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Saving Lives On the Battlefield With Green Tech
Harperdog writes "This article describes the efforts by some in the Pentagon to save lives by using renewable energy in the battlefield. 'Seventy percent of all convoys carried liquid fossil fuels, and attacks on convoys ... account for about half of all the casualties. Generators consumed more of the fuel brought in than did combat vehicles and air support.' It's a good description of energy efficient projects already happening in Iraq. '... the first significant response in a combat zone came with the investment of almost $100 million for insulating thousands of tents in the two war zones. Before, air conditioners in summer and heaters in winter powered by generators controlled the climate inside the tents used as barracks, dining halls and offices. Now they spray foam so it covers the exterior of the tents like shaving cream. Foaming the tents saves the military $2 million a day in avoided energy costs. This translates into a payback of less than two months. It saves 100,000 gallons of fuel per day, taking 4,000 trucks off the road each year."
"Iraq and Afghanistan can't be won the way, say, WW2 was."
That's why they aren't being fought like WW2 was. Or even Vietnam or Desert Storm for that matter. Hell, even top military planners acknowledge that in the current strategy, counterinsurgency, the military aspect is only a small part of much larger effort. The media tends to focus on the military aspect and service members might make up the bulk of the personnel involved, but that doesn't mean that military operations make up the bulk of the operations.
Take the time to read a book on the rise of the Taliban some time ("Taliban" by Ahmed Rashid is a fantastic example). They rose to power precisely because all the world powers chose to ignore Central Asia. The nature of the Taliban regime is one such that their support for terrorism was and is a foregone conclusion. Do you think that if the US left Afghanistan today that the Taliban wouldn't just reassume power? Do you think that they wouldn't continue to support terrorists once they did reassume power? Do you think we wouldn't just end up back there another 10 years from now saying, "How'd we end up back here again?"
Violence in Iraq has dropped to levels not seen since OIF I and is continuing to drop. For context, the level of violence is actually lower than the Second Intifada was in Israel. The counterinsurgency strategy proved itself in Iraq and its already started to show success in Afghanistan. We need to see this through now, so that don't find ourselves back there in another decade wondering why we're spending soldiers' lives to do a job that should have been done right the first time. ...and before anyone dares to accuse me of being frivolous with lives, I'll add this: I'm an American soldier, serving as a combat engineer (the guys who go out and find IEDs the hard way), and I believe absolutely in our mission and means of achieving it in Afghanistan. Regardless of what our ulterior motives may be, we are helping people over there and doing the right thing.