By Dan Vergano and Elizabeth Weise - USA Today
Posted : Monday Dec 8, 2008 22:14:49 EST
SAN FRANCISCO — The military for years has enlisted anthropologists, depending on their expertise to write up analyses of distant places and cultures.
But debate is growing among those scientists over whether it is appropriate for them to work alongside soldiers in combat or to contribute to the growing field of counterterrorism research.
At the just-concluded American Anthropological Association meeting here, the question of whether anthropologists should take part in military operations took the stage, though not for the first time. In 2007, the AAA’s executive board expressed “disapproval” of anthropologists’ work in Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that they helped in “identifying and selecting specific populations as targets of U.S. military operations.”
The debate is more than academic. Two social scientists with the U.S. Army Human Terrain System were killed in bombings this year in Afghanistan and Iraq.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/gns_anthropoligists_military_120808/
Showing posts with label HSR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HSR. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Crew confusion for LCS
Questions remain as Navy unveils surface warfare module
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 20, 2008 9:34:20 EDT
DAHLGREN, Va. — In a ceremony here July 11, with all the trappings of a trade show — exhibit booths, computer demos and take-home tchotchkes — the Navy unveiled the surface warfare package for its littoral combat ship, the second of three "plug-in" modules for the new generation of multi-purpose vessels.
But even as acquisition officials and defense contractors reeled off details about how the advanced new sensors and weapons will work, they had little new information about another key component of the warship: its crew. This is despite the fact that both LCS 1 and 2 could be commissioned as early as this year.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/07/navy_lcs_manning_072008w/
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 20, 2008 9:34:20 EDT
DAHLGREN, Va. — In a ceremony here July 11, with all the trappings of a trade show — exhibit booths, computer demos and take-home tchotchkes — the Navy unveiled the surface warfare package for its littoral combat ship, the second of three "plug-in" modules for the new generation of multi-purpose vessels.
But even as acquisition officials and defense contractors reeled off details about how the advanced new sensors and weapons will work, they had little new information about another key component of the warship: its crew. This is despite the fact that both LCS 1 and 2 could be commissioned as early as this year.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/07/navy_lcs_manning_072008w/
Friday, October 19, 2007
Report: PTSD treatments need more research
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 19, 2007 9:28:27 EDT
WASHINGTON — There isn’t enough evidence to tell whether most treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder work, according a scientific review that highlights the urgency of finding answers as thousands of suffering veterans return from Iraq.
The one proven treatment: "exposure therapies," where PTSD patients are gradually exposed to sights and sounds that essentially simulate their trauma to help them learn to cope, advisers to the government reported Thursday.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_ptsd_071018/
Posted : Friday Oct 19, 2007 9:28:27 EDT
WASHINGTON — There isn’t enough evidence to tell whether most treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder work, according a scientific review that highlights the urgency of finding answers as thousands of suffering veterans return from Iraq.
The one proven treatment: "exposure therapies," where PTSD patients are gradually exposed to sights and sounds that essentially simulate their trauma to help them learn to cope, advisers to the government reported Thursday.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_ptsd_071018/
Sensor helps prosthetic arm move on thought
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 18, 2007 11:10:35 EDT
When former Marine Cpl. Claudia Mitchell thinks about bending her bionic arm, it bends.
A neural sensor on her chest, along with an advanced mechanical arm and hand, give her a far greater range of motion than current prosthetic arms with hooks.
"I don’t have to think of the entire sequence of movements," she said, because with the technology, her thoughts control her nerves, and her nerves control the movement.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/military_bionicarms_071018/
Posted : Thursday Oct 18, 2007 11:10:35 EDT
When former Marine Cpl. Claudia Mitchell thinks about bending her bionic arm, it bends.
A neural sensor on her chest, along with an advanced mechanical arm and hand, give her a far greater range of motion than current prosthetic arms with hooks.
"I don’t have to think of the entire sequence of movements," she said, because with the technology, her thoughts control her nerves, and her nerves control the movement.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/military_bionicarms_071018/
Friday, September 28, 2007
First Strike Ration on the way for the first to fight Warfighter
Sep 25, 2007
BY NSRDEC Public Affairs
NATICK, Mass. - A new compact, eat-on-the-move assault ration is well on its way to Warfighters' hands. "The First Strike Ration is intended for the first on the ground, first to fight Warfighter," said Barbara Daley, food technologist and FSR project officer, Combat Feeding Directorate, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.
