How Defense Research Is Making Troops More Effective in Wartime

From the Washington Post:

When Army patrol leaders in Iraq prepare to go out on missions in Baghdad, their last stop at headquarters is a computerized map on which they outline the area where they will operate. Then they watch as icons emerge, showing, in grim detail, the lurking dangers.

By clicking on those, they can bring up not only sites of past hostile action but also photos and background on local leaders -- some to see and others to avoid -- videos of hostile and safe places, and reports from previous patrols, says Brian Slaughter, a retired Army first lieutenant who served as an armored platoon leader in Iraq in 2004. Slaughter took part in developing the computerized Tactical Ground Reporting System (TIGR).

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My Comment: The development of new technologies and implementing them quickly on the battlefield is having an enormous and pronounce effect in favor of those forces that are using them. Like the ancient Roman Army of the past who knew how to use new discoveries in waging war, the U.S. Arm Forces have raised this level of expertise to an unprecedented level.

When the Iraq War started in 2003, the military pundits were predicting mass casualties (American dead was projected to be 15,000) and that the battle for Baghdad was to be like the battle for Stalingrad.

The great battle never happened. Instead, American forces were effective in isolating Iraqi units loyal to the Saddam Hussein, and to then be in a position to surgically wipe them out with minimum coalition losses. In the past, such a battle with this precision could not happen. In todays world, new technology is not only making it possible to isolate and wipe out the enemy quickly, but to also do it from the comfort of a room thousands of miles away.

As the U.S. continues to develop these new technologies, a certain tipping point will be reached in which almost all military organizations will then realize that to fight the U.S. Arm Forces ..... even a guerrilla war ..... will in the end only result in their defeat. Like the Roman Empire in the past, all of Rome's enemies learned very quickly that it was not in their interest to wage war against Rome when it was at its peak as a super power.