignty as seen in Lahore mean nothing and to them drones strikes are the lesser of the evils. It is increasingly reported that tribal elders have met the death of local militants with celebration (Hazelton, 2013).

Conclusive Statement. The use of RPAS’

seems a perfect reflection of the world and conflict in the information age.

The fact that combat drones can only be employed in good, clear weather skies in uncontested airspace reflects a fundamental change in the type of war that exists today. No longer does the traditional mental picture of two countries fighting grand battles apply, rather conflict zones today typically consist of a technologically developed occupying force fighting small, indigenous factions within developing

“My aircraft was never meant to kill, it was meant only to observe.”

- Abe Karem

(Creator Of The Predator)

countries employing guerilla tactics.

Personally, its hard not to feel that drone technology more than just a new tool, but instead the dawn of a new type of ‘cleaner’, colder warfare. A double edge sword that acts both as the perfect weapon to the point of possibly trivializing taking lives, but one that leaves lasting psychological scars on both sides that brings with it vastly different ethical questions to which we are accustomed. Right or wrong we are forced by the unstoppable march of technology to either restrict military drone use until it can be reevaluated on a grand scale to understand its longterm moral footprint. It wouldn’t be the first of such ‘unjustifiable’ weapons; as cluster mines, white phosphorous or biological weapons were before. Or we must instead adapt and expand our moral framework so drones become simply another transitional taboo that in some years will be readily accepted and seen as a norm. We are presented with a choice that is both dark but also one that is full of possibilities for unlimited good.

One thing is for certain with the USAF now training more RPA pilots than traditional ones (U.S. Dept of Defense 2014) and drones filling the domestic theatre with companies like Google acquiring drone and AI companies at an extreme rate, the drones are well and truly here to stay.

In the next issue of Time the use of Drone technology in domestic and humanitarian cases is examined in detail.

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FOR UNOFFICAL US

WORLDVIEW | MILITARY

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Military Attack ‫بريد‬ Israel

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TIME February 10, 2014

‫کورنې څارنه‬

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Preflight Checks

Aircrews perform a preflight check on an MQ-9 Reaper before it takes off for a mission in Afghanistan on September 31.

Photograph by Rinze Klein for CNET

INTERVIEW | TRANSCRIPT

AN EXCLUSIVE TALK WITH AN ACTIVE DUTY MQ-9B REAPER RPA SENSOR OPERATOR

BY LUKE ANTHONY FIRTH

Interviews with Drone operators is rare, as can be confirmed by a very short internet search. Due to this scarcity many quotes and interviews shown in the media are recycled from one of the handful that exist. Of these the majority are pilots and sensors that have ended their careers in the military and now wish to tell their stories. So to get an interview with an active operator was the difficult task that lay ahead of TIME when researching for this article. Perhaps it was the generally unfavourable view that much of the mainstream media has taken to drones, or the scorn of others in the military suffered by those who do speak out, tied in with the heavy restrictions on what can be said whilst maintaining Operational Security.

However after weeks of searching, numerous phone calls and a lot of work someone came forwards for a Skype interview for this article. What follows is his story.

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INTERVIEW | TRANSCRIPT

25th January 2014 The Mini Memoirs Of A ‘Sensor’

If you feel comfortable, could you tell me about yourself and how you became a MQ-9B sensor operator?

When I first started in my Air Force career, I had always told myself that I wanted to be in a new Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC; i.e. job) by the time I reached the mid-point to my retirement. My previous job was in computer networking & communications; a typical Monday through Friday, nine to five job that took me all around the world on assignments and provided me with all sorts of certifications that would translate to the civilian job market well. However, the one thing that always bothered me about that AFSC was having to play the “Kevin Bacon Game” to link my actions at work with the Air Force mission of “bombs on target”.

