A "can't-miss for anyone interested in current military affairs," On
Killing Remotely reveals and explores the costs--to individual soldiers
and to society--of the way we wage war today (Kirkus Reviews,
starred).
Throughout history society has determined specific rules of engagement
between adversaries in armed conflict. With advances in technology, from
armor to in the Middle Ages to nerve gas in World War I to weapons of
mass destruction in our own time, the rules have constantly evolved.
Today, when killing the enemy can seem palpably risk-free and tantamount
to playing a violent video game, what constitutes warfare? What is the
effect of remote combat on individual soldiers? And what are the
unforeseen repercussions that could affect us all?
Lt Col Wayne Phelps, former commander of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft
unit, addresses these questions and many others as he tells the story of
the men and women of today's "chair force." Exploring the ethics of
remote military engagement, the misconceptions about PTSD among RPA
operators, and the specter of military weaponry controlled by robots,
his book is an urgent and compelling reminder that it should always be
difficult to kill another human being lest we risk losing what makes us
human.
