Life Is But a Drone

The thrust of this Times’ piece on drone operator burnout is twofold: That drone operators, contrary to popular belief, endure as much stress as their traditionally deployed counterparts — if not more, because their war is effectively unending, and they must toggle between their “war face” and domestic life on a daily basis — and that the resulting attrition is diminishing the Air Force’s ability to wage drone warfare.

Some top Pentagon officials had hoped to continue increasing the number of daily drone flights to more than 70. But Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter recently signed off on the cuts after it became apparent that the system was at the breaking point, Air Force officials said.

The biggest problem is that a significant number of the 1,200 pilots are completing their obligation to the Air Force and are opting to leave. In a recent interview, Colonel Cluff said that many feel “undermanned and overworked,” sapped by alternating day and night shifts with little chance for academic breaks or promotion.

At the same time, a training program is producing only about half of the new pilots that the service needs because the Air Force had to reassign instructors to the flight line to expand the number of flights over the past few years.

This can be read a different way, though, as if the Air Force were any other transit company that makes a large number and growing number of trips a day, and is acutely feeling the limits of its human workforce:

Some top [transportation company] officials had hoped to continue increasing the number of daily [trips] to more than [large number]. But [the CEO] recently signed off on the cuts after it became apparent that the system was at the breaking point, officials said. The biggest problem is that a significant number of the [pilots/drivers] are completing their obligation to the [company] and are opting to leave. In a recent interview, [executive] said that many feel “undermanned and overworked,” sapped by alternating day and night shifts with little chance for academic breaks or promotion. At the same time, a training program is producing only about half of the new [pilots/drivers] that the service needs because the [company] had to reassign instructors to the line to expand the number of [trips] over the past few years.

If only there were some way to produce an unlimited number of pilots that never get stressed out, never need to take break, never need a promotion, and will never quit, but keep doing the same thing, day in and day out, their accuracy and sense of mission never diminished by fatigue or boredom or guilt or existential crisis.