Originally Posted by
LeftWing
I don't doubt that front line combat experience is worlds different than sitting behind a screen......never even implied otherwise. However, I stand by my statement that comparing flying RPA's in real missions that sometimes involve killing real people to a video game like Call of Duty is indeed presumptuous. We'll have to agree to disagree.
I respect your point of view and do not intend to change it.
However, it's been argued in past studies, that there is a level of detachment that occurs between RPA operators performing missions in the box versus those actually out flying the missions i.e. Close Air Support, Foward Air Control, Attack, Medevac, CSAR, etc. Hence my crude video game comparison.
This theory has been confirmed by some friends of mine that have have crossed over from the CAF to the RPA world. These are guys that have done the "real thing" and they compare it to playing a video game versus doing it for real. In other words, they say it's a lot easier to "pull the trigger" looking through a TV screen. I can't speak for the guys that have no previous combat experience prior to going to RPA's. As you have said, we'll agree to disagree...