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on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 11:51 pm and is filed under U.S. Army - Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Troops deserve best technology
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Your recent article (“Military and police work together to subdue a volatile corner of Afghanistan,” News, March 10) pointed out that the 17,000 extra U.S. troops we are sending to Afghanistan will face a growing insurgency that could grow more deadly than the one we left in Iraq.
So as the Obama administration places Pentagon programs on the chopping block, it should remember that cuts to programs like the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program would delay the delivery of new high tech reconnaissance tools that could save countless lives in Afghanistan–by uncovering ambushes before they happen.
For a soldier on patrol, each ditch in Afghanistan might hide a deadly ambush. To survive, our troops need the best technology to see around these dangerous corners: fog lights for the proverbial fog of war. Each platoon in an FCS brigade will have remote-controlled aerial and ground robots providing live video reconnaissance of insurgent activity directly to troops on the ground. The networked vehicles and digital soldier gear can access up-to-date electronic maps of the area, color coded with friendly units and potential insurgent strongholds, thus allowing our soldiers to take the battle to the enemy on our own terms. Combat veterans testing this equipment say our troops need it now.
When critical body armor and armored vehicles failed to arrive in Iraq on time, thousands of soldiers died. We must ensure that this type of critical equipment for our combat troops never suffers another needless delay.
–George Autobee Cpt. (Ret.) Director of Government Affairs, American GI Forum of the United States
Washington, D.C.