For all the macho posturing of the late Chris Kyle, gunned down at a shooting range by a PTSD-afflicted veteran, his prolific killing has nothing on the death and destruction rained from above by those who carry out US drone strikes in the Middle East.  For all intents and purposes, former drone operator Brandon Bryant has Kyle beat by a long shot.  According to Bryant, over 1,600 deaths were dealt by him through the technological terror that patrolled the skies of the Middle East for the past decade.  Unlike Kyle, though, Bryant isn't flaunting his skill as a State-sanctioned murderer: he regrets it.  For six years, he flew the missions on orders from on high.  Now he's retired from it and is speaking out.  Bryant was diagnosed with PTSD shortly after leaving the program, odd only because normal diagnoses involve situations of prolonged mortal terror.  Air Force psychologists have referred to conditions similar to Bryant's as "existential conflict", or "moral injury".

Engaging in constant behavior that directly violates one's own moral norms results in this "moral injury", a term used by Dr. Jonathan Shay in his book, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character.  The Foreign Policy piece linked to quotes Dr. Brett Litz on the distinctness of moral injury from PTSD: "perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations."

The piece goes on to state that, "There may be no stronger case for the existence of moral injury than that presented by drone operators who, far removed from any physical threats to themselves, suffer symptoms associated with PTSD. Indeed, if moral injury is distinct from and not a component of PTSD (as Dr. Brett Litz and his colleagues claim), it is reasonable to conclude that drone operators are misdiagnosed as having PTSD: They actually suffer from moral injury."

Humans flying drones, dealing death, and then suffering the fallout when their inner humanity accuses them of mass murder of their fellow man.  Moral injury.

Since President Obama took the reins of the drone program, over 364 strikes have been carried out, racking up a death toll of over 2,400.  But only when Americans die in drone strikes, with big exceptions, does the President acknowledge the tragedy.  The Al-Awlaki killing, the 16 year-old Al-Awlaki killing, was justified with nonsense: he should've "had a more responsible father."