Pilotos de drones (en combate)

[Grizzly]

Cuanto menos, curioso.

Para los que no entienden el ingles, se resume en que los pilotos de los aviones drones como el Predator, que se vuelan desde el comodo asiento de un puesto de control en tierra tambien sufren el stress de la guerra.

 

Pues imaginemonos entonces al de un caza o al de un helicoptero que ha de volar todos los dias en zonas de combate o donde se supone que encima no hay un verdadero conflicto, y estan expuestos a los disparos de mampads que los esperan emboscados.

 

Algo parecido a los de infanteria. Supongo que habeis visto videos de los snipers iraquies que graban sus ataques a los soldados americanos que se patrullan por las ciudades en sus convoys o sus tanques o mientras estan a pie dandoles unos caramelos a los niños... Eso si que tiene que ser estresante ¡No me jodas!

 

 

Predator Pilots Suffering War Stress

August 08, 2008

Associated Press

 

 

MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. - The Air National Guardsmen who operate Predator drones over Iraq via remote control, launching deadly missile attacks from the safety of Southern California 7,000 miles away, are suffering some of the same psychological stresses as their comrades on the battlefield.

 

Working in air-conditioned trailers, Predator pilots observe the field of battle through a bank of video screens and kill enemy fighters with a few computer keystrokes. Then, after their shifts are over, they get to drive home and sleep in their own beds.

 

But that whiplash transition is taking a toll on some of them mentally, and so is the way the unmanned aircraft's cameras enable them to see people getting killed in high-resolution detail, some officers say.

 

In a fighter jet, "when you come in at 500-600 mph, drop a 500-pound bomb and then fly away, you don't see what happens," said Col. Albert K. Aimar, who is commander of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing here and has a bachelor's degree in psychology. But when a Predator fires a missile, "you watch it all the way to impact, and I mean it's very vivid, it's right there and personal. So it does stay in people's minds for a long time."

 

He said the stresses are "causing some family issues, some relationship issues." He and other Predator officers would not elaborate.

 

But the 163rd has called in a full-time chaplain and enlisted the services of psychologists and psychiatrists to help ease the mental strain on these remote-control warriors, Aimar said. Similarly, chaplains have been brought in at Predator bases in Texas, Arizona and Nevada.

 

In interviews with five of the dozens of pilots and sensor operators at the various bases, none said they had been particularly troubled by their mission, but they acknowledged it comes with unique challenges, and sometimes makes for a strange existence.

 

"It's bizarre, I guess," said Lt. Col. Michael Lenahan, a Predator pilot and operations director for the 196th Reconnaissance Squadron here. "It is quite different, going from potentially shooting a missile, then going to your kid's soccer game."

 

Among the stresses cited by the operators and their commanders: the exhaustion that comes with the shift work of this 24-7 assignment; the classified nature of the job that demands silence at the breakfast table; and the images transmitted via video.

 

A Predator's cameras are powerful enough to allow an operator to distinguish between a man and a woman, and between different weapons on the ground. While the resolution is generally not high enough to make out faces, it is sharp, commanders say.

 

Often, the military also directs Predators to linger over a target after an attack so that the damage can be assessed.

 

"You do stick around and see the aftermath of what you did, and that does personalize the fight," said Col. Chris Chambliss, commander of the active-duty 432nd Wing at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. "You have a pretty good optical picture of the individuals on the ground. The images can be pretty graphic, pretty vivid, and those are the things we try to offset. We know that some folks have, in some cases, problems."

 

Chambliss said his experience flying F-16 fighter jets on bombing runs in Iraq during the 1990s prepared him for his current job as a Predator pilot. But Chambliss and several other wing leaders said they were concerned about the sensor operators, who sit next to pilots in the ground control station. Often, the sensor operators are on their first assignment and just 18 or 19 years old, officers said.

 

While the pilot actually fires the missile, the sensor operator uses laser instruments to guide it all the way to its target.

 

On four or five occasions, sensor operators have sought out a chaplain or supervisor after an attack, Chambliss said. He emphasized that the number of such cases is very small compared to the number of people involved in Predator operations.

 

Col. Rodney Horn, vice commander of the 147th Reconnaissance Wing at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base near Houston, said his unit went out of it way to impress upon sensor operators the sometimes lethal nature of the job. "No one's walking into it blind," he said.

 

Master Sgt. Keith LeQuire, a 48-year-old sensor operator here, said the 163rd asks prospective sensor operators whether they are prepared for the deadly serious mission. "No one's been naive enough to come in to interview but not know about that aspect of the job," he said.

 

Unlike Soldiers living together in the war zone, the Predator operators do not have the close locker-room-style camaraderie that allows buddies to talk about the day's events and blow off steam. But many Predator operators at Creech employ a decompression ritual during the long ride home, said Air Force Lt. Col. Robert P. Herz.

 

"They're putting a missile down somebody's chimney and taking out bad guys, and the next thing they're taking their wife out to dinner, their kids to school," said Herz, a Ph.D. who interviewed pilots and sensor operators for a doctoral dissertation on human error in Predator accidents.

