Advances in the United States Military.
The military has played a significant role in our nation’s history dating back to the 1700’s with the American Revolution (“fm.coe.uh.edu”) and more recently with the War on Terrorism. Currently, the United States has over 675,000 soldiers serving for our country and 49,700 troops in Iraq as of August, 2010("usliberals.about.com"). While we are unable to ever exactly know what the future of our military will look like, it is evident that the United States military, and the militaries of other countries, will continue to modernize their approaches.
Military strategies and tactics have brought organization to our country’s military from early on and technology has always influenced them. While battles today are currently fought in a more covert way utilizing long range weapons and equipment, that is far from the case of battles in previous wars. The Civil War, for example, had short range weapons such as muskets with less accuracy than today’s weapons. Due to those limitations of weapons in the Civil War, battles then were fought in close range and troops would mass together for attacks (“civilwarhome.com”). In World War One the tank was introduced and since then has become the most rapidly developed weapons system in the history of warfare. The French FT-17 tank during World War One set the design for modern tanks (Victor), in World War Two tanks became more fined tuned ("infoplease.com") and in the Gulf War tanks were able to fire reliably when moving at speed over rough terrain ("pbs.org"). Tanks continue to advance and be used in the military today.
The future of technology in the military is widely discussed and the most popular topic trend seems to be that of unmanned devices and the advance of robotics (“popularmechanics.com”). The war in Iraq has used over 5,000 drones and 12,000 unmanned ground systems. It is said that where we are headed very soon is tens of thousands of robots operating in our conflicts (TED2009). These unmanned devices have been described as “the force of the future” and there are several countries developing military robotics, although the United States is currently ahead. The development of unmanned devices in our military is revolutionary, just like the machine gun and atomic bomb have been in the past. With these technological advances we will witness a change in the identity of a warrior. With the use of drones, a young pilot can go to war overseas without ever having to leave the country or risking his life. There are disadvantages to these devices though that can potentially be dangerous. One of the main disadvantages is the risk for a “software glitch” which could cause the robot to injure someone. This is a fear many are having with this technology because robots are emotionless and have the ability to kill the wrong target repeatedly. Research of unmanned devices is continuously developing along with ways that we can adjust war to life in the twenty first century.
Not all advances in the military are technical. Integrating different races, gender, religion and sexual orientations into the military are now a standard thing although different categories, like homosexuality (Rod Powers) and paganism do still cause controversy. Even though the military is desegregated, women still only make up a small but growing portion of it. Currently the United States military is made up of about twenty percent women ("usmilitary.about.com"). Women have always been an important part of the military though, most notably as nurses in past wars, but many are now in officer positions ("feminism.eserver.com"). While a woman in combat is still not popularly seen, a women’s role in the military is no longer less significant than a man’s. With the advancement in technology, like unmanned devices, it is now about finding the right people with the right skills to achieve the mission, regardless of factors like gender. It is predicted that the percentage of women, and other minority groups serving in the military, will continue to rise.
Advances in the military, both weaponry and personnel, are ever changing and continue to be an important factor with war in the twenty first century.Lack of diversity in the military is no longer a thing of the past and what was once only in science fiction books are now the increasing reality of robotics in our military. One thing has never changed though, the United States military continues to protect America’s freedoms at home and abroad, securing our homeland and defending democracy worldwide.
Works Cited.
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"Civil War Weapons." civilwarhome.com. N.p., 26112006. Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://civilwarhome.com/civilwarweapons.htm>.
"tanks, military." infoplease.com. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2007. Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0847801.html
Victor, Epand. "History of Military Tanks Of WW ." exinearticles.com. ezinearticles.com, 2010. Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Military-Tanks-Of-WW-I&id=446041>.
"Frontline:the Gulf War." pbs.org. WGBH educational foundation , 2010. Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/weapons/m1.html>.
TED2009, . "PW Singer on military robots and the future of war." ted.com. TED Conferences, LLC, 04 2009. Web. 25 Sep 2010. http://www.ted.com/talks/pw_singer_on_robots_of_war.
Rod Powers, . "Don't Ask, Don't Tell - The Military Policy on Gays." usmilitary.about.com. The New York Times Company, 05 05 2010. Web. 2 Sep 2010. <http://usmilitary.about.com/od/millegislation/a/dontask.html>
"Women in the United States Military." usmilitary.about.com. The New York Times Company, 2010. Web. 295Sep 2010. http://usmilitary.about.com/od/womeninthemilitary/Women_in_the_United_States_Military.htm
"Facts About Women in the Military, 1980-1990." feminism.eserver.com. EServer, 2005-01-19 . Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://feminism.eserver.org/workplace/professions/women-in-the-military.txt>.
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