The Southern Connecticut March 17, 2003
Outfitting the army of one: American soldiers have body armor and night scopes -- and waterproof socks
By Monty Phan and Lou Dolinar
Special to The Advocate and Greenwich Time
Global positioning systems -- the same devices commonly found in today's cars and fishing boats -- were used so scarcely a dozen years ago that not even a commanding general of U.S. forces in Desert Storm had one.
"I was somewhat of a skeptic of the utility of a device that would tell everyone where they were, but it took me about a day in the desert to see the value of GPS,'' says retired Gen. William Nash. He was so impressed, he made sure his officers had them.
But now personal GPS units are commonplace in the military, and high-tech devices from fiber-optic scopes to body armor will be part of the gear toted by American soldiers if the United States goes to war with Iraq. The amount of technology makes the Army's slogan -- "An Army of one'' -- more apt than you might think.
Not all of it involves electronics, either. In fact, the Program Executive Office Soldier -- based at Fort Belvoir, Va., and formed by the Army in June -- found out the kind of equipment that ground troops in the field really want: waterproof socks.
"If you want to find out what a soldier needs, just go out and ask,'' says Maj. Andy MacDonald, an assistant program manager of soldier equipment for PEO Soldier, explaining the program's philosophy.
Because of the PEO findings, the Army spent $60 million to outfit five brigades with the latest gear, which amounts to 60 to 120 pounds of equipment for the typical soldier.
From MacDonald's and others' explanations, here is today's techno-soldier, from head to waterproof toes:
Advance combat helmet. The headgear design is similar to a motorcycle helmet, but it can handle more impact, provides better protection and, at 4 to 4 1/2 pounds (depending on size), is a pound lighter than the old helmet, MacDonald says. It also perfectly illustrates the military's mantra, to make equipment lighter but stronger.
Night-vision monocle. The 4-inch long, 5-ounce cylinder mounts on a helmet and magnifies ambient light, giving a soldier the ability to see when visibility otherwise is limited.
Comfortable undergarments. One of the biggest improvements the Army made was supplying soldiers with long underwear, designed specifically to reduce chafing and make the wearer more comfortable, MacDonald says. When interviewing soldiers who had fought in Afghanistan, at the top of many of their lists of requests were clothes that would keep them warm, he said.
MOLLE, or Modular Lightweight Load-bearing Equipment. Designed to replace the rucksack, the MOLLE is tailored to individual soldiers. It also holds a hydration system, a portable water-filled bladder that's connected to a straw-like tube, similar to what bicyclists use. The system replaces the canteen, which took both hands to open.
Interceptor body armor. Made by Point Blank Body Armor Inc., the Interceptor is a bulletproof vest that is compatible with the MOLLE, allowing for better movement. In addition to the vest -- which protects the torso, collar and groin and weighs 8 to 9 pounds -- a pair of plates, weighing as much as 9 pounds combined, can be worn for extra protection. "There are soldiers walking around alive today because of those plates,'' MacDonald says.
Vision enhancers. A military term called "full-spectrum capability'' refers to the various vision-enhancement devices used by soldiers. Night-vision equipment is a standard device, but soldiers also use fiber-optic devices, small cameras that allow users to see around corners or through holes in doors.
There are others, too, some of which are light enough to mount on a soldier's rifle. For example, Lexington, Mass.-based Raytheon supplies the Army with a thermal weapon sight, which has been in use for about a year and uses infrared waves to detect heat. It mounts on rifles and allows users to see through darkness, smoke, blowing dust and any kind of adverse weather, says Dave Shea, a Raytheon spokesman.
For longer-distance reconnaissance, Raytheon makes what it calls the JAVELIN Antitank Weapon System, a shoulder-mounted missile-launcher. However, the system, which uses infrared imaging, also has a portable eyepiece that can see targets at extended ranges and is often used for reconnaissance, Shea says.
Col. Don Campbell, who commands the First Brigade in the Fourth Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, says his soldiers carry a number of vision enhancers, including night-vision devices and thermal- imaging sights.
GPS Plus. Handheld GPS units combined with two-way radios. It's "two for the price of one,'' MacDonald says. These two pieces of equipment usually are separate, so combining them reduces weight and bulk, he says.
Satellite phones. Some soldiers will carry the phones, which were in use 12 years ago but not widely available until the advent of the Iridium satellite network, a multibillion-dollar project -- funded primarily by Motorola -- that the Pentagon helped bail out of bankruptcy in 2000. Tim Brown, a senior analyst at GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based strategic think tank, said Iridium has some advantages over the military's system: It's cheap, easy to use and makes it fairly simple to set up quick-and-dirty communications networks.
Waterproof socks. These fit nicely into the . . .
Boots. Today's footwear has a soft undersole instead of the harder one soldiers used to wear. It absorbs more shock and is more comfortable, says Maj. Keith Smith, who is based at Fort Benning, Ga., and is a systems manager with the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.
"This is the first time in the history of the Army that the soldier in the field is being treated as a complete system,'' PEO Soldier's MacDonald says. "We're looking at the soldier and the equipment he's wearing and how it all integrates together.''
-- Monty Phan and Lou Dolinar are reporters for Newsday, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
Copyright © 2003, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
