Communication Technology: The New Mercenary
Abstract
The Marine Corps no longer fights conventional battles. Today's enemies are not necessarily gun-toting combatants; they can be abstracts like hunger, poverty, and a lack of reliable information. When fighting both conventional and unconventional enemies at the same time, the challenge to stay informed with up-to-date intelligence at the lowest echelons of decentralized command can pose as big a problem as the insurgency itself. Fortunately, commercial technology is advancing at unprecedented rates, providing an ever-widening array of communication tools to keep the operational forced informed up and down the chain of command. Unfortunately, this commercial equipment comes at a cost: complex maintenance requirements or lack of experienced operators will mitigate the equipment's usefulness. In the end, the Marine Corps' overdependence on commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) communication equipment is weakening the Corps' ability to self-sustain by creating a reliance on warrantees and distant repair centers for maintenance and replacement, civilian contractors for technical support, and on-the-job training as the sole source of operator instruction.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 20, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA517795
Entities
People
- Adam R. Ralston
Organizations
- Marine Corps University