U.S. Army To Develop "JEDI" Soldiers 212
Patrixmyth wrote to us with the CNN story about the U.S. Army's attempt to build Jedi Soldiers. Yes, they're going to dress up Sir Alec Guinness...er, rather Jedi is Joint Expeditionary Digital Information, which, essentially, is the Wired Soldier of Tomorrow. Palmtops, GPS, satellite up-links, oh my!
Re:It runs CE, dammit (Score:1)
Not quite free as in beer, is it? I wonder how much they could have saved without using a (I'm assuming) special version of Windows CE.
kwsNI
Modern Warfare? (Score:2)
This sounds like yet another way for people to kill other people without even having to be in the same zip code. Seems to me it's easier to kill people if you don't have to look at them. I vote we go back to bashing at each other with swords - I have a strong feeling people have gotten so soft in the last hundred or so years that the amount of dead people would dwindle quickly. Besides, it's far harder to hide a 4 foot long bastard sword in one's backpack when going to school.
Weight? Reliability? (Score:1)
Then there's reliability. Unreliable gear might be worse than none at all if it leads to overconfidence or other forms of misjudgement. The more complex a system is, the more possible points of failure -- witness, say, the AH64 variants, which from what I've read are remarkably nifty, but also very poor from a maintenance perspective, with a high rate of cannibilazation for parts. OTOH, simpler crafts like B52s are still in service, and with updates are expected to serve for years to come...
Re:I think it's a good idea. (Score:1)
The point was that the electronics suck right now, but they'll improve and we'll want to be proficient at utilizing them effectively when the time comes. It takes a lot longer to integrate them into a unit as a whole, with appropriate tacticts than to train an individual soldier to use his equipment.
Land Warrior Project (Score:1)
Re:It runs CE, dammit (Score:1)
Re:No need for fighting ??? r u on crack? (Score:1)
Non-violent protest only works against non-violent institutions.
Running out of good fighters? (Score:1)
Now maybe we can justify our large $$$ computer purchases and years of neglect in favour of "Just one more match" as training to "better defend our country!"
Ooh-rah to that! (Score:3)
  Not to mention the fact that given the military's nature to train (read brainwash) grunts to react to any situation in an instinctive manner, what happens when it does fail? Will they know what to do without it?
  Any military man will tell you that this can be an infantryman's worst nightmare, and not because they are afraid that it may happen to them and they won't know what to do. Quite the contrary, grunts (esp. Marines) are well equipped to "adapt and overcome", but as we all know, there's always one knucklehead, and he's the one that gets his fireteam killed.
  Were I still in, the idea of such fragile technology on the battlefield would terrify me, although it would be a great toy for back in the barracks.
Re:JEDI versus SITH (Score:2)
Handheld
"You have pulled the trigger" (Score:5)
Ryan
JEDI knights (Score:1)
-
You are WRONG!!! (Score:1)
Re:think of it. (Score:1)
The real issue is that grunts are deeply and justifiably suspicious of expensive, high-tech equipment that is likely to fail under the filthy conditions that characterize a combat soldier's life in the field. The flashy stuff is great when it works. When it doesn't, it's worse than useless. And this system runs on Windows CE? Apparently the brass hasn't learned a damned thing from those hacker attacks, not to mention an entire missile cruiser suffering massive NT failure
Re:D0D has head up @$$? (Score:1)
Re:Possibly, but... (Score:1)
Example: Afghanistan.
Soviet Union sent in some fairly advanced stuff against what they expected to be a buncha guys with rifles and rocks. Surprise, those guys had more than rifles and rocks. Sure, there were other factors and things do change, but one thing remains: You are not fighting the enemy. You are fighting the enemy and any allies (even unwitting ones) he may have.
Re:It runs CE, dammit (Score:1)
Things that can go wrong.... (Score:1)
Re:think of it. (Score:1)
Good luck to the military trying to teach these soldiers how to use them. Even tougher, enforcing the use of them (as opposed to leaving it behind in the big round metal bucket in the barracks.)
A nice little friend (Score:2)
Er, I think the Marines have already done this (Score:1)
Does anyone else remember seeing this application for the good old Newton, rip?
Re:It runs CE, dammit (Score:1)
The idea is the lowest bidder gets the contract as long as the lowest bidder fits the specs.
One thing about this is it's clear open source software is not given a look. Free will beat any bid any company can give.
It also means a larg slize of closed source software was also passed over.
Theoreticly the popularity of software is not taken into account. Linux has no advantage over BSD in this market.
