Enemies in High Places

Drones have redefined modern warfare. But for the injured, they’ve made wait times for help and care reminiscent of the worst of World War I. C.J. Chivers with some incredible war reporting in the NYT Magazine (Gift Article): A Harrowing Escape From the Drone-Infested Hellscape of Ukraine’s Front Lines. “His mission had been timed for a dark period between moonset and sunrise. The sky was black, silent and vast. But in less than three hours, daybreak would illuminate the meadow where he bled. Many more Russian drones would take flight. Aleksandr’s future distilled to a simple binary. If he could reach the woodlot by dawn, he might be pulled to safety and surgical care. If not, he’d almost certainly end up like countless other soldiers in this war: laying helpless on farmland until a predatory drone descended and an explosion tore him apart, his last wretched seconds recorded for social media’s 24-7 snuff-film deathstream.”