Team Remote Warfare & Resilience
University of Virginia
Addressing Mental Health Challenges Among RPA Pilots
The Team
Caroline Still
• Data Analyst at NSIN
• Former Research Assistant at the National Security Policy Center
• Former Select Prosecution Intern at the Office of the State Attorney, 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida
• BA in Global Security & Justice, and French from the University of Virginia
Kaylee Moore
• Research Intern at the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• Former Virginia Delegate Campaign Intern
• Former Administrative Intern at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Towne Realty
• BA in Foreign Affairs & History from the University of Virginia
Strother Cech
• Legal Assistant intern at the Legal Aid Justice Center
• BA in Foreign Affairs and History from the University of Virginia
Thien-Kim Dinh
• MS in Leadership & Public Policy from the University of Virginia
Sahana Bhagat
• NSIN X-Force Fellow
• Former Peace Appeal Foundation Intern
• Former Hager Sharp Intern
• BA in Media Studies & Global Security and Justice
Campbell Turner
• Former NSIN X-Force Fellow
• Former Congressional Intern
• BA in Foreign Affairs and Public Policy
Problem Sponsor
RPA Pilot with the 732nd Support Squadron
Original Problem Statement
Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) personnel need effective policy implementation strategies, and specific changes to Air Force Instructions (AFIs) in order to prioritize human capital and improve mission readiness and retention rates.
Beneficiary Discovery Interviews
76
The Innovation
In the Air Force, the demand for Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) pilots has grown over 76% since 2013. Despite this demand, the retention rate for RPA pilots is below 10%. RPA pilots often struggle with burnout, anxiety, and work-life balance, which explains the extremely high departure rate. Furthermore, RPA pilots suffer from significantly higher rates of suicide ideation than the general Air Force population. During the summer of 2020, NSIN X-Force fellows Sahana Bhagat and Campbell Turner began investigating the specific challenges faced by RPA pilots.
In the Fall 2020 semester, UVA Hacking for Defense students Caroline Sill, Kaylee Moore, Strother Cech, and Thien-Kim Dinh were tasked with continuing the work of the summer X-Force fellows and developing specific policy recommendations for the RPA community. The team decided to pivot and focus on the challenges of implementing the initiatives launched by the Air Force in early 2020 and recommend specific policies that would improve the quality of life for RPA pilots.
In order to better understand the problem, the team interviewed a variety of subject matter experts including pilots, psychologists, psychiatrists, chaplains, and the authors of several prominent RAND studies on the challenges facing the RPA community. Through these interviews, the team identified recruitment challenges and promotion pathways as a contributor to low morale. The team also uncovered the challenge of moral injury, which often causes symptoms similar to those of PTSD, and that many pilots feel ethically conflicted about their role.
The team found that an overarching challenge is this issue is often viewed as a large, nebulous issue rather than as discrete policy problems. Thus, Team Remote Warfare and Resilience decided to focus on small, concrete changes that could quickly improve the quality of life for RPA pilots.
Through beneficiary discovery interviews, the team identified three current obstacles (the “Triple C”) cost, culture, and complacency to current RPA policy and proposed several specific solutions. The team’s policy recommendations include: establishing a clear and distinct promotion pathway for RPA pilots, giving pilots true days off (rather than on-call days), and increasing social support through chaplains, psychologists, and more child care options. Through weekly discussions with their problem sponsor and other Air Force leadership, they were able to workshop the practicality of their policy proposals and tailor them to meet the needs of real RPA pilots. The policy proposals address both the quality of life for pilots and mission readiness for the Air Force as a whole.
Beyond the semester, the team is pursuing a variety of advocacy avenues to continue making quality of life advancements for RPA pilots. X-Force fellows Sahana and Campbell have been collaborating with RPA professionals to advocate for the mental health challenges within the community and hope to compile and publish their findings. The team is working closely with the National Security Policy Center at UVA's Batten School of Public Policy to host a symposium for the RPA community to present their findings (once public health conditions allow).
Presentation
Team Remote Warfare & Resilience’s
Hacking for Defense Experience
Tackling Real World Challenges
Strother expressed his surprise at the depth of knowledge he gained through the course: “I did not expect to leave the class as a drone expert.” He wanted to use Hacking for Defense and his final year of college to make a meaningful impact and believes that they were able to take steps to advance this issue and improve lives. He appreciated the opportunity to work on a real world issue and shares the distinction between this course and other college courses: “This wasn’t a case interview… This is a real world issue. Working on something that was not hypothetical was very rewarding and very unique.”
Similarly, Kaylee describes Hacking for Defense as an incredible learning opportunity: “It was really cool being able to jump right into a problem I knew nothing about beforehand.” Initially, she was unsure of how subject matter experts became experts. Through this course, she has realized that through research, interviews, and an open mind you’re able to think through the problem and identify a solution.
The interview process is a critical part of the Hacking for Defense course, and Campbell admits to initially being a bit intimidated by reaching out to experts. Would they really want to spend their time talking to college students? However, throughout the course he saw the willingness of all of his contacts to not only meet with them, but also introduce them to others in the field and support them with their research. These interviews with enthusiastic beneficiaries were ultimately what drove their policy recommendations.
Personal Impact
For Caroline, being able to support the quality of life of service members was personal. Her brother is commissioning into the Army and she was excited to have the opportunity to support the research that will improve the quality of life for those he will one day be leading. She wanted to ensure that soldiers, like her brother, have access to all the resources they needed to make quality of life improvements and positive policy changes.
Sahana, reflecting on her own H4D experience from the pre-COVID fall 2019 semester, described the enjoyment of being able to work closely with her team. The group was randomly selected, and she admittedly was apprehensive about the group dynamic. However, they quickly bonded and spent countless hours together in the library. The night before their presentation at the Pentagon, the entire team stayed at her home in Northern Virginia, and together they ran to catch the Metro in the morning. She shares that this memory “will always hold a special place in her heart.”