In the past few days HN linked something about changes in military organisation from the era when fixed formation set pieces were usual, and it emphasises that today we don't in fact really do what you've described. The soldiers aren't "drones" in this sense, they're responsible for some pretty sophisticated decision making which requires personal discretion.
A British Army soldier, literate but probably with nothing beyond high school education, is expected to learn tactics needed to achieve strategic goals without babysitting. "Take that building" is a goal, working as a group, advancing under cover and flanking the enemy is tactics. Modern infantry work mostly in small units, a handful of people with a shared purpose, they have an NCO leader to make decisions but they are individually expected to understand the tactics. The officer commanding dozens or hundreds of troops remotely can't babysit them all even if they both wanted to and had the information to attempt it which they don't.
The preference to not use humans is sentiment. Drones, robot guns, and so on don't leave grieving friends and relatives, they're just machines, and will be replaced. Sentiment is a massive political problem, the American people will pay for a $100Bn/ year war without flinching, hey it's full employment at the weapons factory - but when the planes full of coffins come home that's a voters' kid in each box.
A British Army soldier, literate but probably with nothing beyond high school education, is expected to learn tactics needed to achieve strategic goals without babysitting. "Take that building" is a goal, working as a group, advancing under cover and flanking the enemy is tactics. Modern infantry work mostly in small units, a handful of people with a shared purpose, they have an NCO leader to make decisions but they are individually expected to understand the tactics. The officer commanding dozens or hundreds of troops remotely can't babysit them all even if they both wanted to and had the information to attempt it which they don't.
The preference to not use humans is sentiment. Drones, robot guns, and so on don't leave grieving friends and relatives, they're just machines, and will be replaced. Sentiment is a massive political problem, the American people will pay for a $100Bn/ year war without flinching, hey it's full employment at the weapons factory - but when the planes full of coffins come home that's a voters' kid in each box.