The tenth year came (eligibility for retirement is 20 years) and I stuck to my word. I started the retraining process which consists of perusing through a list of AFSCs that are experiencing different levels of manning. The best opportunity to be selected for retraining is to select an AFSC that is in the “critically manned” category. Initially I wanted to be an Aerial Gunner, the guy that mans the machine gun on the side of helicopters…but that AFSC wasn’t listed that year. My attention was then drawn to the 1U0X1 AFSC; Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Sensor Operator and I did as much research on it as I could online.

Fortunately, one of my civilian co-workers was a retired former Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (SNCO) who happened to have connections with one of the SNCOs at the local RPA squadron on our base. He contacted him and asked if he minded giving me a tour of the place and job since I was considering retraining into it. During the tour of the squadron, I remember asking the SNCO many of the same questions you’ve asked me. I also remember relaying my concerns about my current job being “seven degrees of Kevin Bacon away” from the Air Force mission; and I’ll never forget his response of “in this job, you’re only one degree away from dropping bombs on targets.”

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As you work long shifts, I imagine that it can’t be ‘go time’ all of the time, what do you do during the time between mission critical times? Is there a lot of waiting around?

Generally, every crewman arrives to work for their shift and proceeds to the Squadron Aviation Resource Management (SARM) office where the Airmen there notify them if they are up-to-date on all of the necessary requirements (i.e. procedures tests, ratings, certifications, etc). From there, we enter the secure side of the building and proceed to the giant screen showing the daily flying schedule which shows which crewmen are on what mission, GCS, and the respective times associated (take off, landing, etc). Then it’s off to the mass briefing room where everyone receives the daily intelligence briefings about the missions; where we’re flying, the target(s), the unit being supported, the altitudes, etc. From there everyone splits and gathers with the rest of the crewmen assigned to their respective mission and they have a more private crew brief. The crew brief is where the pilot, sensor operator, and Mission Intel Coordinator (MIC) further go into the details of the mission execution, divvy responsibilities and expectations which can vary from “I need you to plot coordinates and monitor the flux capacitor and temperatures, etc” to “calculate the speed of the vehicle during follows and give me range estimates to the intersections” and everything in between.

Eventually, we work with the same fellow crewmen long enough that we get to know each other well enough that the crew briefings become shorter in duration. If you work with the same guys for a long time, you already know what they expect from you and vice versa.

After the crew brief, the pilot and sensor operator squeeze

I’ll never forget his response of: “In this job, you’re only one degree away from bombs on targets.”

out the last minute pee breaks, fill their tumblers with fresh coffee, grab their small lunch pale, headset, and quietly walk out into the Ground Control Station (GCS) for the changeover brief with the outgoing crew. The sensor operators (hereby referred to as “sensor”) always switch out first; the outgoing sensor will brief the incoming sensor on any issues with the aircraft, cameras/sensors, settings, where the target is on the screen, etc. After the sensors swap out, the pilots do the same on their side.

Working so closely with a pilot in the GCS, what kind of relationship do you guys have?

Squadrons typically fly the same missions for the same supported unit for continuity purposes. Most missions are simple Pattern Of Life (POL) scenarios where the same targets are followed and monitored for months on end to unravel their network of locations, contacts, etc. On those missions, the mood inside the GCS tends to be a more relaxed “here we go again” environment. The conversation can range from sports, to upcoming weekend events in the city, etc. The relationship between the pilot and sensor varies as with any other job. Sometimes the crew vibes well together and has excellent chemistry which can help pass the time during dull POL missions; other times it might be hours of silence between the crew. Ultimately though mission related communications (aircraft warnings, mission updates, radio communications) trumps all and takes priority over everything.

The official term we have is “strike posture”; the unofficial term is “fangs out”. It’s the moment of the mission where the crew sits up straight, eyes come wide open, palms start to sweat, and the radios come alive with instructions, coordination, and everything else. Since the very first day of a RPA operator’s training…we are told to be ready at all times since that strike posture moment can happen at any time, and it’s true; the mission can “spin up” at a moments notice. It can happen (and has) any time from the moment immediately after swapping the outgoing crew and taking the seat, to several hours into the boring old POL mission where nothing was happening. It can be a pre-planned strike against a high value target coordinated amongst numerous units, agencies, players, etc…to a spur-of-themoment support of a “Troops In Contact” (TIC) scenario; the latter of which REALLY increases the pucker-factor by five since time is not usually on the side of our guys on the ground taking fires.

