Are you as aware as a person who actually sees the damage they inflict? That is the question here.
Ah, but young padawan, often we can see the damage we inflict.
I agree though that firing a Tomahawk missile (an offensive weapon which travels hundreds of miles to its target) is not going to give you the same fear factor as being shot at with an AK-47 while trying to fire off your rounds to stay alive. But if the shit hits the fan and we are being attacked on a Naval ship with small arms, mines, or short-range missiles there is not a whole lot of difference between that and what ground forces feal when being fired at.
Death from a distance vs. Death in front of your face.
Death is death whether it is from a distance or in your face. When a soldier is firing his weapon to protect himself do you really think he is concerned with the welfare of the person he is shooting at?
Experiencing firing both offensive and defensive weapons on a ship there is always a surge of adrenaline, fear, and shock factor when doing it for 'real' even when firing long-range missiles like tomahawks.
Do we really understand the consequences of our actions if we don't actually see the consequences of our actions? Are the commanders at the Pentagon affected in the same way by the orders they give as the way in which troops are affected by seeing death firsthand?
But the question was not whether you understood the consequences of your actions, it was, are the people who fire missiles from a ship less brave than terrorists.
Again on that not I would 100% emphatically disagree.
I have not heard of rearguard commanders suffering from PTSD the same way that front line troops are suffering.
What does this have to do with bravery? PTSD can be occur in soldiers who are or are not brave, perform well or poorly under fire. PTSD has to do with shock value of experiencing death first hand.
Again the question is about bravery not PTSD.
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so credulous. - Carl Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection
"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." - Carl Sagan
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World