I’m all for using technology, but what happens when someone takes out the satellites that this relies on? End up having a bunch guys with 100lbs of kit and batteries that are now useless. Bet most guys in the infantry now can’t even do a resection, or intersection using a map, compass, and protractor to find out where they are on a map. Like my old CSM used to say, back to the basics.
I have enough “fog of war” playing paintball in a foggy mask. I can’t imagine trying to look at a little screen.
Shoot! (Oh, that’s the image I’m looking at - not my weapon!)
Shoot! (Crap - that’s the image my buddy sent me.)
When the time comes for bayonets, this will be a detriment rather than a positive. And it always gets there eventually. (Which is why so many of us were grunts.)
If you have to rely on all of these gadgets instead of basics, you’re gonna be _ucked. Resection? Most of these kids have no clue what that means.
I have been dreaming about this technology for two decades. All it needs now is the ability to rapidly order up precision strikes from artillery, air, and naval assets. This is the future of combined arms IMO and combined arms is the future of US warfare. Soldiers will always need to know how to land nav but the potential capabilities that this kind of technology can put into a soldier’s hands is exactly the kind of combat multiplier we need.
Or muddy or dusty or immersed in water or the optical face of it is all scratched up. I think we've almost soldier-proofed the hammer. Even really rugged stuff breaks in the field.
There is still no substitute for training your ass off. I hope this gets some very good field testing before it goes out to the troops.