Natasha Mitchell
speaker
24,986 appearances
297 recordings
2 series
first heard Jul 2005
last heard Jul 2018
Natasha Mitchell’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
their screens, Brandon and colleagues were monitoring a convoy of US soldiers to make sure they made it safely back to their base in Afghanistan.
They kept trying to connect.
All eyes were on the convoy.
But Brandon was serving in the U.S.
Air Force as a drone operator, so he had to face up to the fact that killing was part of his job description, whether he liked it or not.
But it ate away at you over time.
And I wonder if there was any attention paid to the psychological needs of you and your colleagues.
Did you not draw any satisfaction or sense of accomplishment that you were contributing to a cause, that you were combating terrorism?
To Brandon, drone warfare seemed to fly in the face of the texts that he'd been required to read in his training.
Texts like the ancient Chinese military treaties, the art of war by Sun Tzu.
How did operating a drone compromise that?
You know, the trauma of those who have worked in the drone program is often downplayed as if it isn't legitimate, not like what soldiers engaged in direct combat experience, for example.
But the post-traumatic stress disorder that Brandon's been grappling with for the last six years since leaving the drone program is as real as it gets.
OK, you can breathe again now.
And thanks so much to Brandon Bryant and to his mother, Lanann, for sharing their story with us.
And in a Science Friction exclusive, we are also presenting the stories of Afghan survivors of drone warfare.
You can head to our website where we have those visceral stories with illustrations.
That's at abc.net.au slash rn slash science friction.
Email me from there too.
I'd love to hear from you.
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