( CNN ) -- The Pentagon has revolutionized warfare during the past decade , making unmanned aerial vehicles , known as UAVs , a staple of modern combat in Afghanistan and Iraq . A USAF technician at Creech Air Force Base , checks Hellfire missile attachments on a Predator . Remotely-controlled drones , such as the Predator and the Reaper , have allowed the U.S. military to spy on and attack enemy combatants without putting their own forces at risk , thereby making UAVs a must-have . `` The real advantage of unmanned aerial systems is they allow you to project power without projecting vulnerability , '' says USAF Lt. Gen. David Deptula at the Pentagon . But as USAF commanders try to provide enough pilots to take charge of drones , many are considering another aspect of the warfare revolution -- the psychological impact on those controlling the vehicles . As Dr. Kory Cornum , a USAF colonel , explains : `` Whereas we have thousands of years of data on what it 's like to go to war really , we only have a few years of data on what it 's like to go to war virtually . And so we do n't have really enough data . '' Pilots are now dealing with something never experienced before -- a rapid transition from intense combat to home comfort , often in less than an hour . Some describe it as a version of post-traumatic stress disorder , often more associated with soldiers directly in harm 's way . Peter Singer , an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama 's campaign team and author of `` Wired for War , '' described one encounter with a frustrated non-commissioned officer . `` She actually banged the table , saying : 'No one is paying attention to this issue of PTSD [ post-traumatic stress disorder ] among my men and women , no one 's paying attention to it , '' Singer says . `` And she talked about a scene where they were flying a drone above a set of U.S. soldiers that were killed and the drone was unarmed at the time and they could n't do anything about it . They just circled above and they watched U.S. soldiers die in front of them . '' Watch the debate about the impact of UAVs on pilots » . USAF fighter pilots like Major Morgan Andrews remotely control drones from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada . Less than an hour after targeting he 'll be back in suburban Las Vegas , his drive home more physically dangerous than the combat mission he has just undertaken . Commanders at Creech say that if there is stress , it comes from relentless around-the-clock shift work . Andrews says that like any good pilot he has learned to compartmentalize his life , using his commute to and from work to transition . `` I think about work , I think about what happened , '' Andrews explains , `` what I could 've done better , anything I maybe did wrong that I could 've done differently , how could I do it better next time . I just kind of go through it and usually , by the time I get home , I 've sorted it all through my mind and stick it away in a file and go on with life . '' For Andrews , fighting from Nevada more than outweighs the drawbacks of long overseas deployments , allowing him to enjoy life at home with his family and friends . Cornum adds that the drive home is more of a blessing than anyone realized . `` It does give you some amount of time , as opposed to if you lived on base and you could literally walk out of war and into your house , '' he says . `` I do n't know if 30 minutes is enough . But it gives you time to decompress . '' But conducting remote warfare , as Cornum explains , brings with it stress that vary from those usually experienced by troops . `` The big difference is that when you are actually deployed , you are with all your battle buddies who are experiencing the thing 24/7 . Whereas when you go home , you go home to your family , to your neighbors , who are not in the battle all the time . And that 's good and bad . ''
Robotic warfare allows pilots to control armed vehicles without risk to themselves . Military experts are now looking at the psychological impact this may have on pilots . Comment: Some pilots welcome operating from the U.S. rather than being deployed overseas .