As we are aware there are a huge amount of imbeded, desktop and server operating systems out there many of whom are far supereor to Windows at a lower cost.
Yet Microsoft consistently gets the bid...
It bugs me... How can the requirements fit Windows and not fit Solarus?
Why dose Windows CE get the bid over PalmOS or Geoworks?
I don't expect to walk into city offices one day and see Linux but I'd like to walk into city offices one day and see something that dose the job (unless the job is waisting taxpayer money).
Hard Case (Score:1)
Seriously, they have some implementation problems.
Re:Whatever happened to KISS? (Score:1)
Re:Okay, but... (Score:3)
The people who make decisions about purchasing this kind of stuff are smart enough to ask the same questions as you. More importantly, they know what artillery does to signal sites that's give away their positions. So don't sweat it. Personally, I am more worried about my boss being able to track my location. Questions like "Why did you spend all day at that location?" are way too much micro-management for my tastes.
This is intended as just one more way to give situational awareness to soldiers, and in that respect it's a good thing (tm)
oni
Those don't sound like JEDI.... (Score:1)
They sound more like Storm troopers to me!
-DW
This tech works: read a first hand account (Score:1)
This is an account of the Delta Force and Army Rangers in Mogadishu, Somalia on the day a dozen Americans and perhaps 500 Somalis died. The "D-boys," basically Navy Seals with JEDI-like technology, consistently and vastly outperform the more numerous but conventionally armed Rangers. Adimittedly, the Delta Force is an elite unit, but Army Rangers are no slouches. The communications/computing technology, in the hands of properly trained troops, made a huge difference on the battlefield. Had they had the GPS techonlogy integrated into individual soldiers gear, several American (and many Somali) lives would have been saved.
Read it for yourself: http://www.philly.com/packages/somalia/nov16/defau lt16.asp
do you teach kindergarten or something? dumbass? (Score:1)
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
P.A.D.A.W.A.N (Score:1)
Can anyone think of a better one?
starwars or starcraft? (Score:1)
Re:JEDI versus SITH= DARTH (Score:1)
Re:Okay, but... (Score:1)
I'd also be willing to bet that if us military simpletons out here on /. can think this stuff up, so can they. I would like to suggest maybe they have thought up come contermeasures or have done some kind of cost/benefit analysis. Then again, maybe not. They chose CE. This, from the gov't that invents its own floor wax...Don't they at least have their own operating system somewhere?
think of it. (Score:4)
Has to be said.. (Score:1)
May the force be with them...
Desperate for Soldiers (Score:1)
I swear, between the $$$ commercials on prime time TV and these lame new attempts to seem hip, it's starting to seem more and more like the Starship Troopers future...
uhhhh (Score:1)
Thats the most dumb-as-shit thing I've heard in at least a week. People have disputes. They also have tempers. While it is in everyone's power to control their own temper, it is in no-one's power to control the other person's temper, barring VIOLENCE. Nonviolence works sometimes. And sometimes it gets you killed. Just because the teletubbies or whatever you've been watching have told you the world is happy and shiny doesnt mean there's not a killer living in your town.Grow up, while you have the chance.
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
It runs CE, dammit (Score:2)
Someone please send them the cluestick. I'll even pay for postage.
Ugh!
darren
Cthulhu for President! [cthulhu.org]
Re:Iridium? (Score:1)
Movie option... (Score:1)
kwsNI
market vs homebuilt (Score:1)
There's a big difference between the example you gave and what I wrote: Nasa probably doesn't need those cameras in bulk. At least not the way the military needs soldiers in bulk; Of course it's going to be cheaper and tons faster to go out and buy X amount of parts, while X is relatively small. Even if you pay 100 times what a scratch-built part would have cost, you skip the design costs entirely.On the other hand, when you intend to outfit a large number of units with this part, the constant design cost will fade into the background if you design a cheaper unit which does everything you need and nothing you don't.In all fairness I should have said
When you're as big an outfit as the US military, and you're building a lot of units you don't need to build a new system from consumer products; you can do it better and cheaper (and hella secreter) if you spec and build it yourself.You're again right when you say that consumer products are many times the best there are: however, what's "best" in the consumer market can vary wildly with what's "best" in the military market. And since these devices are likely going to serve a few VERY specific purposes, IMHO the military could've probably saved some money, and gotten a more field-appropriate tool by designing it themselves. Like I said in the article its my opinion.[Flame shield on]
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
POOR_SOD (Score:1)
Will George Lucas sue? (Score:2)
Re:It runs CE, dammit (Score:4)
Grtz, Jeroen
I think it's a good idea. (Score:1)
So why the hell are we burning all this money on it for? Practice. One day, perhaps around 2030 or so, it may be practicle. Compare what we have know with what we had 30 years ago. Then extrapolate that 30 years in the future. Much Smaller, more useful, more reliable, etc etc.
