I did almost 25 years in the military. I understand Ted’s squeamishness for using drones, but….
Let’s look at this from an Infantryman’s point of view.
We know that there is a bad guy in a Taliban compound. We could call in indirect fire and let the artillery sort it out. Or B-52’s, like Viet-Nam. Or naval gunfire. But then we wouldn’t be sure, did we get the target? And we there would also be many, many collateral casualties.
OR….
We can send in a platoon of Infantrymen, and do what is called DC, direct contact. Our boys kick down the door and assault their way through the compound, section by section.
Let’s think about how dangerous this is. What a great risk of life to US servicemen. It might look cool in the movies, but in real life, it is what I call “Bad News”.
OR….
We could send in a drone and let some operator on a carrier deck 1000’s of miles away do his job. Quick, easy, efficient, no risk at all to American lives. Minimum collateral damage. We can even send in a mop-up team afterwards and gather intell and do BDA.
So, in the end, if I were president, I would base my decision on the potential loss of life to American servicemen, considering the significance and purpose of the mission.
Our MI troops do an incredible job of gathering intell and presenting it to the commander for him/her to make a decision. Biden isn’t just rubber stamping drone assassinations. But when he does approve a drone mission, he is saving US servicemember lives.
I did almost 25 years in the military. I understand Ted’s squeamishness for using drones, but….
Let’s look at this from an Infantryman’s point of view.
We know that there is a bad guy in a Taliban compound. We could call in indirect fire and let the artillery sort it out. Or B-52’s, like Viet-Nam. Or naval gunfire. But then we wouldn’t be sure, did we get the target? And we there would also be many, many collateral casualties.
OR….
We can send in a platoon of Infantrymen, and do what is called DC, direct contact. Our boys kick down the door and assault their way through the compound, section by section.
Let’s think about how dangerous this is. What a great risk of life to US servicemen. It might look cool in the movies, but in real life, it is what I call “Bad News”.
OR….
We could send in a drone and let some operator on a carrier deck 1000’s of miles away do his job. Quick, easy, efficient, no risk at all to American lives. Minimum collateral damage. We can even send in a mop-up team afterwards and gather intell and do BDA.
So, in the end, if I were president, I would base my decision on the potential loss of life to American servicemen, considering the significance and purpose of the mission.
Our MI troops do an incredible job of gathering intell and presenting it to the commander for him/her to make a decision. Biden isn’t just rubber stamping drone assassinations. But when he does approve a drone mission, he is saving US servicemember lives.