 

"A lot of them have told me, `I'm glad I've got the hour drive.' It gives them that whole amount of time to leave it behind," Herz said. "They get in their bus or car and they go into a zone - they say, `For the next hour I'm decompressing, I'm getting re-engaged into what it's like to be a civilian.'"

 

Col. Gregg Davies, commander of the 214th Reconnaissance Group in Tucson, Ariz., said he knows of no member of his team who has experienced any trauma from launching a Predator attack.

 

Himself a Predator pilot, Davies said he has found the work rewarding. The Arizona Air National Guard unit flies Predators in both the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones. It has often provided protection for American convoys, and its personnel have seen insurgents planting roadside bombs.

 

"If we can have an effect there where we can take people out, that's a real plus in terms of saving American lives," Davies said. "Our folks look at it as they're in the fight, they're saving lives. They don't feel too bad about that."

[Wolverine]

Amos... que algo así como el estrés de un piloto del 111... :mrgreen:

[LO17046]

Wolveine. El comandante te lo ha puesto a huevo. :joy: :chulo:

[Wolverine]

Wolveine. El comandante te lo ha puesto a huevo. :joy: :chulo:

 

Ya te digo LO!!!!!

[intruder212]

Stress, je! como se nota que no han intentado exáminarse de alguna VB con Revi. Eso eso si que es stress. jajaja

[Wolverine]

Stress, je! como se nota que no han intentado exáminarse de alguna VB con Revi. Eso eso si que es stress. jajaja

 

Yo dos veces, de la VB-1... 8)

[Bellota]

Stress, je! como se nota que no han intentado exáminarse de alguna VB con Revi. Eso eso si que es stress. jajaja

 

Yo dos veces, de la VB-1... 8)

 

Joder, yo me examine la AG1 y estaba mas nervioso que con mis opoisiciones.

[Wolverine]

Joder, yo me examine la AG1 y estaba mas nervioso que con mis opoisiciones.

 

AG-1!!!??? Ya tienes toda la VB y el AA!!!!??? :shock: :shock:

[Bellota]

Cayo el examen un día por casualidad y........ ahí esta el tio.

[Wolverine]

Cayo el examen un día por casualidad y........ ahí esta el tio.

 

Amos a ver... pero no tendrías que haber seguido el orden en la Academia...? Amos... digo yo!! :shock: :shock:

 

Flipo...

 

Bueno, en cualquier caso, mi enhorabuena!!!

[Bellota]

HA, yo soy un mandao, a mi me dijeron examen, y examen cayó.

[Wolverine]

HA, yo soy un mandao, a mi me dijeron examen, y examen cayó.

 

Tú lo que es que enviaste el jamón!!!!

[Grizzly]

Ummmmm

Para pasar a un modulo AA o AG se debe tenr terminado el LCR, pero se puede iniciar de forma indiferente uno o los 2 modulos al mismo tiempo.

 

... y los jamones tambien cuentan, aunque yo no he recibido ninguno y me temo que esto ha sido el cabron del Lionair que en su dia le nombre me mano derecha para el control y supervision de mi despensa y parace que debe estar desviando "fondos reservados" para la suya...

 

¡Cuando menos se lo espere voy a organizar un operacion de redada y como lo pille con material sensible se va a enterar! en lugar de rugir va a cantar como las gallinas porque le voy a cortar las pelotas... :twisted:

[lionair]

Sr. Comandante, le informo que actualmente está todo el material a buen recaudo. Si pasa usted por la parte trasera del angar, donde se apilaban los neumáticos usados y piezas para revisión (que todo ha sido cambiado de sitio), se está realizando una obra. Se está fabricando una nave anexa de 2 hectáreas para guardar todo el material alimenticio "recaudado" por usted. Por el camino que va todo y con el nivel de "compromiso " de los pilotos, los cuales han financiado la obra con una reducción de su sueldo (y no se han enterado todavía :roll: ), espero que no se quede pequeña en breve.

 

En cuanto esté finalizada la ejecución de la obra, todo será devuelto a su sitio y la única llave irá a parar a su despecho :wink: . Me han dicho desde Jabugo que la nave será envidiable por la cantidad y calidad del material que albergará :shock: .

 

Si necesita noticias del estado actual de la obra, no dude en comunicármelo.

 

A su servicio Señor, ¡si señor!.

[Revientor]

HA, yo soy un mandao, a mi me dijeron examen, y examen cayó.

 

Tu eres un vago mamonaco que por eso te examine asi por que si... y es lo k voy hacer con todos panda vagos

[Bellota]

HA, yo soy un mandao, a mi me dijeron examen, y examen cayó.

 

Tu eres un vago mamonaco que por eso te examine asi por que si... y es lo k voy hacer con todos panda vagos

 

anda ya, que tu dijiste, "el que entre mañana al TS examen", y yo, con dos cojones, entre, jejejejejeje

[Wolverine]

Tus huevos, Bellota!!! 8)