Copley News Service July 12, 2002
Marine Corps high-tech recruit sees through the fog of war
By Jeanette Steele
The Marines have a $13 million high-tech command center here that one day might help military planners direct combat operations from U.S. soil.
Commanders say the technology, a first for Marine expeditionary forces, could provide more analysis and decision-making from home rather than from such potential danger zones as the Middle East, for example.
It takes a "tremendous logistic effort" to go overseas, said Col. Paul McNamara, chief of staff for the 45,000-strong 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Pendleton's largest fighting unit. "You don't need to take everybody that you used to take to the battlefield. Technology connects you to everything."
The Combat Operations Center, which officially opens today, is just getting up to speed and will need time to reach its full technological potential, Marines say.
The concept of using technology to keep planners at home is called "reach back," because it allows troops overseas to reach back to resources in the United States for help.
It's become a hot term around the Pentagon, said John Pike, defense analyst and director of Globalsecurity.org.
"They really got focused on this during Desert Storm because they got really annoyed with all of the vans and trailers they had to haul over there for (support staff)," he said. "They got very focused on doing whatever they could over here in the continental United States."
Plus, it's a less expensive way to gather intelligence, he said, adding he's not aware of any other U.S. military service with a similar facility.
The command center also will let Marines around the globe talk and see one another in a single video teleconference. That means Marines at sea, on the battlefield and at command posts can communicate almost as if they were in one room.
The building looks like a set from a Tom Clancy movie.
A 32-foot-wide, 8-foot-high screen dominates the operations room, where most of the action takes place. The screen can hold nine images at once, showing live pictures from that many spots on the globe.
Commanders sit in a large windowed alcove that resembles a sports-arena skybox. Lt. Gen. Michael Hagee, commanding general of the 1st MEF, and his staff will oversee the action from a conference table there.
In another room, there's a box of 3-D glasses. In the future, the general's planners will be able to watch three-dimensional live video from planes operating over a battle zone.
The added dimension might allow combat decisions with more pinpoint accuracy and possibly reduce friendly-fire casualties, McNamara said.
An example: A Marine reconnaissance team is concealed in the brush. Planners looking at a map want to strike a nearby target with artillery, but must avoid hitting the Marines.
In a two-dimensional world it's not easy to see that an artillery zone might overlap a no-fire area, McNamara said. "Three-dimensionally, I think it will just jump right out at you."
The 23,000-square-foot, high-security building is a rarity on this 60-year-old base: It was built new from the ground up. Construction began in December 2000. The MEF's command operations previously were scattered among several older buildings.
"I'm very excited about it," McNamara said. "I think this has the potential to do a lot of things."
Copyright 2002 Copley News Service
