By Antonio Gil Morales
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the companys new iPad tablet many consumers shrugged. After all isnt it just a larger version of an iPhone that cant make calls?
Its incredible. We are swimming in so much technology that we are bored by a thin tablet that can download maps newspapers books movies surf the Internet and send e-mails.
Meanwhile our troops in Afghanistan are fighting for their lives in the midst of a technological desert. They dont have smart phones. They communicate via radio and often rely on paper maps to navigate unfamiliar and hostile terrain.
The computers they do have in armored vehicles operate on slow and spotty connections. Even the new surveillance robots they do have cant distribute intelligence photos and video to troops on the ground via a secure mobile tactical Internet where that information might mean the difference between life and death.
Here in the United States civilians use technology to banish boredom while were sitting through an endless business meeting or waiting for friends to arrive at a restaurant.
In Afghanistan that technology could save the lives of our soldiers. But we havent provided it to them.
Why? Well there are clear technological challenges to creating a broadband network capable of carrying such information in the middle of a war zone.
The military cant simply build cell towers since theyd either be destroyed or hacked by insurgents. So the network must be mobile enabling either troops or vehicles to carry the network equipment with them a significant additional challenge.
Moreover all data communications must be encrypted against basic hacking by insurgents. We found that insurgents are capable of intercepting unsecure communications when troops captured an Iraqi militants laptop loaded with days and days of captured video surveillance footage from a unarmed aerial vehicle.
Our troops need a special military-grade wireless broadband network -- one that is both mobile and secure.
This need hasnt gone unnoticed. The Army was in the midst of building such a network but the Pentagon delayed it when it canceled the Armys main modernization program. Now experts are speculating about whether or not the network will survive to be fielded.
The Obama administration should put the doubts to rest by investing in this network and deploying it to our troops in Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Critics would argue that such a network will be too costly to build and will never deliver what military strategists call perfect situational awareness -- complete omniscience about the enemy and the threats involved in combat.
These complaints miss the forest for the trees.
Of course no piece of new equipment can change the nature of warfare which will always be fraught with uncertainty and danger. But if a military broadband network can improve our troops awareness of those dangers by even the smallest amount it will save lives.
Real-time aerial surveillance video of a town could uncover an ambush which a platoon would be able to see on portable screens before walking into danger.
Text communication could transmit critical orders to soldiers cut off during an intense firefight.
Arent our troops lives worth the investment?
In 2004 the Pentagon failed to provide our troops with sufficient body armor and armored vehicles leading to many casualties. Since then the Pentagon has made wise investments in armored vehicles to protect our men and women in uniform from ambushes and roadside bombs.
We shouldnt make the same mistake twice. It would be wise to make similar investments in a combat-ready broadband network so our troops have a greater chance of avoiding those threats and coming home safe.
The worlds wireless companies have spent hundreds of billions of dollars building lightning-fast cellular networks all so civilians can work and play on the go. Shouldnt we do the same for the brave men and women we are sending to Afghanistan? Dont our troops in combat deserve a network as good as their kids have at home?
Antonio Gil Morales is a former national commander of the American GI Forum of The United States and lives in Forth Worth Texas.
By Antonio Gil Morales
When Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the companys new iPad tablet many consumers shrugged. After all isnt it just a larger version of an iPhone that cant make calls?
Its incredible. We are swimming in so much technology that we are bored by a thin tablet that can download maps newspapers books movies surf the Internet and send e-mails.
Meanwhile our troops in Afghanistan are fighting for their lives in the midst of a technological desert. They dont have smart phones. They communicate via radio and often rely on paper maps to navigate unfamiliar and hostile terrain.
The computers they do have in armored vehicles operate on slow and spotty connections. Even the new surveillance robots they do have cant distribute intelligence photos and video to troops on the ground via a secure mobile tactical Internet where that information might mean the difference between life and death.
Here in the United States civilians use technology to banish boredom while were sitting through an endless business meeting or waiting for friends to arrive at a restaurant.
In Afghanistan that technology could save the lives of our soldiers. But we havent provided it to them.
Why? Well there are clear technological challenges to creating a broadband network capable of carrying such information in the middle of a war zone.
The military cant simply build cell towers since theyd either be destroyed or hacked by insurgents. So the network must be mobile enabling either troops or vehicles to carry the network equipment with them a significant additional challenge.
Moreover all data communications must be encrypted against basic hacking by insurgents. We found that insurgents are capable of intercepting unsecure communications when troops captured an Iraqi militants laptop loaded with days and days of captured video surveillance footage from a unarmed aerial vehicle.
Our troops need a special military-grade wireless broadband network -- one that is both mobile and secure.
This need hasnt gone unnoticed. The Army was in the midst of building such a network but the Pentagon delayed it when it canceled the Armys main modernization program. Now experts are speculating about whether or not the network will survive to be fielded.
The Obama administration should put the doubts to rest by investing in this network and deploying it to our troops in Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Critics would argue that such a network will be too costly to build and will never deliver what military strategists call perfect situational awareness -- complete omniscience about the enemy and the threats involved in combat.
These complaints miss the forest for the trees.
Of course no piece of new equipment can change the nature of warfare which will always be fraught with uncertainty and danger. But if a military broadband network can improve our troops awareness of those dangers by even the smallest amount it will save lives.
Real-time aerial surveillance video of a town could uncover an ambush which a platoon would be able to see on portable screens before walking into danger.
Text communication could transmit critical orders to soldiers cut off during an intense firefight.
Arent our troops lives worth the investment?
In 2004 the Pentagon failed to provide our troops with sufficient body armor and armored vehicles leading to many casualties. Since then the Pentagon has made wise investments in armored vehicles to protect our men and women in uniform from ambushes and roadside bombs.
We shouldnt make the same mistake twice. It would be wise to make similar investments in a combat-ready broadband network so our troops have a greater chance of avoiding those threats and coming home safe.
The worlds wireless companies have spent hundreds of billions of dollars building lightning-fast cellular networks all so civilians can work and play on the go. Shouldnt we do the same for the brave men and women we are sending to Afghanistan? Dont our troops in combat deserve a network as good as their kids have at home?
Antonio Gil Morales is a former national commander of the American GI Forum of The United States and lives in Forth Worth Texas.
