ACT OF WAR
DALE BROWN
This book is dedicated to my close friend U.S. Army Reserve Command Sergeant Major Raymond Jefferson. Two tours in Vietnam, two decades repairing avionics for the Air Force, and a lifetime training infantry soldiers for combat in the Army Reserve, Ray was one of the most professional, dedicated, generous, and trustworthy men I have ever known.
He didn’t want a gravesite or even a marker—instead, he wanted an American flag raised above his fellow veterans’ resting places. Ray’s flagpole is there, in front of the new Veteran’s Court of Honor. He’s still leading his troops, just as he had been most of his life in the Army he loved.
Job well done, Command Sergeant Major. Rest easy.
ACRONYMS
APC—armored personnel carrier
ARG—Accident Response Group (Department of Energy)
ARL—Army Research Laboratory
CID—Cybernetic Infantry Device
DOE—Department of Energy
GAMMA—originally Grupo do Abaete de la Movimento Meio Ambiente, the Environmental Movement Group of Abaete; changed to Guerra Alliance de la Movimento Meio Ambiente, or the Environmental Movement Combat Alliance
GSF—General Security Forces (Egyptian interior paramilitary forces)
GUOS—Grenade-launched Unmanned Observation System (“Goose”)
HEAT—High Explosive Antitank
HMMWV—High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (Humvee)
ITB—Infantry Transformational BattleLab
LAWS—Light Antitank Weapon System
MILES—Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System
NBC—Nuclear/Biological/Chemical
NEST—Nuclear Emergency Search Team
NSC—National Security Council
ONC—octanitrocubane
PME—Policia Militar do Estado, Brazilian State Military Police
PPD—Presidential Protection Detail
SA—Special Agent
SAC—Special Agent in Charge
TGE—TransGlobal Energy
THREATCON—Threat Condition
TO&E—Table of Organization and Equipment
TOW—Tube-Launched Optically Tracked Wire-Guided Missile
UAV—Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UCMJ—Uniform Code of Military Justice
REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS
DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY (DARPA), http://www.darpa.mil, August 2000—The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative research proposals on Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation (EHPA). The overall goal of this program is to develop devices and machines that will increase the speed, strength, and endurance of soldiers in combat environments. Projects will lead to self- powered, controllable, wearable exoskeletal devices and/ or machines.
The technological challenges that must be addressed are energy sources, power by generation, haptic interfaces, control algorithm development, as well as integration of actuation systems and all previously mentioned subsystems into a machine with an anthropomorphic architecture. Highly efficient actuators must be developed that can utilize a high-density, man-wearable energy source in both a safe and quiet manner. The power provided to the EPHA system must support the exoskeleton for a duration of military significance, initially estimated to be four to twenty-four hours. Control approaches must be devised that enable direct and seamless interaction between human and machine. Finally, these devices and machines will be demonstrated in order to evaluate their utility to various military operations.
EHPA will enable new capabilities for ground forces. Inclusion of exoskeleton technology into land-based operations will extend the mission payload and/or mission range of the soldier. Exoskeletons will also increase the lethality and survivability of ground troops for short-range and special operations. The enhanced mobility and load- carrying capability provided by the exoskeleton will allow soldiers to carry more ballistic protection and heavy weaponry. To meet the challenges set forth, DARPA is soliciting devices and machines that accomplish one or more of the following: (1) assist pack-loaded locomotion; (2) prolong locomotive endurance; (3) increase locomotive speed; (4) augment human strength; and (5) leap extraordinary heights and/or distances. These machines should be anthropomorphic and capable of bearing distributed loads, such as that generated by extensive armor protection, as well as typical pack loads.
UC BERKELEY RESEARCHERS DEVELOPING ROBOTIC EXOSKELETON THAT CAN ENHANCE HUMAN