When that day comes (if it comes - history doesn't guarantee the future), do we want to start from scratch wiring our armed forces? No, we want to have been testing and playing with the technology for 30 years, working out the kinks.
So, it would be foolish for our units to use this stuff in a real world combat enviroment (or at least to rely on it), but we need the experience, so one day the transition will be less painful. (or would you rather we ignore it, stick to our m16s and shovels, and let China perfect it first?)
Night vision must have seemed like a useless toy when it was first proposed, but it is a decisive tool.
What about when firearms were first invented? We were stuck with these heavy impracticle muskets for a very long time. I'm sure people said "These are stupid, I'll just cut him open while he's reloading. It relies on gunpowder, you can't even get them wet! I'll equip my army with swords and longbows, thank you very much."
Don't forget about airplanes! impracticle as all hell in 1903, extremely important in WWI less than 20 years later!
So even though they seem impracticle today, give these emerging technologies a chance. Give our military decision makers some credit too, they're smarter than you think.
Gives new meaning to the phrase... (Score:1)
I read that in someone's sig, it didn't really fit until you have JEDIs running around.
GPS and Windows CE? (Score:1)
--
Re:Things that can go wrong.... (Score:1)
problem (Score:1)
Re:Things that can go wrong.... (Score:1)
Re:Thats why I joined the Marines... (Score:1)
remembering a story about a Foreign Legion
training camp's obstacle course.
Said course was part of jungle training. Various
other armies would send teams to try it out. The
record for traversing it was, IIRC, 17min, and
the average was about half an hour.
2 hours after the Marines started the course, they
had to radio for help getting out. One wonders
if they thought about calling in some herbicide
strikes first.
Heh.
K.
-
That's the Army for you.... (Score:1)
-semper fi
Re:think of it. (Score:1)
No offense intended here, but BULLSHIT. I teach scuba diving and because of this, I've worked with a number of Special OPs people (SEALS, Rangers, SWAT, and even members of the FBI HRT). In the new, modern military, they are really stressing computers because the government is finally recognizing the value and power that a computer holds. Many of these people are in computer training for hours each week. Many of these people can tell you more about Unix, data security or networking than you would ever need to know.
Do are troops have enough computer knowledge? No. But I have to say that the military knows this and is doing a pretty good job of playing catch-up...
kwsNI
Sgt. Yoda (Score:2)
WHAT?! (Score:1)
Military Monopoly (Score:1)
-Foxxz
const int SIZE=100;
cout "Girls know, " SIZE " matters\n";
Re:No need for fighting - go Virtual! (Score:1)
OK truth time (Score:1)
"this has nothing to do with security." Huh? (Score:1)
Well you're right, it isn't a web server (unless the DoD went with another poorly chosen off the shelf solution) that anyone who wants to can attack. On the other, much more important hand, this system has to stand up to a determined intruder who will die or worse if unsuccessful. An intruder who is likely probing military targets every day, every hour, silently looking for a weakness to exploit at just the wrong moment. Everyone doesn't have easy access to the system; that doesn't mean that it is a priori impregnable.
>>if you want to get into them you either have to hold them in your hand or be able to crack the sat. system.
Oh, i get it now. The satellites talk to the soldiers, and vice versa. The data never goes anywhere else? like say, command HQ? Are satellites invulnerable to cracking? (hint: no). We're not talking about security against 14 year old script kids. This is a military system, which will come under attack by military opponents. You and I may not be able to crack a sat whenever we get the urge, but do you want to gamble that China/Iraq/wherever CANNOT buy/rent/coerce the skills needed to do that? Would you bet the lives of hundreds or thousands of your countrymen on that gamble? Security is not a one step, one shot, fire and forget issue.
>>plus when these things we(re) being designed, mobile linux/BSD most likely didn't even exist.
[Sarcasm] Oh really! Wasn't BSD released before winCE?[/Sarcasm] BSD was probably ported to the Palm roughly 2 femtoseconds after the first commercial offering. And, this article is about a current initiative, not a historical one. Further, your use of the word 'plus' is grammatically incorrect :) It means "with the addition of", not "also".
>>The palmtops are just dumb clients,
No the article clearly states: The palmtop is "the brain of the system," Eubank said.
