Dear Soldiers
The main weapon of modern warfare is money. By this indicator, US military personnel far outpace their foreign colleagues. It is worth noting, however, that the pay of enlisted men and non-commissioned officers is not so staggering compared to what the average American can earn in civilian life. The starting salary of a recruit is $965 per month. However, full state support, as well as the opportunity to receive a prestigious education that will be useful after discharge, make military service attractive. In addition, servicemen are entitled to various allowances for participation in combat operations. For example, all those sent today to the Persian Gulf region are pleased by the fact that their monthly earnings automatically increase by $500. Since 1991, the region has been declared a "combat zone" by the Pentagon, and service there is paid extra even in peacetime. But much more expensive is what the soldier wears and what he has on his feet, not to mention protective gear and weapons.
The thinking of American military analysts is aimed at conducting future combat operations with minimal human involvement. Best of all, the "man with a rifle" should be hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from the theater of war. But since this is still technically impossible, enlisted men and officers are receiving new means to help them accomplish their combat mission with maximum protection and comfort. Nothing is a trifle. For instance, all soldiers arriving in the zone of possible combat with Iraq receive new-model boots costing about $100 per pair. The previous ones performed poorly in Afghanistan - their soles wore out quickly.
The Pentagon spends at least $50 million annually on research and development for the program to create new soldier equipment. As a result, in terms of individual equipment, the American soldier is the most expensive in the world - everything he carries on him totals about $7,500. A set of field military uniform costs $56. The price of an M4 rifle with night and day sight, grenade launcher and flashlight is $920. A belt and backpack adapted for weapons and ammunition cost $400, and a helmet costs $139. The night-vision device mounted on it is the most expensive part of the personal arsenal: $3,500. And, as if reminding of the times of knights and crusades, each soldier's kit now firmly includes a body armor vest with ceramic bulletproof plates costing $1,584. Special forces fighters are additionally equipped with a global positioning system, armored knee pads and elbow pads, flexible handcuffs, etc.
GI and High-Tech
One of the main tasks is to reduce the weight of the equipment and weapons carried by each serviceman. Currently, a backpack with a standard load weighs 27 kilograms. By 2012, developers promise to halve this weight. It is expected that by then every soldier will be equipped with improved global positioning devices. Automatic rifles will be fitted with video cameras that will allow fire from cover without exposing one's head to enemy bullets. Helmets will additionally have detectors for chemical and bacteriological contamination of the area, and an air conditioner. Radio-controlled transport models with equipment, ammunition and food will follow units.
Individual protective gear and weapons are supplemented by the latest developments on the battlefield and far beyond it. According to experts, the highest level of technical equipment of the US armed forces is another distinguishing feature. This, by the way, is linked to the rise in the educational level of American soldiers. Back in 1980, only 54% of enlisted men and non-commissioned officers had completed secondary education; now that figure is 98%. And 75% of servicemen are computer-literate.
"New information technologies have permeated literally every cell of the army, air force and navy," says one of the documents of the Lexington Institute, which conducts research in the field of defense. "Every step in the preparation and implementation of one task and the immediate transition to planning the next is computerized." In practice, this is expressed in the fact that in Qatar, at the new mobile headquarters of the head of Central Command, General Tommy Franks, who will direct combat operations against Iraq if they begin, one can see on computer monitors the locations of American tanks, self-propelled artillery pieces and other vehicles, with precise data on the level of fuel in their tanks and the state of their ammunition loads. In recent exercises, orders and commands, on the one hand, and feedback reports, on the other, were transmitted not through the interference-saturated radio airwaves, but by e-mail. They also came through computer-equipped M1 Abrams tanks and through remotely controlled unmanned reconnaissance aircraft equipped with real-time video cameras. The United States intends to use in a war with Iraq at least six varieties of unmanned reconnaissance vehicles that have proven themselves in Afghanistan (Predator, Global Hawk, Dragon Eye, Shadow, etc.).
Armored vehicles intended for participation in a possible invasion of Iraq are also equipped with computer programs that allow the commander and driver to see the direction of their own movement and the movement of other American vehicles. Moreover, by simply touching one of these moving squares or triangles symbolizing a tank or an armored personnel carrier, all data instantly flashes on the screen, including the names of crew members. To alert about a danger noticed by someone, it is also enough to touch the corresponding 'icon' on the same screen.
