Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force

frequency spectrum can be located by an enemy. Even more dangerous is the fact that anything that can be located can be targeted and killed.

Modern tactical radios such as the U.S. Army’s “Single Channel Ground-Air Radio System” (SINCGARS)[26] stay one jump ahead of this grim fact by complex techniques of “frequency hopping” and “spread spectrum” transmission. Since voice and data transmissions have to be “scrambled” or “encrypted,” there is an additional layer of administrative complexity for controlling and distributing the code keys. Even if the con-tentof the message is scrambled by encryption, the enemy can still extract useful information by analyzing the radio traffic pattern. Since we know this, our Signal units deploy special teams to generate bogus traffic, to confuse enemy analysts, and their Signal guys do the same thing, and so on. If this is giving you a headache, you’re beginning to understand the fundamentals of tactical communication. Since there are only a few usable tactical frequency bands, and a lot of people on both sides trying to talk at once, armies have developed rather rigid communications doctrines. This prevents mutual interference with detailed rules governing who can transmit what, where, when, and how.

For our paratroops, the smallest of the Army’s current SINCGARS tactical radios is the backpack-sized AN/PRC-119, which weighs 221b/10 kg. The -119 is an FM transceiver (i.e., the same unit can transmit and receive, but not simultaneously) operating in the VHF band (between 30 and 88 MHz), hopping among 2320 different frequencies! Five watts of radiated power give the unit a range of 2.5 to 5 mi/4 to 8 km, depending on terrain, weather, and other conditions. This is still a terribly heavy load for a soldier to carry, and additional work is going on to reduce the size of the SINCGARS units. Racal, Inc., has developed a SINCGARS radio (the PRC 6745 “Leprechaun”) that weighs only 3 1b/1.35 kg. Described as “ruggedized and immersible,” it sounds like a paratrooper’s dream. Radiated output is selectable from.5 to 5 watts, to conserve power and adjust the range. It has a jack that can connect to a satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, so that when you hit the PTT (“press-to-talk”) button, it automatically transmits your location over the radio net. You can plug the Leprechaun into your laptop computer, or power it from a vehicle adapter. When the Army finally buys such SINCGARS units, you can bet that the 82nd Airborne’s Signal Battalion will be next in line, right after the Special Forces guys get theirs.

There is one other type of sensor which commonly provides data to the paratroops: navigational instruments. These days, this means a miniature NAVISTAR GPS receiver. Today, at least one man in every infantry squad will have a Small Lightweight GPS Receiver (SLGR — called a “slugger” by the troops; it is produced by Trimble Navigation) or the newer AN/PSN-11 Portable Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR or “plugger,” which is built by Rockwell Collins) carefully stowed in his rucksack. The PLGR is a hand-held device about the size of a brick, weighing less than 3 1b/1.5 kg. It is a five-channel GPS receiver capable of Precision Code (“P” Code) and “Y” Code (encrypted P Code) reception. These tiny devices represent a truly revolutionary innovation. Knowing exactly where you are and where you want to go is a significant development in warfare, and in the human condition in general. This still does not guarantee that soldiers will not get lost. Troops will still have to develop their navigational skills to effectively use GPS as a field tool. However, as long as the supply of fresh batteries holds out, no American unit will ever have an excuse to be lost on the battlefield again. This is particularly critical in airborne assaults, where units may be scattered over a wide area.

^{An Air Force technician using a Trimble Small, Lightweight GPS Receiver (SLGR) to do a survey. Tens of thousands of these units, as well as the Rockwell Portable, Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR) are in service with military units of many nations around the world.}

^{OFFICIAL U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO VIA TRIMBLE NAVIGATION}