>> This is not insightful, its just windows bashing.
No, I actually meant what I wrote. I didn't just bullshit two pages for the opportunity to put down Windows and Microsoft. It MAY NOT be insightful, but neither is it "just windows bashing".
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
Re:uhhhh (Score:1)
I said they were unnecessary,
I never said they didn't exist.
I am not a violent person - BUT I do own weapons for my protection BECAUSE of the people that are.
The whole point of my original post is simple:
Warring nations can agree on treaties - compromises - etc...
Why can't they agree to settle the differences in a nondestructive way?
Oh well, go enlist and leave me alone.
Re:And interesting order of articles. (Score:3)
Good Luck (Score:1)
Weapon of the future (Score:1)
Re:EMP the suckers (Score:1)
Re:think of it. (Score:1)
I think that as long as the interface is extreemly simple to use, and the equipment is rugged enough, then this is definatly the wave of the future for all soldiers, not just the Special Ops folks.
I doubt he could... (Score:1)
Ok, i was a little hasty. I still disagree though: (Score:1)
Uh err, just because nations *can* agree, doesn't mean that's a good option though. Case in point: Nazi aggression in Europe. Can anyone give me a nonviolent solution that wouldn't have led to Hitler raping the continent silly before going after the rest of the world? Nonviolent as in, not killing anyone, nor threatening to if they don't comply.
And as for your question,
Why can't they agree to settle the differences in a nondestructive way?
The answer is that they do often settle their differences nonviolently, or at least without all out war; However I get the feeling that maybe you want to know why they sometimes resort to violence, when a nonviolent solution is possible?I'd have to say it's because most people would rather die than suffer some injustices, and would often rather fight than die; this is true on national and personal levels.Until there's enough for everyone, and it's distributed "fairly", AND people stop lusting for more just because more seems attainable, there will be violence in some form. Hell, everyone is suing their neighbor and coworker over inane bullshit these days... thats a form of violence too!My (possibly totally foolish, possibly totally correct) conclusion is that we are violent because those ancestors of ours who were violent, were more prosperous and fruitful than those who chose nonviolence over greed.
Might makes right. Not because some 'god' wrote it on a stone tablet, rather because the strong dominate the weak. Whoever's dominating, whoever gets their way, makes the rules. If they decide there will be no rules, the decision was still set by the dominant one. Life's not fair or pretty. Morals are situational. Facts are less than absolute. Wheee!!!!a
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
Re:JEDI = Just Elaborate Dumb Ideas. (Score:1)
Re:Whatever happened to KISS? (Score:1)
>> that distributed, guerilla-style fighting is less fragile...
Goths proved this?
I've never seen a Goth that was really interested in fighting. Seems like all they want to do is stand there in their black cloaks and pretend to be vampires.
Another Microsoft use in the military? (Score:1)
Re:why not do this instead? (Score:2)
Of course, I prefer the Apple Newton to those Cringe devices.... But I'm sure that won't set me back to much. Probably keep me out of officer training though.>:)
Kintanon
Re:why not do this instead? (Score:4)
an officer's diary
day 1: the new recruits came in, and got handed their hand-helds. So far so good.
day 2: It seems some of the new recruits installed some software on their hand-helds. it's probably games or something. Most of the new recruits just beat me at quake, so they can't be all bad.
day 3: The new recruits are really getting into these hand-held things. We had to let off one of the new recruits. he kept whining about our dinners not including grits, and poured his dinner down his pants.
day 4: wtf did those guys do with their hand-helds? Not a decent window inside, just this silly dos-prompt. when I asked them about it, they started yelling that this was linux, not dos
day 5: I have no idea what the recruits are on. they keep talking about beautiful-wolf or something.
day 6: our encryption has been broken. It's been safe for at least 10 years, but the new recruits used their wolf (I havent seen any canine around) to crack it, and they knew the orders before I did.
.........
//rdj
Re:Okay, but... (Score:2)
That's kinda funny, the US army beaten by a couple of Uber-geeks from sweden with long hair, tee shirts and an understanding of E&M and computers...
"I thought IBM was born with the word..." Stereloab
JEDI versus SITH (Score:2)
Lest we forget... (Score:2)
Re:D0D has head up @$$? (Score:2)
Re:Er, I think the Marines have already done this (Score:2)
I also recall some work done with Linux by the USMC in testing various computing platforms for possible future deployment. Seems to me there was a Colonel who was in charge of the operation (forgot his name) and he had good things to say about Linux and that they planned to use it for simulation and other things.
