WASHINGTON: As the military plans to cut thousands of troops and the military experiments with opening combat training to women, the American Civil Liberties Union has joined four female servicemembers — two in the reserves (one Army, one Marine Corps), one in the Air National Guard, and one on active duty in the Marines — in a lawsuit filed in Northern California aimed at prying open all combat posts to women.
PENTAGON: The Army showed off an impressive array of battlefield wi-fi gadgetry today in the Pentagon courtyard, exhibiting new-found realism about what gadgets it might not need.
Consider the hardware to connect the individual foot soldier to the brigade-wide command network, which has been stripped down from a 14-pound prototype to a militarized smartphone plugged into a handheld radio. Keep reading →
The Army has launched a major effort to strengthen its seven thousand infantry squads — an effort that will require overcoming cultural and bureaucratic resistance to succeed. Light-infantry traditionalists will have to get over their longstanding suspicion of digital technology both on the battlefield and in training, which will increasingly rely on simulations. Tech geeks will have to get past their reflex to throw a new gadget at every problem, because soldiers simply can’t carry any more gear than they already do. And everyone will have to get used to the idea that their funding might be taken away and given to someone with a better idea, with programs as different as weapons development and training courses potentially in competition. Keep reading →
Colin Clark
Sydney J. Freedberg, Jr.