Infantry transformed by new tools, training

GOVEXEC.com ^ | April 24, 2006 | Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.,

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The American way of war keeps evolving. Pay and benefits (including health care) now costs on the average $120,000 a year. A lot of money is spent training and equipping each soldier. More is demanded of young privates than ever before. Those who think getting more boots on the ground is as simple as bringing back the draft just don't understand.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[noobiangod]

That's the problem with the leftwing cowards. They think the military is still stuck in Vietnam, just like john f'n kerry.

Our guys have the best gear that money can buy now. They own the night, the insurgents never know when a night vision equipped sniper, predator drone or apache helicopter might be watching. The enemy was convinced every US soldier was a sniper, because of the accuracy improvement provided by optics. The enemy can shoot one of our guys directly center mass with an AK or sniper rifle and our guy will stand back up and kill them. The enemy can not even hide behind walls, the LRASSS(thermo-imager) equipped humvees can see their heat signature inside buildings and the Barrett .50BMG rifles can hit them when they try to look out a window or door.

The only way the terrorists can win is if the traitorous MSM convinces the sheeple.

[Grendel9]

The underlying message in this
article:

Those Retired Generals, who
speak out about how inadequately
prepared our military men are,
how we'll NEVER be able to win
the war against the terrorists,
and how we should have listened
to THEM before going into Iraq,
are antiquated. Not only in their
thinking, but in their own expertise.
They stopped evolving as their final
years of retirement loomed large on
the horizon.
But let the Dems keep shoving them
up to the mike. They'll get the
message eventually, and as THE MAN
said about "old soldiers...just fade
away."

[Little Ray]

The Mobile Infantry (of Robert A. Heinlein's book, not the BS book) be far away?

[benjamin032]

Yeah, but think of the dreftees. They weren't motivated by the draft in Vietnam, how do you think they would be now? The draft is a horrible idea. I like what the Army has begun doing, I just hope that we can keep it going and fight in the future, not the past.

[benjamin032]

While I hate the moniker, I loved the book.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Which side is the national media on?

[benjamin032]

Balad Rodger Young

[Citizen Tom Paine]

My background in the Navy included shore bombardment and fire support for the troops with accurately aimed and delivered 5 inch and larger projectiles. Mechanical computers provided the solution to the fire control problem after either radar or a range finder supplied the range to the target.

When I read articles such as this one, what I think of is where is the artillery and close in aircraft support? As described, to me, we are conducting war on the cheap. I realize this is only training, but a component of that training should be the ability to call in artillery and air support when ambushed.

I recall an old story concerning the type of infantry that a sergeant liked.
Assumed that there was a machine gun nest on a hill that we wanted to take. With 18 year olds, the sergeant says, " Run up that hill and take that machine gun nest." When he say the same thing to a 35 year old man, the 35 year old man says why don't you have the artillery drop a few rounds on it, then we will run up the hill.

When I read the stories from Iraq (sent by Marines and soldiers), I hear bang, bang, bang. I don't hear boom, boom, boom.

One more sea story. In the Falkland War, the Brits had to equip their aircraft with a refueling device so they could fly to the war zone. Using routine contract procedures, and by following the book, it was estimated that it would take two years to design and install such a system. It was actually done in 72 hours by nonstandard methods.

Just my rambling thought.

[noobiangod]

Actually the folks at Program Executive Office Soldier are working on a powered suit of armor like the mobile infantry from Heinlein's book. They are making a powered exoskeleton as part of the Land Warrior system that will make troops faster, stronger and able to carry a rifle version of the new XM307 airburst 25mm cannon.

PCV DISPLAYED Voice command wasn’t the only FFW solution on display. In the PEO soldier stand was the Personal Combat Vehicle (PCV). The PCV is essentially a worn robot exoskeleton giving the infantry the ability to carry much larger loads than humanly possible. The threshold requirement is to carry up to 150lbs –comprising weapons, ammunition and equipment up to 190lb for the objective systems with the PCV operating at sustained speeds of 6.5MPH and up to 8MPH for ‘burst’ speed .The system is designed to be donned by single unassisted soldier in three minutes together with additional body armour. A fuel cell based systems when not using power to operate the systems up to 2800W could be used for other battlefield purposes such as battery recharge.

The PEO soldier display showed an XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon 25mm grenade with a roughly 30 rounds in a top-loading magazine, being fired from one PCV equipped arm.

The programme is in the final stages of preparation before moving from studies and display items to a prototype system with Berkeley Exoworks to be tapped to support DARPA in this move. The Berkeley system consists of a two anthropomorphic leg frames and backpack frame monitors and controlled by a computer and could be seen walking around the exhibition hall.

A more modest but eminently more achievable solution is being pursued by the Marines in their SMP work. The USMC has opted to explore some of the commercial SMPs available today. ITL confirmed the dates at AUSA that they would return to the US to undertake another test of its AIS system in either later October or December. The system has been demonstrated by the USMC using GFE MBITR radios.

Small arms review had a picture of the system that was shown at the NDIAS convention in Atlantic City and it looked remarkably like the Master Chief from Halo...

[AD from SpringBay]

The only way the terrorists can win is if the traitorous MSM convinces the sheeple.

The MSM is also one of the only places where the terrorists win.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[Valin]

Survey teams went to Baghdad shortly after the city fell in 2003 to get feedback from troops on their equipment. "I'm still amazed at all the changes that have been made -- body armor, knee pads, helmet chin straps, even these boots," Howell said, "because a soldier said, 'This would be better,' and somebody listened. Now the Army is actually listening."

RADICAL CONCEPT ALERT!!

[tonycavanagh]

Most important piece of Military equipment, the Mark 1 Infantryman.

[lovecraft]

Though cool, jump-capable combat armor with shoulder launch nukes still seems a bit far off. :-)

[ibheath]

BTTT--Awesome article

[tonycavanagh]

re ;My background in the Navy included shore bombardment and fire support for the troops with accurately aimed and delivered 5 inch and larger projectiles.

I did a bit of time with 148 Navel Gunfire Support you ever work with those lads. That is a forward observers who go forward.

The problem here is that we are dealing with hit and run groups, who hide and operate amongst urban terrine full of civilians, who we are supposed to be protecting from the bad guys.

Counter Insurgency Wars require different rules to other forms of conflicts and the best weapon we got is the infantry man on the ground.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

It is radical. The end users now have the ability to provide instant feedback to the procurement and R&D people. Everybody's got email. Everybody's on the NIPR net. And the end users can no longer be ignored with impunity. Too many ways to bring heat on the unresponsive.

[ibheath]

You cannot arty inside a city. This is now an infantryman's war.