By Dick Pelletier
In The American Way of War, historian Russell Weigley
describes a grinding strategy of destruction employed by the US
military over the last 150 years. To end the Civil War, Grant
felt he had to completely destroy Lee
soldiers. In World War I, Pershing
relentlessly bombarded and wore down Germany’s proud fighting
machine. And the Army Air Corps pulverized major German and
Japanese cities to win World War II. 
These wars were not won by tactical or strategic brilliance but
by the sheer weight of numbers – the awesome destructive power that
only a fully mobilized and highly industrialized democracy can
bring to bear. In these conflicts, US armies suffered and inflicted
massive casualties. Our ability to both inflict and endure such
casualties more effectively than could our adversaries ultimately
resulted in victory.
However, this strategy is no longer effective. Inspired by
latest information technologies, the US military has adopted new
warfare tactics that eliminate the bloody matches of old. The new
style seeks quick victory with minimal casualties on both sides and
utilizes speed, flexibility, and surprise. It relies on precision
firepower and integrates naval, air, and land forces into a
seamless whole. This technique was clearly demonstrated in the 2003
invasion of Iraq.
But experts predict that even this latest approach must change.
Today, we experience conflict that includes warfare in which
dominant military powers are confronted by a wide range of
adversaries – from non-state radical ideologies (al Qaeda), to
transnational criminal elements (Russian Mafia), to rogue states
(N. Korea, Iran) – all employing unconventional tactics.
(cont.)
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For those emergency situations where food might be scarce (or even destroyed by enemy fire) comes the Meal Ready to Take (MRT), a device loaded with enough food pills to sustain life for a week. Depress the top button for a full-sized meal.
Although we are told it time and again, not very many of us prepare for disasters. Likewise, soldiers in the field trust that they’ll have enough food in their backpack or vehicle to last them the duration of the mission. So how many water bottles do you have in your place in case of emergency? A half gallon at best? And food? It’s for this reason the MRT is essential to any disaster preparedness kit and in the field of battle.
Inside each pill is enough vitamins and nutrients to constitute about half a meal for a person on a 2,000 Calories a day diet. While it may not feel like you’re eating a meal due to the size (your stomach will still gnaw at itself), you’ll still notice a difference in your energy levels. Your stomach may be empty but your body is still getting the sustenance it needs to survive.
Where does the rest of the meal come from?
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Nuclear aftermath is just another way of life.
Hope and change? How about mostly change.
A soft future fiction scenario.
By 2020 space had become an unexpectedly crowded place. Catalyzed by evolutionary shuttle design systems, increasingly capable robotics, and super-efficient solar cell technology, mankind’s Space Reach had expanded considerably. Orbital tourism had exploded, asteroid mining efforts were in their early stages, extra-terrestrial solar harvesting had become the new rage and the race to dominate the extensive lunar Helium 3 reserves (a critical step toward the seemingly inevitable construction of a Dyson Sphere) was on.
On April 1, 2021 the first lunar construction bots, assembled in orbit using scattered material from the McMullen Asteroid Incident of 2018, and sent forth by private company LunaFacia, parachuted to down to the moon. - Sure, it’s impossible due to lack of atmosphere, but please suspend your disbelief for the moment. ;)
Controlled by a mix of on-board AI algorithms and remote instruction from “pilots” orbiting the moon in private spacecraft, the multitude of Lunar Bots quickly deployed arrays of fold-out solar cells across the surface of the four major Helium-3 sites. It soon became clear that LunaFacia, a Chinese-funded venture, was systematically laying down the infrastructure for an extensive mining and nuclear energy operation.
Of course, the play to dominate lunar Helium-3 did not sit well with the United States and the Russian Federation, the #2 and #3 world economies, and so they formalized the secret Greiner-Blashinsky Lunar Surface Pact and commenced collaborative construction of a similar solar droid army.
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In a recent mock battle between two armored brigades (“Red” and “Blue”) in the Chinese Army, the Red Army was the victim of a virus attack which erased all their orders for re-supply.
“During the exercise, the Red Army basic command post, command and control station, received information from the main attack force that 3/4 of their ammunition had been depleted. A resupply order was immediately sent to the rear command post. However, after transmission, the order form appeared blank.”
Follow-up requests for ammunition were answered with the response that the request had been processed. The Red Army eventually lost the exercise once their ammunition ran out. It makes one wonder if all the money we’re pouring into the latest military gadgets could be compromised by a programmer working on a virus that would cost a few thousand.
It’s crazy to think that an army could be waylaid by a computer virus, but with our increasing reliance on technology for better and more efficient armies is was only a matter of time. You may have heard about how when Russia invaded Northern Georgia they preceded the attack by hacking Georgian systems as well as flooding Georgian government sites, shutting them down. There’s no doubt that cyber attacks are now a part of a nations battle-chest. This is the future of war.
via The Dark Visitor
I'll assume you've heard of Subversion, an on going procedural generation project at Introversion Software. I'll allow you to educate yourself if you havnt.
I'm sure you're also aware of the simulation argument, though I'm not sure you know just how soon a believable simulation of the world will come onto the market.
The most serious part, the most frightening, is that it wont even be real people, they wont have brains or emotions or any neural activity. And yet, for most the theatre will be all it takes to make them turn up their noses.
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