TIME February 10, 2014

On the very first day and all throughout our Basic Sensor Operator Course, the instructors would tell the class “let it be known…that in this job, the chances are VERY high that you may be called upon to take a life; if any Airman here is uncomfortable with that possibility, there is no dishonor in informing the cadre and choosing a different AFSC”.

‘The mission can “spin up” at a moments notice. It can happen (and has) any time from the moment immediately after swapping the outgoing crew and taking the seat, to several hours into the boring old Pattern Of Life mission.’

All throughout every part of the long, hard, road to “Combat Mission Ready” status, every crewman ponders how they’ll react when the time comes for a live shot.

Will my nerves take control of my hands? Or will I stay calm, cool, and collective? During technical training at the various schoolhouses, we trained on complex simulators and eventually on actual RPAs. On the simulators, the cadre ran the scenarios professionally and excelled at increasing the pressure at any random moment. They would operate the simulator to reproduce any number of various possible outcomes we could face on operational missions; from vehicle chases through busy city streets, to complex operations involving attack helicopters, tanks, snipers, civilians appearing seemingly out of nowhere, you name it. Once we moved up to training on actual RPAs, the scenarios were then ran by the cadre alongside a contracted company consisting of retired special operators that had “been there, done that”. Each was a former Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) qualified operator that specialized in controlling airpower and calling in air strikes from either airborne assets or ground artillery. They role-played as the bad guys; dressed in traditional middleeastern garbs, manning specialized compounds out in the middle of the U.S. desert built specifically for our training.

They did everything from leading us through vehicle chases to staging mock battles against other members of the company dressed in their former military uniforms for the added touch of realism. The training provided by the schoolhouse and contractors to RPA aircrews is still topnotch and remains a great asset, which operational RPA aircrews continue to train with when available.

17

BASECAMP From

Could you tell me a little about the best and worst moments in your experience as a MQ-1B sensor operator?

Two of the greatest misconceptions about RPA operations by the general public are that the aircraft operates autonomously (it doesn’t) and that we have the authority to shoot at will (we don’t).

Long before the days of RPAs, manned aircraft required the clearance of a Forward Air Controller/Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) with JTAC certification. Contrary to Hollywood’s common theatrics of aircrafts dropping bombs willy-nilly on enemy positions…in the real world, the JTAC rules all. Any ordnance expended without his authority is done so only in the most severe and rare instances; which to date neither my co-workers nor myself have ever encountered. The JTAC is the guy on the ground with the big radio strapped to his pack. He is a master of his trade that speaks the “aircrew” and “grunt on the ground” languages. When the ground force commander (with the aid of the military lawyers) has determined that a target needs kinetic action, he tells his JTAC to make it happen.

18

within the Ground Control Station operators communicate with troops on the ground, their mission coordinator and image analysts continuously through instant messaging, only using the radio when a combat role is required (Superdrones, 2013).

‘Men firing at our guys, had become free to walk away into a small village to potentially kill again in the future. Our own rulebook bound us.’

The Rules of Engagement are the laws of the land; and God help anyone who breaks them because the military legal system certainly won’t. One of the worst moments of my time as a sensor operator came when we were called in to provide close-air-support for a TIC in progress; we arrived just in time to watch as the enemy stashed away their weapons and thus became “unarmed”. What had been previously been men firing at our guys, had become free to walk away into a small village to potentially kill again in the future. Our own rulebook bound us, and as much as everyone wanted to launch a missile before the insurgents reached the village…we couldn’t without the JTACs permission, which never came.

The argument that is often heard about the use of RPAS’ is the danger of detachment with the analogy of being like ‘video games’ and that it makes it easier to kill. I know this is often met by the fact that often you will have to stay and watch long before and after any action like that is taken and so have a greater view of the consequences. Especially when compared to conventional bombing by airstrike. Could you tell me a bit about how you feel about this?

