Former Drone Operator Suffers PTSD

In a new GQ profile, a former participant in the U.S. military's controversial drone program reveals the horrors of being a remote killer, responsible for more than 1,600 deaths. Brandon Bryant was one of the early inductees into the U.S. Air Force's drone warfare push, and he sat for six years in control stations in Nevada and New Mexico, firing on targets thousands of miles away in Iraq and Afghanistan. In one incident, Bryant recalls realizing an attack he was monotoring had just ordered had killed a child—in the Army's review the victim was listed as a dog. In 2011, a fatigued Bryant left flying and was soon after diagnosed with PTSD, an illness which has been found to affect as many drone operators as in-combat aircrews.