Armchair UAV Pilots Striking Afghanistan in Las Vegas, Taco Bell Fuelled Comfort

We all know about how the military is utilising UAV’s in an ever increasing amount of missions. And why not? Unmanned aircraft represent a safer and more cost efficient approach to aerial combat. However, we rarely get to see what it is like on the other side of these aircraft—to see the job through the eyes of a UAV pilot. Apparently, it’s much like any other job–except you get to kill things in Afghanistan from the air-conditioned Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

In an interview with CNN, Captain Matt Dean noted that “Seeing bad guys on the screen and watching them possibly get dispatched, and then going down to the Taco Bell for lunch, it’s kind of surreal.” In fact, their entire workday is fairly normal with shifts that rotate around the clock to prevent fatigue. Seems pretty cushy…if blowing terrorists up doesn’t make you lose your appetite for the cheesy gordita crunch that is. [CNN]