Comparing the job of a RPA crewman to a video game is about as tantamount as comparing a professional guitarist to your neighbor’s Guitar Hero playing child. The two might appear to use similar interfaces; but the difference couldn’t be further from the truth. To be perfectly honest, most RPA crewman are bothered by the comparison when they catch a whiff of a video game reference.

In terms of the general culture of you guys working with RPAS’, what is that like? Especially in regards to combat missions?

After my first kinetic strike, I remember somberly taking out the small picture of Saint Michael the Archangel that I always carry to work, and quietly saying the invocation prayer to him. There are no high-fives; no room full of cheering squadron members to wish the strikers a job well done. The most one will usually get is a respectful nod as he walks by, nothing more. After the AAR was complete and our crew was dismissed for shift, I drove straight to the base church, walked into the private prayer room, kneeled, recited a few prayers, and had my personal conversation with God. I vividly remember asking him that he please ensures that every kinetic strike from that moment on afterwards remain just as somber as the first; to this day… they’ve all been so.

Once a crew engages in a kinetic strike and the situation calms down; they’re usually promptly replaced by a fresh crew…so that the strikers may start the process of writing the After Action Report (AAR) while the details of the engagement are still fresh on their minds. The AAR contains everything; pilot & sensor settings, the video & audio recordings, every small detail is included which will be later scrutinized…to see what could have been done better, what went right, etc.

MQ-1B aircrews do not have much of a choice in the ordnance carried by the aircraft. It will always be some sort of modern variant of the supersonic AGM-114 Hellfire.

To that end, we’ve become masters at weaponeering it.

We can control (to a degree) nearly every aspect of its employment, from the sonic boom time, impact angle, time of flight, and more. If the JTAC tells us that he requires the missile to have a 30-second flight time before impact, we make it so. To that end, we are also very aware of the missile’s main limitation, its limited warhead payload requires precise weaponeering and steady hands to achieve the JTACs intended effects. Our video archives are filled with many past examples where the aircrew miscalculated a number, or perhaps the sensor’s hand twitched and the missile impacted just slightly wrong enough to allow the intended target to simply run out of the explosion seemingly unscathed. We take the weapon and it’s consequences deadly serious.

DEADLY SKIES A building

shows extensive damage from a missile strike only a week earlier in eastern Pakistan.

(Standford NYU, 2012) TIME February 10, 2014

19

A topic that many people raise is the apparent separation between being at home with family and then driving to work and controlling an aircraft that may be thousands of miles a way and perhaps already midway through a mission to then coming home again at the end of your shift. Could you describe what that is like, especially from a mental/emotional point of view?

Truth be told, I personally haven’t had any issues with maintaining a regular role as husband to my wife after shift. She knows what my job is and has a generally good idea of what goes on when the uniform is donned although she’ll never of course know the specific details. The conversation after work is generally light and kept simple.

“How was your day, honey?” she’ll actually ask. To which I’ll typically and vaguely reply with “another day full of buildings to watch” or “craziness…chasing bad guys through the desert, etc”.

On the far in between occasion that our mission has gone kinetic, she’ll know because I’ll have texted a message to her phone letting her know I’ll be late from work and making a visit to the church. The details need not be shared between her and I…but we both take solace in knowing that life taken on the job is not done eagerly or easily.

Every crewman is constantly reminded of the availability of the base psychologist’s services...and the lack of repercussions against their career if they wish to partake in any extra sessions with them. In fact, after every kinetic engagement it’s mandatory that the crewmen converse with the psychologist within 24 hours of the strike.

Finally - what do you think about the accuracy/general credibility of the general media coverage of RPAS?

Generally the media portrays the RPA as an entity in and of itself; not at as a piece of the bigger system it really is. Somewhere out there in the battlefield there are entire legions of intelligence analysts, targeting cells, ground commanders and more that are working together towards a common objective. The RPA and its crew are simply another tool in the Air Force’s arsenal of precision strike platforms.

