US Drone Operator says, ‘I became a sociopath’, regrets 1626 Killings (Lest we forget)

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2013/06/operator-sociopath-killings.html

US Drone Operator says, ‘I became a sociopath’, regrets 1626 Killings (Lest we forget)
Posted on 06/19/2013 by Juan Cole

Lest we forget (from last summer): Brandon Bryant is haunted by his career as a drone contract killer for the US government.

Drone operator: ‘I became a sociopath’, regrets 1626 assassinations.

[cantbeserious]

1. Killing Without Consequences Does That To People

eom

[think]

2. Drone strikes need to be reigned in. It's time to restore some sanity to humanity

[90-percent]

3. One thousand six hundred and twenty six

That number could make this man perhaps the most prolific mass murderer in history.

This man will be haunted about this for the rest of his life. What a horrible task our government asked of this man!

-90% Jimmy

[Triana]

4. See a film called "The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib", about US prison guards there...

....same thing happened to them. They just learned not to have a conscience about what they were doing. And it haunts them.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. And yet those who order this claim they are perfected Christians who act for Christ

Imagine that. Imagine the sort of mendacious soul it takes to order young men to kill for you and then say 'I'm a big Christian, those people in love offend me and my wife'.

[byeya]

9. This is yet another reason why the officer corps needs to be reformed. Maybe not allowing one

to become an officer candidate until he/she has served 2 years as an enlisted soldier. I think we need to break down the rigid class structure of the military.

[telclaven]

12. It's what I did

Three years humping a mortar tube around before applying to OCS. Made me a better officer (I hope). At least my troops respected that part of my history.

[OnyxCollie]

6. He needs to look forward

and get rid of those pesky principles.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. As others have....one in particular.

[OnyxCollie]

10. Maybe it's the prospect of becoming

fabulously wealthy when leaving office that makes the difference?

[Hydra]

8. The costs of war

Especially immoral ones like ours- the cost is your soul.

[Downtown Hound]

11. This is why I tell people they should never join the military or

work for the Military Industrial Complex in any way as long as the government exists in its present from with its present policies. By doing so, you are nothing but an accomplice to atrocities. Or worse, someone who directly carries them out.

I do have some sympathy for this man, but I also have anger too. If it was my family member that he killed, I would want him dead. I wouldn't care if he was "just following orders." I would hate him for being cowardly enough to carry those orders out.