USAF Report: Pilots Can’t Drone On as Much

And no, I am not crazy enough to write this Christmas morning. Of course I wrote it while I was sitting here eating Santa’s cookies, which he left behind last night because I hear he is on a diet. The suit isn’t fitting right anymore, and I guess Mrs. Claus apparently had enough.

Before I Drone On …

Sitting here, eating these delicious cookies that I made and Santa refused to eat (he conveniently drank the chocolate milk I left for him though!), I thought about Santa’s sleigh as it flew away from my house. Nowadays, that sleigh would be classified as a manned drone. As I thought about that, I remembered an item I came across in a recent issue of Professional Safety magazine that talked about the health and safety of drone pilots.

And we’re talking about those who fly the unmanned drones, such as the ones the military has been using  to conduct airstrikes in Iraq, Afghanistan  and Syria.  There is some anecdotal evidence that suggests that even pilots who aren’t actually manning a fighter plane in a war zone can still be subject to some of the same pressures and mental health problems that manned aircraft pilots can experience.

Ejecting from a Drone

The U.S. Air Force currently reports that it is operating about 65 airstrikes per day right now in the Middle East, but while many in Washington and elsewhere are pushing for more airstrikes, the Air Force is reportedly requesting a reduction down to 60 strikes per day from unmanned drone aircraft, on the grounds that drone pilots are getting burned out and are leaving duty at a faster rate than the Air Force can train new pilots.

Unmanned drone pilots are reporting similar mental health issues that fighter pilots experience, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Since August of 2014, unmanned drones have carried out about 3,500 missions and about 1,000 missile strikes just in Iraq alone.

Col. James Cluff, commander of the 432nd Wing of the Air Force, which  handles most of the unmanned drone missions, says that these pilots seem to have different stress sources that influence  their mental health than fighter pilots in that while they are on base and are “in the fight” piloting these drones, they go home but can’t talk about their work. When they can’t talk about what they do, they often have to internalize what they go through. And it is very hard to turn off work when it is in such an intense combat environment and be expected to be an effective and stable friend and partner in life at home.

Now, I am pretty sure Mrs. Claus knows what Santa is doing every Christmas Eve, but let’s face it – that sleigh probably does get into some combat situations when it has to avoid all those aircraft in the skies as it makes its rounds.

But still, thinking about what those drone pilots deal with, mentally being with their comrades in battle, only to then shut that off at the end of a shift and go take care of family, and you can’t answer the question “How were things at work?” very honestly, that could sure take its toll.

With that in mind, as Santa finishes his route today, let’s all take a moment and make sure we say thank you to those who are serving on behalf of us and our families – both those in the combat zones, and those who are home but are in mental combat every day. They all equally sacrifice for us, and we owe them and their families and huge debt of gratitude and blessing.

Let us all pray for their continued safety, physically and mentally.

Happy Holidays everyone!