I'm pretty sure that was the USMC, but this was like, four years ago and I could be remembering incorrectly.
Tried before... (Score:2)
Back when I was in, the Army equipped a maneuver brigade with all the latest goo-gags and sent them down to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin. This was the early to mid 90s.
They got trounced, but then everyone gets trounced at Ft. Irwin.
After all the AARs (after action reviews) they discovered that the EXFOR (Expiramental Force) didn't get trounced nearly as bad as the thought, which translated to: they did pretty well.
However, it was also noted that all that high-tech gear really sucked in the desert - it broke... a lot. Quite often the command structure had to drop the digital equipment and wip out the grease pencils and map overlays and fight the "old fashioned" way.
In short the Army basically said: (my words) Neat stuff, works OK, has problems though, maybe next time.
A soldier's creed (Score:4)
Re:Will George Lucas sue? (Score:2)
EMP the suckers (Score:2)
Okay, but... (Score:4)
Gonzo
/WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?/ (Score:2)
Come on, this is another showing of the us government having it's heads up it's collective ass. Don't call it JEDI until it's Jedi damnit. When will they learn?
Boycotting the US Government until they learn
SgtPepper
The preceeding was an attempt at humour, feel free to ignore it
And interesting order of articles. (Score:4)
Yesterday there was an article about the WinCE base PocketPC and everyone kept pointing out how often these crashed, including C|Net
So today the US military decides that they should use these same WinCE systems for the "wired soldier." Does anyone else smell the impending doom here?
Heh. (Score:5)
Re:Ooh-rah to that! (Score:2)
If the combat interface for all that equipment allows soldiers on an instinctive reaction basis, and feeding them all the information they need to make those snap decisions (like video games do), you're going to have some frightening automaton-like killers on your hands...
The Army should have watched Star Wars! (Score:4)
"Use the force Luke!"
So Luke switches off the damn thing and blows the Death Star out of existence! Hey! Even a JEDI knows that! Why doesn't the Army?
JEDI = Just Elaborate Dumb Ideas. (Score:2)
This is good (Score:2)
Issue one of this to every soldier, with a fill copy of the bible attached (A old fashioned paper bible, not electronic form built in) Said soldier puts device/bible in front shirt pocket and is proected from bullets going through his heart, and the army doesn't have to serprate the christian soldier (which is protected by the bible) from the geek soldier (who is protected by the electronic device)
D0D has head up @$$? (Score:2)
#2: When you're as big an outfit as the US military, you don't need to build a new system from consumer products; you can do it better and cheaper (and hella secreter) if you spec and build it yourself. Do you think the NSA does they're decrypting on a giant beowulf of x86's running NT or TurboLinux somewhere? 0f f**king course not. Even the frogs (i'm part French so can the flames) have enough clue to build a custom system, albeit from high-grade (read Alpha) consumer processors; I'm under the impression that the NSA has custom DES-cracking chips in their crypto supercomputers (I don't have any proof, but if i did i'd prolly be dead in 10 minutes anyways ;)
#3: The name JEDI is a dead giveaway that something's fishy here. Ever heard of Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative? The project was impossible from the start because in the day, creating the estimated minimum 2 million lines of code, cleanly enough to direct something as precise and dangerous as a satellite anti-missile system, was NOT POSSIBLE. Reagan was informed of this, apparently he didn't care. This falls in the same category, not because the names come from the same fictional work but rather because they are both obviously foolish tasks to anyone who has a working concept of what's involved in making it work.
So why is the DOD doing this? I have a couple guesses, listed in increasing likeliness IMHO:
a) It's a big PR stunt. The DOD is trying to impress either US citizens, or scare foreign militaries. Since the latter are probably laughing their asses off right now, I'd say the former is a little more likely. Maybe they are just trying to drum up some semicomputer literates, who are just gung-ho (or dumb) enough to run through a battlefield with $30K in useless equipment (or worse than useless, since it isn't weightless).
b)Our government wants to see how effective a force a smaller government could field with off the shelf mobile computers. Still unlikely because any smart government (read, any other government) would have enough sense to run OpenBSD at the very least, if not build their own in house solution from *BSD linux scratch whatever. Do you think the Viet Cong would have chosen winCE? hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
c) Advanced research. The D0D really thinks winCE is great, and that microsoft can and will provide military-grade security in the first place and support in the second place. The article is true, not misinformation; I find this unlikely but possible. hey, stranger things have happened and even the military may still be lagging the way the FBI did in the 80's when they started trying to catch phreakerz. Unlikely but possible.
