In 2009, Cian Westmoreland was one of the US Air Force communications personnel who built a critical component of the global communications infrastructure underlying the drone program in Afghanistan through the 73rd Expeditionary Air Control Squadron. It’s area of responsibility covered 621,000 square kms over Afghanistan, and assists in networking disparate ground and air assets across coalition forces and service branches, in addition to drones. It helps connect the battlefield to the Combined Air Operations Center in Al Udeid, Qatar and Ramstein, Germany. At the end of his tour he received a document stating that he assisted in 200+ enemy kills, while the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports 359 civilians killed that year. Cian began speaking openly about his role in November of 2015, along with three other former servicemen to the Guardian and DemocracyNow.