Singer’s chapter seventeen discusses how the notion of going
to war has changed over time. In the
ancient times war consisted of men sparring with one another until one side was
victorious, then evolved to men utilizing machinery to defeat their enemy, and
now has evolved to the use of precision guided weapons. At all of the junctures where technology has
evolved, the job security of the warrior has been called into question. The interesting element is how although
people always feared that the soldier would be replaced with technology, this
has never come about. As each new breed
of soldier is developed the honor that surrounds their job has never
changed.
The surprising aspect is at this
juncture the notion of being a soldier that guides drones may actually jeopardize
the role of the soldier. In all of the
past eras the soldier has been forced to leave their family, sacrifice normal
life, and put their own life at risk.
With drones the only risk as Singer says is “carpel tunnel.” With this new breed of soldier, I find it
hard to distinguish the difference between a traditional civilian desk job and
an actual soldier. When one is commanding
a plane from a desk they are in no real danger, they return home to their
families at the end of the day, and they do not have to undertake the
traditional sacrificing associated with war.
It seems strange to think that the soldier may disappear when it comes
to drone warfare. As I ponder this
notion, I must decide if I am falling into the trap that many have been
subjected to when a major technological advancement has been made, but here is
seems that the soldier that commands a drone is no different from the trash man
that works nine to five.
Although some may
argue that this is just the new breed of soldier because they actually conduct more
effective missions, are more effective at attacking targets, and see more of
the battle field, this is just overlooking what makes a soldier. At no point do I diminish the role that these
men have in keeping the country safe, but there does not seem to be too much
heroism involved in operating a keyboard and a mouse. Some may still argue that the machine at the
end of the network is an extension of the human that operates it, but this is
just a shield for the fact that drones allow people to become more effective
killing machines. Even though there have
been documented cases of operators experiencing feelings for their destroyed
machines, these feelings are reduced when compared to the hardships that a battlefield
solder undergoes when they lose a member of their unit or sustain an injury. Drones take the man or woman out of a
soldier, don’t continue to call them soldiers, call them operators
What is the political/military/social effect of no longer having 'soldiers'?
ReplyDeleteI doubt there would never be a society without soldiers, instead I think that only certain people would be considered soldiers. People that do not put themselves in harms way are not soldiers. A society without soldiers would be interesting, but I think we would still find someone to name a hero. Maybe this would not be soldiers, but people that perform public service. For as long as time, society has picket people tat have elite status for making sacrifices that the rest of society was unwilling to make. If the traditional soldiers were no longer in existence, we would replace them with something else.
DeleteThe modern U.S. soldier often performs more humanitarian actions as a part of the war effort. The drone operators on the other hand have the sole goal to kill and take out targets. They never really get to experience the good parts of the native population and don't participate in rebuilding the country. I think this makes them simply machine operators and not true peacekeepers
ReplyDeleteI know they participate in humanitarian missions, but then why do so many fear Muslims when they return from service. Even with humanitarian missions I feel that they put their lives on the line.
DeleteI think that this is an interesting point. It is worth noting that these drone operators are military personnel and trained by the military, so while their on ground involvement is almost non-existant I would say they still are soldiers. Some evidence of this is the fact that some drone operators experience PTSD. But again I think it really depends on the definition of a soldier, I would tend to agree with Richard, that soldiers are not just weapons for defeating our enemies but also the tools we use to help maintain peace and rebuild after war.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point. Though I definitely see a blurring of the lines between civilian and troops with drone warfare, it is hard to say that they have made the complete jump to civilian when they are still trained by the military.
DeleteAlso, I find it interesting that we create this technology to protect the lives of our troops, but having this technology in turn nearly strips them of their identity of being a troop. That must be a strange concept to come to terms with if you are a troop that works with drones in the military.