It's the combination that's problematic. It suggests that the killing is done lightly and carelessly, and it cheapens human lives.

And yet that is the fact. The worth of human life is decided but what's in the pocket. The sooner you accept it the easier it will be.

I should be surprised that a HN reader is falling for this guy's trick, but I guess I'm not.

"Oh and look at how the military is using these hacker kids with neck beards who part-time as assassins in between their Battlefield 3 matches"

I guess this guy (and apparently you too) would feel better if this guy was wearing a 3-piece suit before he launches a hellfire missile into a Taliban camp.

No, someone wearing a uniform and whose leash it tightly held by commissioned officer is a tiny bit more appropriate. A clear and unambiguous chain of command from the sovereign state is the least you can ask for in a war. Those involved should know that they are not autonomous agents, they are instruments of power, tools, and disposable themselves.

Exactly : Wearing a uniform you're doing things that you would never do wearing civilian clothes. That's a psychological threshold, for soldiers and for the society.

Maybe the yanking of the controls? :-/