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Army Plans Overhaul of Infantry Gear

Posted by michael on from the stuff-to-carry dept.

nxg125 writes "Wired is running an article about a seven-year, $250 million revamping of the US Army's uniforms. One of the major obstacles is going to be how to power all the electronic devices that the soldiers will use. 'They have at least one idea, though. "Avoid the use of Microsoft Windows operating systems," a recent memo on the subject directed. FFW is going open source. Cleaner software needs less energy to run.'"

19 of 829 comments (clear)

  1. One way street... by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    "Once you're in an urban environment, it strips out a lot of (America's) technology advantages," he said. "It puts you in a fair fight. And you don't want to be in a fair fight."

    So why are guerilla tactics used by an opposing force often decried as unfair or underhanded? The side at a disadvantage uses any and all means at their disposal to help make the fight more "fair". This fellow seems to back that up, unless having a lopsided fight is only sporting when it's his team doing the slaughtering.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:One way street... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So why are guerilla tactics used by an opposing force often decried as unfair or underhanded?

      Unfair? No, never. Ask anybody in uniform or anybody who's ever served in uniform and they'll tell you that fairness has nothing to do with it. "Overwhelming force" is the watchword.

      Some tactics are immoral, though. Like surrounding your troops with civilians acting as human shields, or storing weapons in or basing operations out of hospitals or mosques. Why? Because both of those tactics put civilians in danger. If you make hospitals legitimate military targets, for example, then doctors, nurses, and patients are going to die. That's bad for everybody.

      --

      I write in my journal
    2. Re:One way street... by Uhlek · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's only the press you really see that in. Most soldiers and military planners accept the fact that guerilla tactics are and always will be the only effective way an inferior force can respond to a superior one. Hell, the American revolutionaries did it to the British. It's not always an issue of fighting to the finish...sometimes its possible to just make it so costly for your enemies to hold on to your territory that they just give up and leave.

      Fact is, America hasn't been in a "fair fight" since Vietnam. Vietnam wasn't even technically a fair fight -- our force was clearly superior, but our tactics were not.

      Thing is, only place you want a fair fight is in a boxing ring. You want to have the clear advantage over your enemy, so that casualties on your side are minimal and victory is assured.

    3. Re:One way street... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm gonna nitpick you to death here. Please excuse me, and understand that my intentions are good.

      I have heard illegal tactics... Not all guerilla tactics are illegal...

      Please don't use the word "illegal" in this context. It propagates the myth that there is such a thing as "international law" or "laws of war." There isn't, and it's a mistake to imply that there is.

      Some tactics are prohibited by certain treaties. But that's not the same thing as saying that those tactics are illegal.

      I know this seems like a very small thing, but it's an important point.

      --

      I write in my journal
    4. Re:One way street... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How far would you go if somebody invaded your home and imposed their will on you, your family, and nation?

      I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't include signing the death warrants of innocent civilians by using them as human shields.

      So why do the terrorists do it? Simple: public relations. The best thing that can possibly happen to the terrorists in Iraq is for the United States to bomb a mosque or a hospital. They can't defeat us militarily, so they try to defeat us from within by weakening our resolve.

      Why do you think they claimed that the terrorist camp we destroyed last week was a "wedding party?" Why, for that matter, do you think Saddam put his military intelligence headquarters in the same building as the al-Amirya air-raid shelter back in 1991?

      --

      I write in my journal
    5. Re:One way street... by denise_yenko · · Score: 5, Interesting
      In 1984, I fired a pattern of illumination shells to form a letter "A" (my battery) after winning the battery tests. (Also a neat way to burn up the extra ammo, so as not to have to turn it back in -- a *major* p.i.t.a.)

      As section chief of the FDC, I relied on paper chart and paper calulations, although we had specially modified HP's to do the same thing. (A whole 'nother story, but we didn't use the Army's method of data entry either. I taught my people about 'peeks and pokes', and cut down our data entry time by about 75%)

      What freaked out our observer from the 505thArty/101airborne, though, was computing a second mission in my head.

      The colonel called, ("27 this is 6. That letter "A" is way too small to see well.") Since it was already pretty durn big, I assumed that he wanted the "A" twice as big, so I closed my eyes, computed 5 (one gun could maintain its firing data) sets of deltas for the other guns.

      The observer said later (to my Captain and the Colonel) that never in his life had he seen anyone do 3-d trig in their head. It was checked on paper, and my data was 0/0 correct ("Check, 0!)" on all 15 data points (deflection, elevation and tof

      Yes I can also do long division in my head!

      [B^)

      --
      I'm armed and I haven't changed my patch, so don't start with me -- you *know* how I get!
  2. No batteries? by Sad+Mephisto · · Score: 5, Funny

    How to power those things? Haven't they seen the Matrix?

  3. Windows Front Line edition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just as you see the whites of their eyes
    FIRE.EXE has performed an illegal operation and w.....

  4. Clippy by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny
    "It looks like you are engaging in offensive manoevers. Would you like help?"

    Get help writing battle plan.

    Set us up the bomb.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  5. colonel panic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Open source in the military? Has anybody made a Colonel Panic joke yet?

  6. What might happen if they DID use windows.... by eviljolly · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Enemy spotted, 100 yards and closing.
    "Open fire soldier!"
    "Sir my weapon says it's not responding"
    "Reboot soldier!"
    "I did sir, but each time I reboot it still says "Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service terminated unexpectedly.""
    "Disable your wireless connection soldier and switch to manual override, we're being exploited!"

    Meanwhile somewhere in the middle east...
    "Heheheheh.........silly Americans...."

