May 5, 2003 [LINK]

Body armor and "super-infantry"

Yesterday's Washington Post had an article on one of the main reasons for the surprisingly low rate of U.S. casualties in the war in Iraq: high-tech body armor. Thanks to Kevlar-reinforced bullet-proof vests, torso injuries accounted for a much smaller proportion of total combat injuries, which is a major reason why fatality rates were so low. Strategy Page had a similar piece on this topic two weeks ago. In their view, low U.S. casualties were basically a combination of ultra-realistic "laser tag" firefight simulations, new high-tech weapons, and bullet-proof vests. This give our soldiers a margin of safety that builds confidence such that they can venture out and totally dominate firefighting zones. All this makes one wonder whether combat of the future may come to be dominated by high-tech "super-infantry," not unlike the knights of the medieval era. Perhaps the fascination with all things Gothic shown by the youngsters of today is not so misplaced after all. I used to frown on the U.S. Army's promotional pitch of "An Army of One," which seemed to glorify selfish attitudes, but they may be on to something.