Stress and RPAs

A new study on RPA crews indicates their greatest challenge isn't PTSD, it's burn-out from long hours and inadequate staffing. But there's still the dissonance of remotely killing someone half the world away, then, two hours later, taking your kid to a soccer match. 

"We try to select people who are well-adjusted. We select family people. People of good moral standing, background, integrity," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent McDonald, who was also involved with the study.

"And when they have to kill someone, and when they're involved with missions when they're observing people over long periods of time, and then they either kill them or see them killed, it does cause them to re-think aspects of their life and it can be bothersome."

Read the article here.

The Trolley Problem

Researchers have attempted to learn more about the ethical choices we make, updating the classic "Trolley Problem" by adding a virtual element to make it more "real." The findings? Pretty much what you'd expect: "Evolution has hardened us into brutal and selfish creatures. We make split-second calculations that result in murder — unless a family member is at stake."

Read the article here.

Thanks to C2C Michael Sortino for forwarding.

The Ethos of Fighting in Hockey

Recent reports on brain injury and a lengthy NYT feature on NHL enforcer Derek Boogard are focusing attention on fighting in Hockey. As a supplement, the NYT published an article tracing the origin of fighting in hockey to late 19th century Montreal, where the sport was first played. One theory has it that the first hockey clubs formed around ethnic and religious identities, lending a clannish or gang-like quality to the earliest teams. Thus you had the Victorias (Scottish Protestant), the Montreal Athletic Accociation (English Protestant), the Shamrocks (Irish Catholic), and the National and Montagnards (French Catholic). Researchers found little evidence of fighting between teams that involved punches, but the use of sticks for slashing and clubbing was prevalent. Once fighting was "allowed" in the early twentieth century, incidents of more serious injuries involving sticks declined. In recent years, the last serious case of stick-related violence occurred in 2002, and the NHL averages about one fight for every two games.

Read the article here.