'Did We Just Kill A Kid?' — Six Words That Ended A US Drone Pilot's Career

[FarCenter]

The New Mexico desert gets blistering hot, but inside the small windowless container where Brandon Bryant worked as a drone operator for the U.S. Air Force it stays a cool 63 degrees all year long.

...

No doubt, because on this occasion Bryant says a child walked from behind the building at the last second. Too late for him to do anything else but ask the other pilot, "Did we just kill a kid?"

From der Spiegel:

"Yeah, I guess that was a kid," the pilot replied.

"Was that a kid?" they wrote into a chat window on the monitor.

Then, someone they didn't know answered, someone sitting in a military command center somewhere in the world who had observed their attack. "No. That was a dog," the person wrote.

They reviewed the scene on video. A dog on two legs?

The article follows another widely publicized story from the Marine Times about children killed by Americans on Afghan soil published just weeks ago. While obviously a tragedy for the victims and their families, Bryant describes the incredible toll taken on U.S. troops required to obey orders producing such dire results.

From his mother's couch in Missoula, Montana Bryant talks of his 6,000 Air Force flight hours and says he used to dream in infrared. "I saw men, women and children die during that time," he says. "I never thought I would kill that many people. In fact, I thought I couldn't kill anyone at all."


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/did-we-just-kill-a-kid-nicola-abe-der-spiegel-brandon-bryant-2012-12

[jody]

1. Not to worry if a person on the president's kill list was once believed to have been in the area.

Just collateral damage!

Nothing to see here, just stains on the ground so move along.

[msongs]

2. dead kids only matter if they are in the USA nt

[FarCenter]

3. If there are no MSM network cameras around, it didn't happen.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Well over 100 children are said to have been killed by drones in Pakistan alone

and drones are being used to kill in several more countries.

Where is the outrage?

[Oldenuff]

6. Exactly.

As if banning assault weapons will have any impact on those kids....wanna ban assault gear?Then ban military usage as well.

Ha.As if.

[reteachinwi]

5. President Obama's tears

caused me to wonder if the drone program weighs as heavily on him. I hope so.

[avaistheone1]

7. Me too.

[Melinda]

8. 'Bug-splat' eom

[sibelian]

9. "While obviously a tragedy for the victims and their families,

Bryant describes the incredible toll..."

What is the meaning of this attempt to direct the emotional consequences of this event towards one "side" or the other?

[Whovian]

10. More things to become more ashamed of my country these days.

I grew up thinking we were the good guys. This is hard to deal with.