On Killing Remotely

The former commander of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft unit explores the ethics of remote military engagement, the misconceptions of PTSD among RPA operators, and the specter of military weaponry controlled by robots. "Remotely piloted aircraft, aka drones -- used initially for surveillance and now, increasingly, as precisely targeted weapons -- have revolutionized how nations throughout the world protect and defend their citizens. Anyone joining the U.S. Air Force today is more likely to be trained as an RPA crew member than to pilot a traditional airplane. Twenty-five years ago the book On Killing opened our eyes to the innate human resistance to taking another person's life and the specific military training that can effectively counter this inhibition when warranted. Now On Killing Remotely expands on that landmark work to encompass the high-tech weaponry of the twenty-first century. At the heart of this book are the men and women who control weaponized drones. Among them are members of every branch of the U.S. military. Typically, they work at a domestic military base and spend long shifts stalking a target seven thousand miles away -- observing for days and sometimes months as the target goes about his daily routine, interacts with family and neighbors -- and then they kill. For many this experience can be intimate and intense. And when the shift is over, they commute home, often in time to catch a child's soccer game or dance recital. Theirs is a new kind of service, widely misperceived as risk-free and tantamount to playing a video game. This ground-breaking book reveals the repercussions. Exploring the ethics of remote military engagement, the misconceptions about PTSD among RPA operators, and the specter of military weaponry controlled by robots, On Killing Remotely is an urgent and compelling reminder that it should always be difficult to kill anouther human being lest we risk losing what makes us human." -- With advances in technology, from armor to in the Middle Ages to nerve gas in World War I to weapons of mass destruction in our own time, the rules of armed conflict have constantly evolved. Today, when killing the enemy can seem palpably risk-free and tantamount to playing a violent video game, what constitutes warfare? What is the effect of remote combat on individual soldiers? Phelps addresses these questions and many others as he explores the ethics of remote military engagement, the misconceptions about PTSD among RPA operators, and the specter of military weaponry controlled by robots. His book is a compelling reminder that it should always be difficult to kill another human being lest we risk losing what makes us human. -- adapted from jacket

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.