  7. No clippy? by Himring · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Avoid the use of Microsoft Windows operating systems,"

    Too bad. I guess that means no MS Word either. I guess that means no clippy, and I guess that means no:

    It looks like you're killing people. Would you like help?

    --
    "All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
  8. specialised military batteries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    anyone who's been in the army knows what I'm talking about.

    Your GPS has this big whack battery that only works in it. Your NVG's are the same (well, the 'new' ones will actually takee AA's as well). That big 'ol SINGARS radio, what a beast of a battery. The secure comm unit for it, again another specialised battery.

    When I was in the army I always thought our biggest weakness was every single piece of electronic gear took a specialised battery that would only work in that item. Nothing could just use commodity batteries.

    I think they are just taking this a step further. You guys whine about windows but, this is REAL vendor lock-in. You get batteries from us or all your shit stops working.

  9. Exactly WHO said anything about Open Source? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Avoid the use of Microsoft Windows operating systems," a recent memo on the subject directed. FFW is going open source. Cleaner software needs less energy to run."

    This is what the Wired story says, but exactly what does the memo actually say? Simply saying "Avoid the use of Microsoft Windows operating systems" does not in the least imply they are thinking of open source solutions. What they are much more likely thinking about is proprietary embedded systems.

    Honestly, when was the last time a multi-zillion dollar military contract involve Open Source?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  10. Obligatory Klingon Quote by CHaN_316 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "History is written by the victors!" -Chancellor Gowron

    --
    "There is no spoon." - The Matrix
  11. No, there are other considerations by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As in do you want the enemy (in this case enemy being a major force like the US) to leave your schools, hospitals, churches, and the like alone? The US (and most other nations) is a nation that obeys the Geneva Convention. Part of that is that deliberate attacks on civilian targets aren't allowed. Specifically, hospitals and churches (mosques, temples, etc) are off limits. If you are a soldier wounded in battle and are taken to a hospital, they aren't allowed to blow up the hospital.

    This is all well and good but only applies if the structures are NOT being used as military staging areas. If you turn a hospital into a military base and launch attacks from it, it is no longer a civilian target and it not protected under the Geneva Convention. Ther Germans found this out in WWII. They took over a monestary, which was protected under the Geneva Convention, and used it to launch attacks (it was a very strong structure). Well the allies were having none of that, it was now a military target and they reduced it to rubble.

    So that's the reason for not using tactics like this, your hurt your own nation and the people that you claim to be trying to protect. That is the point of a military, remember, to protect the people.

    How far would I go? Well it depends. If a foriegn dictatorship was trying to take over the US, I'd fight to the death. Of course I'd do that by joining the military. If the US had fallen into dictatorship (and I hadn' already gotten out) and the force was here to liberate me, I'd help THEM.

    1. Re:No, there are other considerations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
      The US only observes the Geneva Convention when it's convenient or they think the media isn't looking.
      No, the U.S. observes the Geneva Convention to the best of its ability.

      The so-called "soldiers" involved in the Iraq prison scandal violated orders (or obeyed illegal orders) and ignored their training. As for the prisoners at Gitmo: most fall into a gray area not covered by the Conventions (the last modifications to which took place in the late 40s, decades before an pan-national entity like Al Qaeda was considered seriously).

      Go check out the Third Geneva Convention. The Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan did not meet all of the conditions in 4A(2) (most did not wear identifiable uniforms or markings, nor did they conduct themselves accordingly with the laws of war), nor did they qualify as a "regular armed force" (a requirement specified in 4A(3)) nor did they "spontaneously take up arms" as defined in 4A(6).

      The U.S. officially calls these guys a few things (such as "detainees") rather than "prisoners of war" -- and rightly so. They are little more than a step up from street gangs operating on a larger piece of turf. They have very little resemblance to professional armed forces when it comes to training, discipline or organization. They are thugs, murderers and criminals.

      So please, if you're going to wave your angry anti-American flag, do so after you've been better informed.
  12. Technology by LittleLebowskiUrbanA · · Score: 5, Informative

    Maybe we could forgo the technology that we don't need and have longer enlistments for infantry with more Special Forces type training, i.e. winning hearts and minds. Make it a lifestyle choice with more and better training, higher physical standards, better pay.
    Go ahead and shoot me down but I'm going off of 8 years of Marine Corps Infantry.
    Some of the new technology is great like the new ACOG 4x scope for the battle rifles. You can use them with both eyes open. My little brother is deploying to Iraq as a Marine Scout Sniper and bought his own (out of his pocket!) Eotech 552 scope. You can see from the link provided that it can be used even when half the lens is damaged.
    In keeping in line with my comment about the rifle scopes/sights, the basic gear still needs to be revamped. Tear away chest harnesses are in high demand with most Marines choosign to buy them out of their own pockets rather than use the issue gear. The Marine Corps is still trying to deal with their mistake of using the MOLLE gear system. The MOLLE's plastic pack frame was breaking left and right in Afganistan and now the Marine Corps is replacing the pack with a new design.
    So stop fantasizing about the choice of OS on pie in the sky dreams/future projects and get the grunts gear that works.

    --
    This guy is way out there
  13. What will happen when they use Open Source... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    > "Enemy spotted, 100 yards and closing.
    > "Open fire soldier!"
    > "Sir my weapon says it's not responding"

    "There isn't a driver for the magazine loader."
    "The firing module wasn't compiled into the kernel."
    "There's no documentation. Throw rocks at the enemy while I look around on Google, Usenet, and IRC."
    "The trigger code wasn't tested with this distro. The programmer wants me to use JimBobsBaitAndTackle Linux instead."