SPIEGEL ONLINE: Some people fear that it turns war into a video game.

Singer: To say that is far too simplistic. We’re seeing a change in the very experience of war. The act of going to war used to entail you taking upon great risks. You might not come home one day. You might not see your family again. Now it’s different. I heard a drone pilot explain it this way: You’re going to war for one hour, and then you get in the car and drive home, and within two minutes you’re sitting at the dinner table talking about your kids’ homework. This is a very different experience of war.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: One drone pilot told SPIEGEL ONLINE that they suffer from just as much stress and trauma.

Singer: Yes, all this doesn’t mean we’re not seeing all sorts of new stressers. In the beginning we feared that drones may make the operators not really care about what they’re doing. But the opposite has turned out to be true. They may almost care too much. We’re seeing higher levels of combat stress among remote units than among some units in Afghanistan. We found significantly increased fatigue, emotional exhaustion and burnout. Drone operators are more likely to suffer impaired domestic relationships, too.