Usually when Warfighters are issued two or more Meals, Ready-to-Eat they "field strip" them to lessen the bulk and weight they are carrying. Personnel at NSRDEC found that not only were Warfighters tossing what they considered extra weight, such as the flameless ration heater and Tabasco sauce, but they were also tossing food items. According to the Product Optimization and Evaluation Team at NSRDEC, if a Warfighter is given 3600 calories, often he or she will strip it down to 2500 calories.
The First Strike Ration attempts to reduce this stripping by providing a lighter and smaller sized package with eat-on-the-go items that are also performance enhancing.
More at http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/09/25/5041-first-strike-ration-on-the-way-for-the-first-to-fight-warfighter/
BY NSRDEC Public Affairs
NATICK, Mass. - A new compact, eat-on-the-move assault ration is well on its way to Warfighters' hands. "The First Strike Ration is intended for the first on the ground, first to fight Warfighter," said Barbara Daley, food technologist and FSR project officer, Combat Feeding Directorate, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.
Usually when Warfighters are issued two or more Meals, Ready-to-Eat they "field strip" them to lessen the bulk and weight they are carrying. Personnel at NSRDEC found that not only were Warfighters tossing what they considered extra weight, such as the flameless ration heater and Tabasco sauce, but they were also tossing food items. According to the Product Optimization and Evaluation Team at NSRDEC, if a Warfighter is given 3600 calories, often he or she will strip it down to 2500 calories.
The First Strike Ration attempts to reduce this stripping by providing a lighter and smaller sized package with eat-on-the-go items that are also performance enhancing.
More at http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/09/25/5041-first-strike-ration-on-the-way-for-the-first-to-fight-warfighter/
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
In much of Asia and Africa, nomadic traditions permeate modern societies
By Ilan Greenberg
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Every summer for the past eight years, Michael Frachetti has come to the desert steppe that rolls like endless yellow waves across this expansive Central Asian nation searching for evidence of a vast, connected nomadic society.
With each new excavation, Frachetti, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis, hopes to complicate received notions of the lives and societies of the nomads who once thrived in this region.
Frachetti's work concerns Bronze Age nomads, and his scholarship is aimed purely at a historical understanding of how a pre-literate society functioned more than 3,000 years ago. But his work coincides with a geopolitical reality that has important implications for American foreign policymakers: many of the countries that most trouble the West - such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - have government institutions that reflect a nomadic past.
"Take Afghanistan, where politics are much more dispersed," said Frachetti, while sitting in an upscale Almaty café in July, a few days before trekking to the Saryesik-Atyrau Desert to conduct that remote area's first archeological survey. "I think some of our foreign policy complications derive from our inability to locate a nomadic dynamic within contemporary political structures."
More at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/08/news/kazakh.php
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
ALMATY, Kazakhstan: Every summer for the past eight years, Michael Frachetti has come to the desert steppe that rolls like endless yellow waves across this expansive Central Asian nation searching for evidence of a vast, connected nomadic society.
With each new excavation, Frachetti, an archaeologist at Washington University in St. Louis, hopes to complicate received notions of the lives and societies of the nomads who once thrived in this region.
Frachetti's work concerns Bronze Age nomads, and his scholarship is aimed purely at a historical understanding of how a pre-literate society functioned more than 3,000 years ago. But his work coincides with a geopolitical reality that has important implications for American foreign policymakers: many of the countries that most trouble the West - such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - have government institutions that reflect a nomadic past.
"Take Afghanistan, where politics are much more dispersed," said Frachetti, while sitting in an upscale Almaty café in July, a few days before trekking to the Saryesik-Atyrau Desert to conduct that remote area's first archeological survey. "I think some of our foreign policy complications derive from our inability to locate a nomadic dynamic within contemporary political structures."
More at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/08/news/kazakh.php
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Adapt Or Die
By Greg Grant ggrant@govexec.com
Government Executive August 1, 2007
Soldiers need a new set of skills and qualities to succeed at counterinsurgency.
"Forget everything you've been taught about this place, because it's either wrong or it's useless. Your education begins now," Army Sgt. James Jennings told a group of soldiers new to Baghdad in 2005. The grizzled veteran tried to teach his charges the complexities of counterinsurgency, where the battle is decided less by overwhelming firepower than by winning over hearts and minds.
He spoke with authority, having spent nearly a year patrolling restive western Baghdad. Jennings told the soldiers the Army was waging an entirely new type of war in which the traditional skills of fire and maneuver were less important than softer skills, such as cultural awareness and building trust and confidence among the Iraqi people.
Even though the Army has been fighting the shadowy insurgency for four years in Iraq, it has been slow to change its conventional approach: massing firepower on an enemy's formations.
