Earlier, I briefly introduced you to the topic of military technology and the human effect of it. Well you see, the military is always trying to improve itself to be a more efficient fighting machine and minimize damage and better equip its most valuable resource, the individual service member. This is done by advancing current technologies and creating new ones. Keeping in pace with the communication technology boom of the last 10 years, arguably the most critical improvements made by the military have been in how the military communicates.
When the military finds a need for something, most of the time, they will usually let all the major defense contractors know that they have a need for a device to do a certain thing. Then these contractors all make a product fitting that description and try to win a government contract. The military was the first to come up with the idea of GPS in 1973 and launched a satellite called NAVSTAR 1 (an acronym for Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging) in 1978. In 1993, the final satellite needed to use GPS was launched. More satellites have been sent up since to enhance and refine the system, which gave birth to the Blue Force Tracking system (run by Harris Corp, under contract to Northrop Grumman) . The Blue Force Tracking system allows for more accurate tracking which before was done with a map and compass and depended on the navigational skill of the person relaying the position back. All the information is sent over radio communications and satellites.
By far the biggest thing that has influenced military technology is the internet. Before the internet, there was no other communication medium that was so convenient and able to reach so many people at one time. Instead of 100 calls to 100 different people, there could be just one e-mail for those 100 people. The internet over in Iraq and Afghanistan is not done by hard lines like here in the US, but by satellite. So if a satellite was down, an e-mail is much more easily re-sent than constantly re-dialed like a phone call. Ten years ago, it would have been near impossible to get a mass message to troops, but now with the internet, it’s possible. One of the biggest problems a military may have is getting certain information across, but with the internet, it was much easier.
The prevalence of the internet has also greatly affected the individual service member in that, it now allows for easier communication back home. Twenty years ago, if you were in a combat environment, it would have been very hard to get just a phone call out to your loved ones. Now you have computer rooms where a service member can video message his loved ones and exchange e-mails with friends and family. This moral boost has immeasurable benefits for a service member.
The greatest problem with technology though, is the abuse of it. The most recent example of this is the leaking of government documents through wiki leaks. Also, there are concerns that e-mail and video-messaging could be hacked and valuable information can be gained from it. Although it is instructed that only non-classified information go in e-mails, those instructions are not always followed. Only the future will show how the military handles these problems.
I can definitely agree that there are advantages to technology when it comes to communication. Especially for service members who are overseas, seeing their loved ones through video messaging is so much more fulfilling than hearing their voice on the phone. But I also agree that there can be an abuse of technology. However, I feel that it was inevitable that people were going to misuse it, only because technology is like having power. Power in the wrong hands is never good.
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