Digital Nation Blog: Warfare and Technology

Digital Nation Talks about how the US military uses un-manned air drones to take out enemy targets from up to 9 miles away, and then drive home in 30 minutes to eat dinner with their family. The video discusses how the operator cannot tell whether everyone that was killed in the air strikes is an enemy combatant or a civilian casualty. It also talks about how it builds large facilities in the cities so kids can go play games of call of duty to try and sell them into joining whatever branch they like by using the adrenaline rush to join. And although military members and the teens playing these games understand the difference between real and fake, the parents are a little outraged at this.

            Being in the military myself, I have seen firsthand how technology has affected the lives of soldiers, especially combat-job oriented soldiers. We now have deployable robots to disable bombs, take out enemy snipers, and evacuate wounded. Jobs that would require a soldier to put his life at risk are now done by the work of robots so that a human life can go home to his family. We have simulation rooms to teach us how to drive armored vehicles and aircraft as well as simulated weapon systems. This technology gives us an edge of getting an actual feel of what we are driving, and gets us ready for when we engage in the real thing as well as training for when we operate certain weapons systems so that we can minimize accidents. Drones are another such technology. Yes, pilots can still get PTSD, but my only concern with this video is the aftermath of a drone strike. I feel as though they don’t (video producers) really know what actually happens after a drone strike. They send small recon teams in to survey, assess, and record every detail in the area. They take in casualties and catalogue everything for future reference. The drone pilot has to also fill out a report as well as ground teams. Everyone involved knows the outcome in the end. As for telling whether or not a pilot of a drone has taken out any civilians on accident. Tell me how anyone can tell an enemy combatant from a civilian in the theatre of war in the Middle East?

           Military centers are not just for recruiting. The military is actively engaged within a lot of communities on helping them. These facilities being built for young teens are designed to keep good relations with the future communities of the United States. Yes, recruiting happens there and I am sure that some recruiters use these facilities to lure someone in the Army, Navy, Marines, etc., but The idea that these places solely try to do such an act, to me, is a generation gap. Within both topics there are older people not really understanding the technology with which us younger people grew up with. It comes natural to us to the point where we understand the difference of what is real and what is fake on a virtual to real life basis. Older generations that haven’t grown up with such technology are not used to such things, and since they do run the world, they show their mis-understandings