The United States invaded Iraq with the world's most technologically advanced army and soon found itself losing to a nimble, adaptive enemy whose most effective weapons are the cell phone and Internet. The speed with which insurgents in Iraq adapt has confounded American military leaders. Army officers say they change tactics almost weekly because it takes insurgent cells just days to adjust to new techniques.
More at http://www.govexec.com/features/0807-01/0807-01s2.htm
RAND report at http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA464211&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
Government Executive August 1, 2007
Soldiers need a new set of skills and qualities to succeed at counterinsurgency.
"Forget everything you've been taught about this place, because it's either wrong or it's useless. Your education begins now," Army Sgt. James Jennings told a group of soldiers new to Baghdad in 2005. The grizzled veteran tried to teach his charges the complexities of counterinsurgency, where the battle is decided less by overwhelming firepower than by winning over hearts and minds.
He spoke with authority, having spent nearly a year patrolling restive western Baghdad. Jennings told the soldiers the Army was waging an entirely new type of war in which the traditional skills of fire and maneuver were less important than softer skills, such as cultural awareness and building trust and confidence among the Iraqi people.
Even though the Army has been fighting the shadowy insurgency for four years in Iraq, it has been slow to change its conventional approach: massing firepower on an enemy's formations.
The United States invaded Iraq with the world's most technologically advanced army and soon found itself losing to a nimble, adaptive enemy whose most effective weapons are the cell phone and Internet. The speed with which insurgents in Iraq adapt has confounded American military leaders. Army officers say they change tactics almost weekly because it takes insurgent cells just days to adjust to new techniques.
More at http://www.govexec.com/features/0807-01/0807-01s2.htm
RAND report at http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA464211&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
Navy official: Innovation critical to fleet
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 31, 2007 5:36:35 EDT
The Navy must leverage science and technology innovation to improve assets the sea service needs, Navy acquisition czar Delores Etter said Monday.
Etter emphasized the need to “stabilize” science and technology spending, which accounts for about $1.5 billion of the Navy’s nearly $130 billion topline budget.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/07/navy_acquisition_070730w/
Posted : Tuesday Jul 31, 2007 5:36:35 EDT
The Navy must leverage science and technology innovation to improve assets the sea service needs, Navy acquisition czar Delores Etter said Monday.
Etter emphasized the need to “stabilize” science and technology spending, which accounts for about $1.5 billion of the Navy’s nearly $130 billion topline budget.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/07/navy_acquisition_070730w/
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wanted: Wearable Power System, Batteries Included
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2007 – The Defense Department is offering $1 million to the person who invents a way for servicemembers to take a load off.
During a conference call with Internet “bloggers” today, William Rees, deputy undersecretary of defense for laboratories and basic sciences, explained the department’s “wearable power” competition announced earlier this month. Currently, an individual servicemember on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan carries roughly 40 pounds of batteries to provide four days’ worth of power. The department’s goal, he explained, is to lower the load to less than 9 pounds.
More at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46841
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2007 – The Defense Department is offering $1 million to the person who invents a way for servicemembers to take a load off.
During a conference call with Internet “bloggers” today, William Rees, deputy undersecretary of defense for laboratories and basic sciences, explained the department’s “wearable power” competition announced earlier this month. Currently, an individual servicemember on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan carries roughly 40 pounds of batteries to provide four days’ worth of power. The department’s goal, he explained, is to lower the load to less than 9 pounds.
More at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46841
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Army Tests Warfighter Physiological Monitor
NATICK, Mass., July 23, 2007 — Recently researchers from the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) got a chance to test out one of the products they have been working on in an exercise scenario.
The Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor (WPSM) lets an observer view heart rate, respiration and core temperature from a remote location. Although intended for medical personnel to monitor the critical vital signs of Warfighters on the battlefield or in training, it also has other uses.
More at http://www.natick.army.mil/about/pao/2007/07-23.htm
The Warfighter Physiological Status Monitor (WPSM) lets an observer view heart rate, respiration and core temperature from a remote location. Although intended for medical personnel to monitor the critical vital signs of Warfighters on the battlefield or in training, it also has other uses.
More at http://www.natick.army.mil/about/pao/2007/07-23.htm
Monday, June 18, 2007
Website for DOD Regional and Cultural Expertise Summit
A Department of Defense Summit, "Regional and Cultural Expertise: Building a DoD Framework to Meet National Defense Challenges," was held from June 4-7 at the Crystal City Marriott in Alexandria, VA. The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD/P&R) hosted the event.
