Four Thousand Mile Stare

Inspired by the actual events and the massive presence of the topic of killer-drones in the international media we decided to have a closer look in the global transformations of armies all over the world. Thereby we noticed that there is a progress taking place where pilots were increasingly trained in drone-operations. Initially only for reconnaissance and surveillance purpose, but more and more also for black operations in the middle East using missiles to kill terrorists without risking lifes of the pilots. These missions are often called accurate because only “the target” is killed and there is no collateral damage. But daily routine shows the other side of the coin: Civilian Casualties and Friendly Fire characterize the everyday duty of a drone operator steering a killer drone multiple thousand miles away from their remote control unit. Thereby they see things happen that let their souls sicken. Death struggle of injured people over several minutes, fallen comrades live on their screen and friendly units under fire as well as dead civilians caused by missiles fired by the drone operators often causes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The public often doesn’t notice this illness. The Pilots can’t sleep, become more and more aggressive and often try to erase the pictures in their mind with alcohol and tablets. The German Army is going to order several of these killer-drones in the next few years. Pilots will be trained in finding a target and killing them thousands of miles away. The rate of PTSD-diseased soldiers will grow. Not only infantrymen, above all drone-operator will suffer under steering missiles into a target area. This movie will be about the upcoming aerial technology and the causing PTSD on drone operators. This short film will show the hard and disturbing duty of drone operators and the pictures they have to see every day.