Modern Warfare: Is the Use of Drones Cowardly?

Photo credit: poniblog / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

As advances in technology allow us to perceive different ways to carry out military activities, the tactics must change, and along with them so do our ethics. No longer will there be daring dogfights in the skies above the battlefield, where a pilot's nerve and skill were as important as the plane they flew in, if not more so. Unmanned aircraft, or drones, are used frequently to target and attack enemies of the United States, but what does this say about the US as a society? Is a win-at-all-costs strategy beneath us on some level, or is the utilization the latest technological weaponry simply the most intellectual way to do battle?

Since mankind first came into existence, man has shown the capacity for violence towards his fellow man. Remember Cain and Able in the old Testament? Cain slew his brother Able in order to claim his birthright. The act was personal. As humankind evolved, weapons were introduced to conflict, from the primitive club, to spears and arrows, to bladed weapons, and eventually firearms. As groups turned into clans, clans into kingdoms, kingdoms into countries, and countries into nations, there was always some form of contact where in order to strike at the enemy, the enemy had the opportunity to  counter-strike since you had to be somewhat in close proximity to each other. Missile strikes increased to distance between combatants, but unmanned drones is a game changer as they can be piloted from much longer distances without much concern of a counter-attack.

Photo credit: Defence Images / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

As targets become merely images on a monitor, do we lose sight of the gravity of what we're really doing? Will casualties of war simply become numbers tallied on a spreadsheet? As we distance ourselves from the field of battle, will we also distance ourselves from the damage that has been done? Time will tell.