USD/P&R has now posted the official site for the Summit at
https://ca.dtic.mil/dlo/dodsummit.html
USD/P&R has now posted the official site for the Summit at
https://ca.dtic.mil/dlo/dodsummit.html
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Counterinsurgency expert advises Soldiers in Iraq
Counterinsurgency expert advises Soldiers in Iraq
By Spc. Chris McCann
10th Mountain Division Public Affairs
CAMP STRIKER — Recruit more Iraqi Soldiers and increase their divisions from 11 to 20 is what one counterinsurgency expert said he would do if he was in the shoes of the Multinational Forces - Iraq commander.
Dr. David Kilcullen, an authority on counterinsurgency, was appointed to advise the MNF-Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus. Dr. Kilcullen visited Soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade out of Fort Drum, N.Y., to take stock of the "Commando" brigade's progress June 2 and 3.
More at http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12278&Itemid=128
By Spc. Chris McCann
10th Mountain Division Public Affairs
CAMP STRIKER — Recruit more Iraqi Soldiers and increase their divisions from 11 to 20 is what one counterinsurgency expert said he would do if he was in the shoes of the Multinational Forces - Iraq commander.
Dr. David Kilcullen, an authority on counterinsurgency, was appointed to advise the MNF-Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus. Dr. Kilcullen visited Soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade out of Fort Drum, N.Y., to take stock of the "Commando" brigade's progress June 2 and 3.
More at http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12278&Itemid=128
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Agencies use psychological profiles to cultivate teamwork
Personality Test
By Karen Rutzick krutzick@govexec.com
Government Executive June 1, 2007
Agencies use psychological profiles to cultivate teamwork.
More at http://www.govexec.com/features/0607-01/0607-01na4.htm
By Karen Rutzick krutzick@govexec.com
Government Executive June 1, 2007
Agencies use psychological profiles to cultivate teamwork.
More at http://www.govexec.com/features/0607-01/0607-01na4.htm
Mad About Mattis - New Reading List
LtGen James Mattis' Reading ListCommander, United States Marine Corps Forces, Central Command Reading List
Commander's Intent: The Global War on Terrorism is a long war, and as such we need to continue our preparation to be engaged in all aspects of this war. For our current fights the MARCENT Reading List provides a collection of readings to be read dependent upon your grade and how long you have before deploying. Whether part of a unit or an individual augment, my intent is to prepare you for the operational, tactical, cultural and environmental factors affecting your specific fight. This reading list is not all inclusive and your local command may require you to accomplish other tasks in preparation for deployment as well. All of these actions will ensure we send educated, well-trained and properly prepared Marines into the fight. Turn-to, get it done, you and your Marines will be better for your efforts.
LtGen James N. Mattis
Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command
- Section I is a list of articles, books and publications that are required reading for all hands to prepare for your upcoming deployment to the USCENTCOM Area of Responsibility (AOR).
- Section II is recommended reading separated into specific regions within the AOR. Applicable ranks are assigned and each item is marked by the estimate amount of time that the item can be completed prior to deployment. The time allotted permits prioritization of the reading requirements should a Marine receive late notification for deployment.
Start Reading at http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2007/06/ltgen-james-mattis-reading-lis-1/
SSI Monograph: Rethinking Insurgency
Strategic Studies Institute / June 2007
Rethinking Insurgency
by Dr. Steven Metz
The U.S. military and national security community lost interest in insurgency after the end of the Cold War when other defense issues such as multinational peacekeeping and transformation seemed more pressing. With the onset of the Global War on Terror in 2001 and the ensuing involvement of the U.S. military in counterinsurgency support in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgency experienced renewed concern in both the defense and intelligence communities. The author argues that while exceptionally important, this relearning process focused on Cold War era nationalistic insurgencies rather than the complex conflicts which characterized the post-Cold War security environment. To be successful at counterinsurgency, he contends, the U.S. military and defense community must rethink insurgency, which has profound implications for American strategy and military doctrine.
Read article at http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB790.pdf
Rethinking Insurgency
by Dr. Steven Metz
The U.S. military and national security community lost interest in insurgency after the end of the Cold War when other defense issues such as multinational peacekeeping and transformation seemed more pressing. With the onset of the Global War on Terror in 2001 and the ensuing involvement of the U.S. military in counterinsurgency support in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgency experienced renewed concern in both the defense and intelligence communities. The author argues that while exceptionally important, this relearning process focused on Cold War era nationalistic insurgencies rather than the complex conflicts which characterized the post-Cold War security environment. To be successful at counterinsurgency, he contends, the U.S. military and defense community must rethink insurgency, which has profound implications for American strategy and military doctrine.
Read article at http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB790.pdf
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