The majority of the time the media is so uninformed that they can’t even take the time to find the proper image of the RPA they’re reporting on; news articles reporting on the deaths of Al Qaeda senior leaders are often accompanied by a picture of a RQ-4 Global Hawk (a completely unarmed RPA).

The enemy has quickly adopted this to their own advantage. We’ve watched in real time as insurgents killed while engaged in combat against coalition forces have had their weapons quickly removed by other insurgents posing as innocent villagers and replaced with gardening tools. The next day they’ll have media outlets reporting on the death of innocent gardeners killed during a failed RPA strike…and the public eats it up.

Oddly enough I’ve never felt that my feelings have become bottled up inside of me or restricted in any way.

GROUND CONTROL STATION This small container is the center of control for a single RPA, kept at a constant 17oC it holds everything required for both pilot and sensor operators. Its small size allows it to be transported quickly by aircraft and set up by 3 people within 4 hours (U Vision UAV, 2011).

20

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GAINING MOMENTUM A breakdown

of the number of RPA strikes used in Pakistan over the past few years, the jump up when the Obama administration came into power is clearly visible as well as a gradual drop recently (Pitch Interactive, 2013).

Glossary

Definitions | Terms

Confederate

A confederate in a psychological study (also called a stooge) is a person who on face value looks like another participant but is in fact privy to the actual intentions of the experiment and are often actors, playing out a part in order to illicit a response from the subject of the study.

F4 Phantom / F15 Eagle

ARR: After Action

Report AFSC: Air Force Specialty Code (Job title) CIA: U.S. Government Central Intelligence Agency GCS: Ground Control Station (Where drones are operated from) HVI: High Value Individual HVT: High Value Target (Usually high ranking militants) IRS: Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance.

JTAC: Joint Terminal Attack Controller MIC: Mission Intel Coordinator MQ-1B: Multi-role RPA 1 (Predator) MQ-9B: Multi-role RPA 9 (Reaper) POL: Pattern Of Life Mission PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder RPAS: Remotely Piloted Air Systems TACP: Tactical Air Control Party TIC: Troops In Contact UAS: Unmanned Aerial System UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle USAF: United States Air Force RAF: Royal Air Force RQ-4: Reconnaissance RPA 4 (Global Hawk) SARM: Squadron Aviation Resource Management TIC: Troops In Contact

These are two of the most commonly used USAF military Jets. Multi-role in nature they are often used in close air support scenarios.

The F4 is mainly decommissioned from the USAF now but is commonly used by other sovereigntiess in the middle east.

Pattern Of Life Mission

These missions are often undertaken by Predator drones and comprise of weeks or months of following and observing a particular person of interest constantly in order to uncover his network of family, associates and locations in order to determine if they are a target or not and to unravel militant networks.

Sparkle / Lase Target

RPAS’ often do not directly engage targets, but instead the sensor operator uses the laser designator integrated into the sensor pod of the drone to guide in various other airstrikes and bombing runs from other traditional aircraft.

RQ-4 Global Hawk

Built to replace the U2 spyplane and the largest RPAS currently in the US arsenal, the Global Hawk is an unarmed drone fitted with large and highly advanced sensor suites that allow it to operate at altitudes over 50,000ft with a range of 5,600 nautical miles.

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References Anecdotal

Pilots:

• Linebaugh, H, 2013. I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on. The Guardian, [Online]. Sunday 29 December 2013, 6. Available at:http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/dronesus-military [Accessed 31 December 2013].

• Popular Science. 2013. Piloting A Drone Is Hell. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-08/ psychological-toll-drone-warfare. [Accessed 01 January 14].

