"Grounded", a play which ponders life as a drone pilot, makes its way to a Washington stage.
It's the story of an F-16 fighter pilot who gets reassigned to the "Chair Force" -- as she dismissively refers to it -- and how she adapts to the new work-life balance.
Now, instead of feeling like a hotshot pilot in Iraq, she's confined to a windowless room.
And, instead of decompressing with her comrades in the combat zone, she drives home to family.
Actress Lucy Ellinson, who interviewed several drone pilots in preparation for the role, learned pilots often follow a target for weeks on end, witnessing the intimate details of their lives before seeing them be killed.
SOUNDBITE: Lucy Ellinson, actress, saying (English):
"The post-traumatic stress disorder level amongst drone pilots is as high, if not higher, according to various different evidence, as fighter pilots themselves. And that's because they have this strong relationship, and they also have to watc
