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US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

bloomberg.com

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Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#281

Post by akiselev »

rdtsc wrote: post #196
MarkMarine wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can’t speak for others but the most damaging part of direct combat is watching people that you consider to be family die or be maimed.

> the most damaging part of direct combat is watching people that you consider to be family die or be maimed. I've heard from various places over the years (documentaries, friends) that soldiers really fight for their comrades at the end of the day. As in when asked "why are you here fighting" if they are in front of a news crews or something where they have to say "we're bringing democracy to ..." they'll just say s…

That's a well studied topic in military history/science called unit cohesion. The saying goes that morale gets the soldiers to the battlefield, cohesion is what keeps them there. In order to withstand the psychological horrors of combat, soldiers need that comradery otherwise they'll run off at the first chance they get. There needs to be some anchor keeping the soldier in the way of danger, whether that's social pressure or years of intense training together.

Brett Devereaux has talked about it multiple times on his blog in various different contexts (most recently two weeks ago)[1][2][3]:

[1] https://acoup.blog/2026/07/24/collections-pre-modern-armies-...

[2] https://acoup.blog/2022/07/01/collections-total-generalship-...

[3] https://acoup.blog/tag/cohesion/

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#282

Post by Loquebantur »

jonnybgood wrote: post #261
Loquebantur wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You supplant your lack of knowledge in statistics with unfounded assumptions and overt bias. The relevant metric here is number of deaths per size of the specified group and per time . You compare to completely different numbers and confabulate entirely unconnected "explanations". These deaths are most likely due to "housecleaning", as I said.

> These deaths are most likely due to "housecleaning", as I said. No, it’s not. It’s very obvious you have no idea of how US military personnel work and live, and the stresses that can be imposed on a person by the function of being in a military. Among those functions such as deployments which can come as a surprise and up root anything you having going on in your life. Or, having to live for several years in highly…

You might want to actually read the article, then you would see how your descriptions don't actually apply.

Part of the shitty work conditions (that remarkably persist despite incredible amounts of money vanishing in the DoD/W) is your employer being out to kill you should they get the idea of you being insufficiently free of morals or independent thought.

I would argue, that part should worry you far more than your other points.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#283

Post by fryanyway_swe »

iso1631 wrote: post #166
cookiengineer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's lots of people working for NATO and federal agencies in Europe that have been assassinated by the luckystrike branch of the FSB. The name comes from the Telegram account with underscores in between, and they're essentially recruiting kids or former inmates for GTA style missions. Starts with simple stuff like package rerouting, then goes on to gathering intel about places, people, putting in USB flash drives…

> There's lots of people working for NATO and federal agencies in Europe that have been assassinated by the luckystrike branch of the FSB. The name comes from the Telegram account with underscores in between, and they're essentially recruiting kids or former inmates for GTA style missions. Iran too https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyqggvyp1do https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/29/norwegian-te...

EU is already under attack by Iran and has been for a while yet the american zoomers on TikTok/Reddit/here state everything is fine and Iran/China/Russia just wants to be left alone uwu

>The Swedish Security Service has established that the Iranian regime uses criminal networks in Sweden to carry out violent acts against other states, groups, or individuals in Sweden that Iran regards as threats.

https://sakerhetspolisen.se/ovriga-sidor/other-languages/eng...

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#285

Post by greedo »

kstrauser wrote: post #151
YesThatTom2 wrote: post #11

I suspect the Cold War of cyber warfare that is happening is orders of magnitude bigger than the public knows. Imagine knowing this and not being able to get emotional support from your friends and family.

This was a big thing for drone people based out of Eppley AFB in Omaha. Wake up, drive to work, attack enemies, drive home, sit there eating dinner with your family trying to pretend you didn’t kill someone and can’t talk about it. Combat troops get to lean on each other after a firefight: “dude, good shot. That guy was about to get us!” You get validation that you did something to safe you and your friends, and it’s…

Some minor quibbles...

It's Offut AFB, home of StratCom. Eppely is the municipal airport. And Offut doesn't have any drone units, nor do they manage any. They due process reconnaissance for sure, but actual drone strikes aren't conducted from there.

Creech AFB is where most of the drone units operating Reaper/Avenger etc are based.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#286

Post by blackqueeriroh »

constantius wrote: post #206
senderista wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel more compassion for the innocent people they killed and it's not even close.

A lot of people on HN have either served in the US mil or are sympathetic, and have successfully solved their cognitive dissonance about killing 10k people for 1 soldier. But you're right, whoever they killed was most often either a civilian, someone defending their country, or someone forced to defend their country from an invader. While the US soldiers kill either because they believe in the crazy narratives pushed…

Were all US soldiers in the Revolutionary War war criminals? What about the North in the Civil War? Or WWI/WWII?

Nearly every soldier in any war will have directly or indirectly killed an innocent civilian. Which ones are war crimes and which aren’t?

How do you decide and who gives you the authority to do so?

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#287

Post by [deleted] »

cushychicken wrote: post #57
YesThatTom2 wrote: post #11

I suspect the Cold War of cyber warfare that is happening is orders of magnitude bigger than the public knows. Imagine knowing this and not being able to get emotional support from your friends and family.

Used to work in this field. You're correct: not being able to talk about it is the worst part. This is equally true of successes as well as challenges. I did some cool, very impactful stuff in that job. I will go to jail for a long, long time if I ever go into detail about it.

[deleted]

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#288

Post by a2800276 »

wbl wrote: post #81
a2800276 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they only kill random fishermen in the Caribbean, foreign leaders get kidnapped and tried in kangaroo courts. Except Iranian leaders, those do get killed. But that's just the last 6 months.

Those were military not CIA. The distinction really matters!

Regardless that you said "the US doesn't...", there's no way the CIA was not central to kidnapping Maduro and as for Khamenei: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/cia-israel-ay...

I'm not sure why the distinction matters, the Navy and Coast Guard also need to recruit. I could imagine at least an occasional sailor is troubled by shooting drowning seamen, even if they are suspected smugglers.

Perhaps even a few civilians are troubled by the lack of regard for human life of the psychos running the show, eliminating any moral standing the world pretended the US had.

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#289

Post by breppp »

throw310822 wrote: post #236
breppp wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably false as you can see historically that ideological armies have far better morale and better effectiveness

"Bringing democracy" is a very weak ideological motivation. I would rather call it plausible deniability. As in "we're doing this to bring democracy" and people might be left with the doubt that it's true.

It is a very weak ideological motivation for people who would never enlist in the first place.

However, I think people are generally too cynical towards a very real belief system. There are multiple examples of US pushing for democracy against its own interest. Bush with the Hamas Gaza elections, Obama with the Egypt Muslim Brotherhood government and Carter with pre-revolution Iran are such examples

Re: US Military's cyber command unit grapples with cluster of deaths by suicide

#290

Post by ghastmaster »

DANmode wrote: post #252
ghastmaster wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fairly strict selectivity on handing out TS clearances I have known two people with clearance(not TS). One was an EOD in the army, whom was one of the last people I would have trusted with explosives back then. The other did IT work for a defense contractor in the middle east. The latter did lots of drugs of all kinds and stole close to $5k of my gun and ammo. He's now in the military repairing helicopters. End ane…

Did you forget to report him, or was it squashed?

I told his recruiter. Unfortunately there wasn't sufficient evidence for him to be charged. I also submitted a report to Army CID.
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