What do you think about having enlisted drone pilots in the USAF?

For many years in the "Original" Air Corp, Officers were only too happy to forego flying and delegate it to enlisted. Now that it is relatively safe, they want to be able to regain the "glory seat" and go home to kith & kin every evening.
The former USAFSS command were comprised of about 95% enlisted under 5% officers and were proud to be able to provide real-time intel to all levels of commands up to the Pentagon and POTUS. Many times visiting officers/DoD brass were miffed when they were greeted by enlisted people to meet & greet them. Didn't want to talk with anyone less than the rank of Major until they were told that one would have to be flown in.
Enlisted not smart enough to do the jobs?? I've worked shoulder-to-shoulder with PhDs and Masters degree E-3/4s in a Command that was the top 2% of all AF enlisted educationally. So put that your smoke and pipe it!!

This is a good idea because most enlisted will do a better job than some officers would. Too many officers let their positions get to their heads. Instead of using their positions to lead from the front many tend to do the opposite to the peril of their units.

I asked this question once in the an Air Force fighter squadron commander. Why must you have a college degree to be a pilot? The answer was; it indicates you have the desire and fortitude to complete a extended coarse of training and will not quiet half way through it.

In today's Air Force, I think there is a trade space for drones to be operated by enlisted operators. The service would need to take a hard look at its force structure and decide if all drones are created equally. A small, unarmed, ISR drone such as an RQ-11 Raven should most definitely be flown by enlisted (as they are now). A medium sized, unarmed, tactical ISR drone such as a Scan Eagle should be operated by an enlisted operator. The debate begins with the "medium sized", unarmed, tactical ISR drone such as the MQ-1 Predator. This drone is large enough to have " multi-crew", multi-mission capability. Does this require the command authority of a commissioned officer. Personally, I think the Predator would be a good case study for promoting enlisted Airmen as warrant officers. Maybe there would be a transition period for rated officers to fly the Predator across international airspace, but hand over control in theater to a warrant officer. An armed MQ-9 Reaper drone should probably be operated by a rated, commissioned officer if there are no warrant officers, or the CONOPs should be to have a rated "patch" standing next to the enlisted drone pilot to give the order to fire.

Ma'am seeming that the Air Force has had enlisted pilots in the past and they were very successful I don't see a problem with them flying drones. I know flying a drone is a little different than flying a fighter aircraft but seeming a lot of pilots learn to fly on the civilian side the learning curve should be bad and the AF wouldn't be re-inventing the wheel. Plus this could give the opportunity for the air force to bring back their warrant officer corp like the rest of the military.

I am just guessing but it could be that they are worried about giving younger and probably less experienced people the responsibility of making the shoot/don't shoot decision. Some gamers might be too eager to blow-up everybody and everything in sight like you do in most games. Of course that problem could be solved with training.

An old Maintenance Group Commander of mine had a degree in Forestry. It was his AF training and experience that made him capable. Show me how, and I can do it.

The way I remember it...the first drone pilots were enlisted. Correct me if I'm wrong?

After watching teens operate RC vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, helicopters, planes, and local drones.... they are better equipped for it than most Officers. I say go for it!