Chris Byam

Hist 43

April 7^th, 2015

Formal Paper #3

Drones: A military revolution by France 24 English (first 7 minutes or so)

                This clip shows a French television station traveling to Holloman Air Base in New Mexico, which is has the largest flying school for operating military drones. It reported the ins and outs of drones as well as how the general public perceive them. The narrator refers to drones as “insidious” deadly weapons that are identified by a whirring sound like a lawn mower. This clip stresses the secrecy and deadliness of the drone program; the pilot that they interview, Matt, has to hide his last name, and the pilots have to attempt to hide screen images from the cameras. Also, this clip stresses the detachment from killing that drone pilots experience by “going to war without even setting foot in enemy territory” (2:20).

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle by Military Forces (3:30-7 min)

                On the contrary to the first clip, this one portrays the key benefits that drones have to offer to the United States over piloted aircrafts and why they are the military force of the future. For one, they have already proven efficient in locating dangerous missile launchers in Iraq and eliminating key terrorist bases in Afghanistan and Yemen. Additionally, drones can see as well during the night as they can during the day, eliminating strategic maneuvers by enemies. Although it acknowledges that drones haven’t reached their full capability yet, it mentions that in the future, drones will be able to withstand brutal G-forces that human pilots couldn’t, be able to go into areas where chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons would threaten safety of human pilots.

The Drone Operator Who Said No by NewsTV5 /Drone Strikes: Top Secret Confessions of a Drone Pilot by AMTV

                These clips were the most significant to me in demonstrating the negative effects of drones on individuals, not just society. Both videos depict graphic footage of drone strikes and interviews with ex drone pilot Brandon Bryant. In what the narrator in the first clip calls the brutality of a new kind of warfare that pits man vs machine, Bryant describes the aftermath of a drone strike that he executed: “It took him [the victim] a long time to die…I just watched him become the same color as the ground he was lying on.” The straw that broke Bryant’s back and caused him to quit piloting was when he was told that he shot a dog, but he believed that it was a small child.