d) Our government actually Doesn't have its head up its ass, they're only outfitting like 2 guys with the lamed out CE vests, but last year they finally perfected their BSD based vests, and now they need a cover story. As a bonus, enemy crackerz will think they are hacking a lame win system, and if they are just script kidz they won't get past the decoy defenses. Meanwhile the BSD JEDI ('s?) will already have kicked Saddam's sorry ass for the 90th time.
e) Bill Gates is fronting the entire operation, hardware, software, even hired ex-US military mercernaries, just to showcase winCE. The troops will never see combat, and assignment to the JEDI corps will replace KP and using your toothbrush to make those latrines shine like a drill seargents' boots. Honestly possible, however silly it may seem; Bill has tons of money that may not be worth anything soon (ms stock) so why not spend it on silly things that might make some slight difference?
I honestly don't know which is more likely d) or e), but this is /. so the order was inevitable. However dumb the military may be, their purpose remains to fight and die to protect the sovereignty (sp?) of the US and it's colonies err i mean strategic third world partners. I really don't think that this is for real because when it comes down to it, they don't enjoy throwing american lives away frivolously. Obvious PR/coverup or both. thank you drive through.
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
It's too bad... (Score:2)
Coming Soon to a Courtroom Near You! (Score:4)
See the landmark trademark dilution suit that has Washington on its heels!
See a team of Lucasfilm lawyers impersonate Wookies!
See a President beholden to Hollywood interests utter "Let the Wookie win!"
A long time ago on a West Portico far away... a B-movie actor escaped the evil clutches of Hollywood and became President of the Galactic Republic, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Ever since that time, the Department of Defense has been obsessed with stealing Lucasfilm's trademarks, from "Star Wars" to "Jedi". So, hiding in their outpost off the sixth exit of the Marin system, a team of Lucasfilm lawyers are preparing a counterattack....
This is my opinion and my opinion only. Incidentally, IANAL.
Whatever happened to KISS? (Score:3)
1) Raise the cost of running the military without substantially raising it's effectiveness. Think of the people you knew in high school who were joining the Army because they didn't know what else to do. Now give that person a palmtop, a GPS and a 24 hours to find their ass. Come pick up any pieces that remain tomorrow.
2) Give the military a false sense of unbeatability: "Gentlemen, we are the best-equipped fighting force in the world." Yeah, until 3 guys with AK-47s in Jeeps come knock down your satellite transceivers. When your GPS-dependent droids don't know which way is north, it's unlikely they'll come running to your aid.
It has been proven over and over again (from the Goths to the American Revolution to Vietnam) that distributed, guerilla-style fighting is less fragile (and thus usually more successful) than centralized, top-down fighting. This money could be better spent teaching soldiers how to navigate via astronomy (with a homemade sextant) and some memory-enhancement and "fast math" skills (to replace the palmtop).
--
Iridium? (Score:2)
Bad Mojo
Thats why I joined the Marines... (Score:4)
Lets not forget, I believe it was Heinlen, who basically said "The more gadgets you load a grunt down with, the easier it is for someone to walk up and bash his head in with a rock". See above; my life as an infantryman was simple and uncomplicated. I can bet you I was much more effective than anyone trying to locate map points w/ a PDA and calling for help on a cell phone. We relied on maps, and each other. Primitive, huh.
Given, also, that my main tool - my weapon - was fragile and sensitive to even the most minor of abuses that occur in the field, do they really think something like a PDA and a CELL PHONE are going to survive a grunt's life?
^^Mod this up as funny.^^ (Score:4)
It would be much better if they were running Linux. I think they should make their own distro and call it LiPalm (as in: "I love the smell of LiPalm in the morning")
kwsNI
I can see it now... (Score:3)
MIA
KIA
POW
GPF
Re:It's too bad... (Score:2)
Re:Heh. (remember Episode I anybody?) (Score:2)
#include "disclaim.h"
"All the best people in life seem to like LINUX." - Steve Wozniak
Re:Okay, but... (Score:3)
You mentioned electronic emissions; another strike. Apparently now the average grunt (ok, ok, not the average grunt, but still) can be picked up with HFDF and have a couple 105's dropped on his head.
Its frightening and makes me glad I'm out. They gave me a rifle and told me to go kill bad guys. Thats as complicated as it got.
Hrmm.. potential scenario.. (Score:2)
Soldier2: What happened? What was the cause of death?
Soldier1: Blue Screen.