A US veteran who fought in Ukraine says drones are 'horrendous' for soldiers' morale

Business Insider

2 days ago

A US veteran who fought in Ukraine said that the scale of drones in the war is terrible for troops' morale, and that soldiers sometimes won't see a drone coming in clear blue skies before it kills them.
Carl Larson, an Iraq veteran who was born in Seattle and served in Ukraine's International Legion, said that the huge presence of drones is "a horrendous detriment to morale."
"I can't speak for the Russian side, but on the Ukrainian side, it's incredibly corrosive to your ability to conduct combat operations," he said at a drone conference last week.
"You can't leave your blindage, your bunker, at least not during the day," he added.
Larson said that "anyone who's been under artillery barrage knows how negative that is to your mental well-being and how many soldiers, seemingly strong-minded soldiers, can't handle that sort of stress."
He also said he lost "good friends" in Ukraine "that died from having a grenade explode next to them out of nowhere, under a blue sky, you couldn't even hear it. Bang, they're dead."
'Undetectable' fiberoptic drones
Larson said that some drone types, especially the fiberoptic drones that both Russia and Ukraine are now using, are "damn near undetectable, they come in hot at over a hundred miles an hour."
Fiberoptic drones typically can't be jammed, unlike more classic drone types, and Larson said that if soldiers can't take them down with more traditional means, like guns, then "it's horrible."
Larson, who served as a combat engineer in Iraq, was speaking at Drone Summit 2025, a gathering of more than 100 defense companies, defense ministers, and military officials in NATO member state Latvia.
He's no longer with the International Legion, but is still helping Ukraine, including as the executive director of Defense Tech for Ukraine, a group that works to get drones and other technology to Ukrainian soldiers.
He said at the summit: "I believe that Ukrainians are fighting for all of us."
Larson's comments mirror those made by Ukrainian soldiers and other Western veterans who have taken part in the fighting.
A Ukrainian drone operator told BI earlier this year that there are so many drones in the sky that soldiers often can't tell who they belong to.
And the sheer number of drones means soldiers need to find ways to stay safe, including building fake positions and digging trenches to hide in.
Long-term impact
Drones are so common in Ukraine that they've removed the lifesaving window to rescue injured soldiers, called the "golden hour," another US veteran, who trains troops in Ukraine, previously told BI.
They have also fundamentally changed military tactics in Ukraine, because they remove lots of the element of surprise, the veteran, who goes by the call sign Jackie, said.
Drones have been used to scan the battlefield and gather intelligence to direct other weaponry, and to launch attacks themselves on soldiers and other targets.
They can also be equipped with bombs and grenade launchers, as well as machine guns.
Ukraine and Russia are in a desperate race to develop better and more drones than each other, with Ukraine increasingly relying on drones as it suffers shortages of other weapons from its allies. In contrast, it can make most of the drones it uses itself.
In his comments, Larson talked about the long-term mental toll of things like drone warfare on those in combat.
He said that there are some groups that do "very good work" with demobilized Ukrainian soldiers to combat PTSD and work on mental and physical rehabilitation and employment prospects.
"It's really challenging," he said.