Technical Overconfidence

[Maz]

Sgt Hanson has written an excellent piece, one that strikes at the heart of the affair between the modern American military and technology.

It seems to me that our military doctrine has become a contractor's business. Meaning that we encounter a tactical or strategic problem, and then we look to technology developers to give us the answer! Whether it be MRAPs, the ACOG, or more advanced body armor, our chosen answer lies in expanding or modifying our T/E.

This needs to change. Are we not the Marine Corps that prides itself on its ability to do more with less? Are we not required by the Commandant to read "First to Fight" by LtGen Victor "Brute" Krulak, wherein we are told the US Marines used to give money back to the treasury at the end of the year? The T/E should not be the Center of Gravity of the Marine Corps, or the Army for that matter, it should be our Marines (or Soldiers), and their ability to take initiative, and seize the decision.

We trade mobility for security while we fight a force ridiculously more mobile than our own. Winning hearts and minds aside, it appears as if we are fighting a war of attrition on the physical front, while our enemies are out maneuvering us, preying relatively freely upon our ground forces. Perhaps the war in Iraq has been prolonged because of this; a misguided over reliance on 'better technology,' and a lack of effort to develop more innovative and ambitious tactical doctrine.

Sgt Hanson made a deciding point in his opening: "Tanks and artillery don't defeat insurgents, nor do warships, fighters, or bombers. Infantry defeats insurgents."