The PLGR and SLGR receive data from a constellation of twenty-four GPS satellites and display your exact three-dimensional location in military coordinates, or latitude and longitude, anywhere on earth. How “exact” is considered sensitive information, but published sources indicate that the encoded “PY” signal is accurate within 3 meters/10 feet. As an added bonus, PLGR also displays the time, accurate within microseconds. During Desert Storm the GPS signal was particularly hard to jam, and it will be many years before any likely opponent deploys an anti-GPS satellite weapon. One feature of the GPS system, called “selective availability,” can be activated in wartime or during a crisis by Air Force ground controllers to degrade the accuracy of the GPS signal for all users who do not have a military GPS receiver. Unless the receiver is primed with the proper daily “Y code” key, the receiver will not generate accurate positional data. However, the National Command Authorities have never seen fit to activate “selective availability,” and hopefully never will. GPS has become too valuable a public service (some think of it as a new kind of public utility) for any sort of extended disruption to be tolerated for long. Civilian applications are growing exponentially in number every year, and GPS will soon be the air navigational system for the world in just a few years. You can even buy a GPS receiver for yourself. Today, sophisticated miniaturized GPS receivers like the Trimble Scout can be mail-ordered for about $500.

Last but not least, there are a couple of other items commonly used by paratroops to navigate their way around the battlefield. Even in the age of satellite navigation systems, a combat soldier still needs a map and compass. For one thing, GPS receivers don’t work well in built-up areas, or in deep ravines where you cannot see a wide expanse of sky. The standard-issue Army magnetic compass weighs 5 oz/.14 kg, and comes in a nylon case that clips to your web gear. The pointer glows in complete darkness, thanks to a tiny amount of radioactive tritium. Many troopers prefer a commercial magnetic compass (like the fluid-filled models made by Silva) with more features that assist in map reading. This matter of maps is worth a short discussion as well.

Today, American soldiers are privileged to have a vast avalanche of mapping and photographic data available for their use. Under the newly formed (as of October 1st, 1996) National Imaging and Mapping Agency (NIMA), maps of every scale and detail level are being produced for use in the field. Drawn directly from satellite photos, these maps provide the ground soldier with an unparalleled level of situational awareness. Today, when the 82nd Airborne Division deploys overseas, it takes along literally tons of such documents for use by troopers down to the fire-team level. Down at the trooper level, there is an almost artistic skill to cutting the maps and pasting them into small, easily stowed packages for use in the field. Folding plastic map cases are seen in abundance, and map skills are essential for any sort of understanding of events on the modern battlefield. Luckily, the United States has done an admirable job of supplying its soldiers with the finest such maps and navigational tools in the history of warfare.

Food and Water. It is an obvious fact that safe supplies of food and water are vital to any sort of military operation in the field. Back in the 18th century, Napoleon was credited with the statement that “an army marches on its stomach,” and he was right. Today, any force that a nation can field will fold up in a matter of days without food, and just hours without fresh water.

With this in mind, the U.S. Army has come a long way from the “C” and “K” rations of the Second World War. Today, the Army’s standard field/combat rations are called MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat). An MRE is a collection of wet, dry, and freeze-dried food packs, along with eating utensils, condiments, and paper napkins, sealed in an almost indestructible brown plastic pouch. There are twelve different basic MRE menus, one of each packed together in a carton, without much distinction between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each MRE weighs about 21b/1kg, contains about three thousand calories (each soldier is allocated four MREs per day), and is nutritionally complete. In fact, if you consume everything in the MREs, which troops rarely do, you will actually gain weight, even with strenuous exercise. MREs have excellent shelf life under even the worst of conditions, but the basic diet is still somewhat bland.

The following listings of MRE contents should give you some idea of what they are like:

• Menu #2: Corned beef hash, freeze-dried pears, crackers, apple jelly, oatmeal cookie bar, powdered fruit drink, powdered cocoa, a plastic spoon, and Accessory Package “C” (freeze-dried coffee, non- dairy creamer, sugar, salt, pepper, chewing gum, hand cleaner, and toilet tissue).

• Menu #4: Omelet with ham, potatoes au gratin, crackers, cheese spread, oatmeal cookie bar, powdered fruit drink, spoon, and Accessory Package “C.”

• Menu #7: Beef stew, crackers, peanut butter, cherry nut cake, a miniature bottle of Tabasco sauce (these are particularly coveted by the troops), spoon, and Accessory Package “A” (coffee, creamer, sugar, salt, pepper, chewing gum, matches, hand cleaner, and toilet tissue).

• Menu #11: A favorite of mine, this is chicken and rice, crackers, cheese spread,