No One Is Forgotten
However, despite all these computers and other electronics, the American soldier has by no means become a mere appendage of technology. The maintenance of high morale and fighting spirit has not been canceled. This goal is achieved through daily exhausting training, during which necessary skills are made automatic. But that is not all.
Steven Spielberg's sentimental film "Saving Private Ryan" highlights the main feature of the American army - concern for the life of every soldier is a priority, more important than even victory over the enemy. This trait had shown itself quite clearly before, and after Vietnam it simply became the first commandment of any military leader - from squad leader to commander-in-chief. Failure to observe it for any reason, even quite objective ones, is fraught with serious consequences. In 1980, the deaths of eight paratroopers during an unsuccessful attempt to free hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran deprived Democratic President Jimmy Carter of any chance of re-election. That is why in the United States no one is surprised that, having conducted 90 major combat operations from 1972 to 2003, including the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, the army lost only 900 service members killed! "The principle that nothing is more precious than the lives of soldiers was originally embedded in American military development," says Nikolai Zlobin, an analyst from the Washington Center for Defense Information. "This army invests very much, disproportionately much compared with other countries, in various structures to save its servicemen." Amazing but true: on the eve of the war with Saddam, the U.S. is agreeing on the procedure for searching and rescuing its pilots even with Iran, which George Bush included in the "axis of evil."
American soldiers are confident that they will not be forgotten. Traces of those killed or missing in action in the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and even during the intervention in Soviet Russia in 1918-1920 are still being persistently searched for. So the story of Private Ryan by no means looks like a propaganda legend.
Army of Minorities
However, Americans themselves admit that their army is far from ideal. It has plenty of what we call "hazing" and outright crimes. For example, observers have noted with alarm that for the first time in the last 20 years, a trend has emerged toward an increase in the number of drug addicts in the army. Since 1999, more than 17,000 service members have been discharged for using drugs.
Perhaps an even bigger problem is that the prestige of military service, despite all the benefits and privileges provided by the government, is declining. Although the American army, unlike ours, is a contract army and is formed exclusively on a voluntary basis, it too has recruitment problems. For example, the constant increase in the number of female service members is by no means the result of a deliberate policy of equal representation of the sexes. It is simply that there are not enough male volunteers, who find it easier than women to find better-paid civilian jobs. At present, women make up 14.4% of the U.S. armed forces' personnel. The largest number of women serves in aviation (19%), the smallest in the Marine Corps (6%). In 1991, women were not allowed to participate in combat operations against Iraq even in auxiliary units. If the U.S. starts a new war, female service members will for the first time be allowed to act in the second echelon of the American offensive - in military police, engineer companies, and chemical defense platoons.
The racial-ethnic and social composition of the armed forces also causes concern among military analysts. Year after year, the U.S. Army has more and more representatives of national minorities and people from poor families. Currently, the racial and ethnic composition of American service members is as follows: whites - 58.7%, African Americans - 26.4%, Hispanics - 8.1%, others - 6.8%, which does not correspond at all to the ratio of these groups in society as a whole. The lion's share of service members come from southern and western states. Recruiting offices explain this by the fact that in the northeastern U.S. and in the Midwestern states there are not many bases or other military installations, and there are no families with military traditions. However, another version is more likely: in the most economically developed regions of the country, there are simply not so many people willing to serve in the armed forces.
Recruitment problems have given rise to another specific feature of the U.S. armed forces. More than 31,000 foreign citizens serve in the American military - almost 2% of its total strength. Unlike, say, the French Foreign Legion, in America foreign mercenaries are not consolidated into a separate formation but are dispersed among different branches and units. Almost half of the foreigners serve in the Navy. There are six thousand each in the Marine Corps and the Army, and the Air Force has only 2,957 foreigners.
After the September 11 attacks, programs for enlisting non-U.S. citizens into military service were subjected to a thorough review but were not curtailed. For nationals of other countries, service in the American army is attractive because it offers the opportunity for accelerated naturalization in the U.S. While the period for obtaining American citizenship for ordinary immigrants is five years, military volunteers are entitled to an American passport after just three years. So even today, almost anyone who wishes can offer his services to the Pentagon...