• Power, M, 2013. Confessions Of A Drone Warrior. GQ Magazine, [Online]. October 23, 2013, N/A. Available at: http:// www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201311/drone-uav-pilot-assassination[Accessed 13 January 2014] • Reddit. 2013. IAmA “Drone” Sensor Operator, I Have Flown Hundreds Missions Over Iraq And Afghanistan In Support Of Combat Operations AMAA. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ghkm7/iama_drone_ sensor_operator_i_have_flown_hundreds/. [Accessed 17 December 13].

• Reddit. 2013. I AM Brandon Bryant, former MQ-1B Predator RPA Sensor Operator, Ask Me (almost) Anything!. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/17rcsx/i_am_brandon_bryant_former_mq1b_predator_rpa/.

[Accessed 16 January 14].

• Spiegel Online / Nicola Abé. 2012. Dreams in Infrared: The Woes of an American Drone Operator. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/pain-continues-after-war-for-american-drone-pilot-a-872726.html. [Accessed 18 December 13].

• Wood, D, 2013. Drone Strikes: A Candid, Chilling Conversation With Top U.S. Drone Pilot. Huffington Post, [Online].

05/15/2013, N/A. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/drone-strikes_n_3280023.html [Accessed 16 January 2014].

Anecdotal

Civilian:

• Human Rights Council. 2012. Complaint Against The United States Of America For The Killing Of Innocent Citizens Of The Islamic Republic Of Pakistan. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.reprieve.org.uk/media/downloads/2012_02_22_ PUB_drones_UN_HRC_complaint.pdf?utm_source=Press+mailing+list&utm_campaign=89f3db0a75-2012_02_23_ drones_UN_complaint&utm_medium=email. [Accessed 03 January 14].

• Nabila Ur Rehman / Washinton Post. (2013). Living in fear of drones. [Online Video]. 13 October. Available from: http:// www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/video/onbackground/living-in-fear-of-drones/2013/10/30/26648730-417e-11e38b74-d89d714ca4dd_video.html. [Accessed: 30 December 2013].

Documents

• Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, 2011. Mental health diagnoses and counseling among pilots of remotely piloted aircraft in the United States Air Force. MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE MONTHLY REPORT, [Online]. 3 / 20, 3 - 8. Available at: http://www.afhsc.mil/viewMSMR?file=2013/v20_n03.pdf[Accessed 15 January 2014].

• Associated Press. 2011. The Al-Qaida Papers - Drones . [ONLINE] Available at:http://hosted.ap.org/specials/ interactives/_international/_pdfs/al-qaida-papers-drones.pdf. [Accessed 02 January 14].

• Hazelton, J, 2013. Drones: What Are They Good For? Strategic Studies Institute, [Online]. Winter/Spring 14, 2933. Available at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Issues/WinterSpring_2013/4_Article_ Hazelton.pdf [Accessed 05 January 2014].

• Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. 2012. Counting Drone Strike Deaths. [ONLINE] Available at: http://web. law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/human-rights-institute/files/COLUMBIACountingDronesFinal.pdf.

[Accessed 25 December 13].

• Stanford Law School And NYU School of Law. 2012. Living Under Drones Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices in Pakistan. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.livingunderdrones.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ Stanford-NYU-Living-Under-Drones.pdf. [Accessed 06 January 14].

• United States Marine Corps, 2009. Close Air Support Joint Publication. 3rd ed. Washington: USMC. • US Department Of Defense, 2014. Unmanned Integrated Systems Roadmap 2013 - 2038. [Online] Available at: http:// www.defense.gov/pubs/DOD-USRM-2013.pdf‎[Accessed 06 January 2014].

Books

• Stanley Milgram, 2009. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (Perennial Classics). Reprint Edition. Harper Perennial Modern Classics • Martins, M, 2010. Predator The Remote-Control Air War Over Iraq And Afghanistan: A Pilot’s Story. 1st ed.

Minneapolis: Zenith Press.

TIME February 10, 2014

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References Websites

• Drone Wars UK. 2011. Who has Drones? [ONLINE] Available at: http://dronewars.net/6-who-has-drones/. [Accessed 03 January 14].

• Pitch Interactive. 2014. Out of Sight, Out of Mind.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://drones.pitchinteractive.com/. [Accessed 04 January 14].

