Eric Schmidt writing about the Ukraine / Russia drone war, not very +ve for Ukraine.
(www.foreignaffairs.com)
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Yeah, I've been watching the videos ontheync
https://theync.com/channels/8/war/page1.html
As if being in the infantry wasn't already stressful enough without the grenades chasing you
One thing I noticed about those grenade-dropping videos is that, almost always, the targets never even looked up. A few times I could even see that the drone was only at an altitude of 50m, plenty close to hear. WTH were they thinking?
Finally, I heard it mentioned a couple of times that--for the Ukrainians, anyway--there are always drones flying and the noise is constant. They did hear them, they just ignored it.
Even if you survive all that, can you even imagine the PTSD from anything whirring and buzzing? Unimaginable.
I've noticed an uptick recently of individual troops being hit by FPV drones, which previously seemed to get saved for vehicles.
And we never see the ones who miss but there must be some.
Firing a rifle has a tendency to drop your hearing for a little bit. I know i sure as hell notice a difference when i have to rush out with the shotgun and don't have ear plugs in. If they've been in a firefight recently or done any suppressive fire to help someone move positions, their hearing might NOT be picking up that drone noise as easily as it would if you’re entrenched and hiding and not firing.
That's a good point. I saw an interview maybe a year ago with an English mercenary who went back home after just a few months. He estimated that he had lost about 40% of his hearing from the continuous shelling.
The addendum to that was his answer when the interviewer asked if any of the shelling had been close. He said that (IIRC) one had hit as close as 100m.
As far as being life-threatening from fragmentation, as long as you're in a trench or on the deck it doesn't sound that close. But having these enormous rounds rain down around everyone and blow up anywhere in the vicinity has got to be ear-shattering. Literally.
Warfare has changed so much, its not even funny. I’d honestly prefer just melee weapons and both sides lined up and let the one with guys standing be the victor. We have too many weapons and tactics that make being anywhere near a combat zone insanely dangerous. Guerrilla tactics, mines, chemical and biological weapons, artillery and naval shells coming in from 15+ miles away, missiles launched from further than that, snipers, IED’s, kids being strapped with explosives and sent as a suicide bomber, the list goes on. I’ll hate the bankers and politicians that make the mess but i feel for the warriors and soldiers on both sides of a conflict. Most aren’t being told the truth, and all are being used for someone else’s goals.