• Royal Air Force. 2013. Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/ rpas.cfm. [Accessed 01 January 14].

• The Bureau Of Investigative Journalism. 2013. Drone Statistics Visualized. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-graphs/. [Accessed 19 January 14].

Video

• Missy Cummings. (2013). DARC: Missy Cummings, Keynote. [Online Video]. 04 November. Available from: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORONKNvuwkA. [Accessed: 14 January 2014].

News

• Bollier, S, 2013. Deconstructing the drone war. Aljazeera, [Online]. 11 Nov 2013. Available at: http://www.aljazeera. com/indepth/features/2013/11/deconstructing-drone-war-201311792612993264.html [Accessed 05 January 2014].

• Klaidman, D, 2012. Drones: The Silent Killers. Newsweek, [Online]. 5/28/12. Available at:http://www.newsweek.com/ drones-silent-killers-64909 [Accessed 29 January 2014].

• Lavallee, G, 2013. U.S. Drone Strikes In Pakistan Linked To Rise In Depression, Anxiety, Mental Health Issues.

Huffington Post, [Online]. Volume 9 | Issue 1, 1. Available at:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/pakistandrone-strikes-depression-anxiety_n_3033086.html[Accessed 30 January 2014].

Images

• Aviation Week, (2009), ODIN-Afghanistan Providing Overwatch During Ground Operation [ONLINE]. Available at: http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/1/9/e1e94eb8-7953-4e53-b9ef-1f0b6e0953e1.Full.jpg [Accessed 01 February 14].

• Bureau Of Investigative Journalism, (2012), US covert actions in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Available at: http://www. thebureauinvestigates.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/7438845440_26aed7297b_b.jpg [Accessed 01 February 14].

• Business Week, (2013), Control Your Own Drone Army [ONLINE]. Available at: http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2013-0521/0521_drones_630x420.jpg [Accessed 01 February 14].

• CNET, (2013), Preflight check [ONLINE]. Available at:http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2013/02/07/070931-M5827M-013.jpg [Accessed 01 February 14].

• General Atomics, (2013), Mobile GCS 2 [ONLINE]. Available at: http://generalatomics.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ mobile-gcs-2.jpg%3Fw%3D960 [Accessed 01 February 14].

• Public Radio International, (2013), US drone strikes are controversial, but are they war crimes? [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.pri.org/sites/default/files/story/images/RTR30OIU.jpg [Accessed 21 January 14].

• Ruben Pater. 2013. The Drone Survival Guide. Available at: http://dronesurvivalguide.org/. [Accessed 31 December 13].

• Salon, (2013), Few killed by CIA drones in Pakistan have been named [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.salon. com/2013/09/24/naming_the_dead_turns_numbers_into_people_partner/ [Accessed 23 January 14].

• Superdrones, (2013), Looking for a job as drone pilot? [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.superdrones.net/wp-content/ uploads/2013/02/drone-pilot.jpg [Accessed 30 January 14].

• Stanford NYU, (2012), Living Under Drones [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.livingunderdrones.org/download-report/ [Accessed 30 January 14].

• Terminator, (1984), HK-Fighter Drone [ONLINE]. Available at: http://survivorsofthenightmares.webs.com/HK-Drone_ Extended.JPG [Accessed 23 January 14].

• The Muslim Times, (2013), Former US Drone Pilot Quits Regretting Bombing Innocents Including Children [ONLINE].

Available at: http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2013/05/countries/united-states/former-us-drone-pilot-quits-regrettingbombing-innocents-including-children [Accessed 01 February 14].

• U Vision UAV, (2011), Ground Control Station [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.uvisionuav.com/wp-content/ uploads/2011/05/GCS1-cropped.jpg [Accessed 30 January 14].

• Wired, (2010), Little Will Change If the Military Takes Over CIA’s Drone Strikes [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www. wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/09/080228-F-0528C-004.jpg [Accessed 21 January 14].

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