Compass Points - Faster Healing Now
Practical military innovation
Compass Points - Faster Healing Now
Practical military innovation
August 22, 2024
.
Electronic bandages?
Perhaps the Marine Corps should use the new electronic bandages to speed healing. Not only the healing of wounds on individual Marines, but also the self-inflicted wounds on Marine Corps units, equipment, and capabilities.
Since the dawn of armed conflict, the military has been the home of practical military innovation. Every successful military force is always experimenting with new units, new equipment, and new capabilities. But the military can never afford to focus on mere theoretical innovation. Military innovation must be tested. Military innovation must prove itself. Military innovation must be practical.
One example of recent practical military innovation is the development of electronic bandages.
.
==============
.
Newly developed battery-powered electric bandages could help wounds heal more quickly, a new study reports.
In animal testing, wounds treated with electric bandages healed 30% faster than wounds treated with conventional bandages, researchers reported Aug. 7 in the journal Science Advances.
. . . “Our goal here was to develop a far less expensive technology that accelerates healing in patients with chronic wounds,” said researcher Amay Bandodkar, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University.
“We also wanted to make sure that the technology is easy enough for people to use at home, rather than something that patients can only receive in clinical settings,” Bandodkar noted in a university news release.
The study is part of a larger Defense Department-funded effort to accelerate wound healing through different types of innovative dressings, researchers said.
-- US News & World Report
.
==============
.
Electronic bandages might seem unlikely, but the idea has been tested on actual animal wounds. Real world testing says these innovative bandages are practical. The theory works.
But not every new theory proves itself. Author and Marine Gary Anderson in his recent article, "Let the Marine Corps Test Force Design in the Grey Zone" suggests putting Force Design to the test.
.
==============
.
It has been five years since the Marine Corps adopted Force Design as its operating concept. It divested some of what many considered to be key warfighting capabilities to buy anti-ship missiles with which to deny China control of the South China Sea (SCS) in favor of a new approach to operations designed around island-hopping.
A half decade later, there are still no missiles. But there is an opportunity to test the theory behind the strategy and support an ally against Chinese aggression: Place Marines on disputed islands to provide support and protection for local fishermen.
Maybe it will force Chinese and American leaders to come to an understanding that would deescalate the ongoing game of chicken in the region. While there is a risk of shooting breaking out, that risk is small and inherent in any operations in the South China Sea anyway.
. . . Placed ashore on one of the shoals in the Spratly chain, the Marine detachment could support beleaguered fishermen with nonlethal means of their own by firing mortar-delivered smoke during the day and illumination rounds at night. The Marines could also employ acoustic weapons such as those used against pirates in the Indian Ocean and Straits of Malacca. If the Chinese coast guard were foolish enough to target the Marines with radar or laser range finders, the Marines could reciprocate with targeting means of their own. Coast Guard cutters know better than to tangle with anti-ship missiles.
-- Gary Anderson
.
==============
.
Author and Marine Gary Anderson advocates that the theory of small, Marine missile units must be put to the test. Is the innovation practical? Does the theory work? In nearly five years of development, there is very little practical evidence that the theory works. The enormous exercise RIMPAC recently concluded in the Pacific. The Marine Stand-in-Force missile units did not take part in the exercise. There was a recent Pacific area SINKEX where a de-commissioned Navy ship was sunk by various munitions. Again, the Marine Stand-in-Forces did not participate -- despite being theoretical ship sinking experts. In the real world, there are zero Marine missile units in place on small, isolated islands, scanning for ships, and ready to fire their missiles.
Since the dawn of armed conflict, the military has been the home of practical military innovation. Every successful military force is always experimenting with new units, new equipment, and new capabilities. But the military can never afford to focus on mere theoretical innovation. Military innovation must be tested. Military innovation must prove itself. Military innovation must be practical.
Electronic bandages are beginning to look like an innovation that is tested, proven, and practical. Electronic bandages are worth pursuing. Marine missile units on isolated Pacific islands? Untested, unproven, and impractical. It is time for the Marine Corps to turn its focus to upgrading, enhancing, and restoring the innovation that has proven itself repeatedly, the global, expandable, combined arms, crisis response MAGTF. It will take a very large electronic bandage to wrap around all the units, equipment, and capabilities that need rapid healing, but it is time to get started.
.
- - - - -
.
US News & World Report - 08/08/2024
Cheap, High-Tech 'Electric Bandage' Speeds Wound Healing
By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter
.
- - - - -
.
Military.com - 08/20/2024
Let the Marine Corps Test Force Design in the Grey Zone
By Gary Anderson
Just a few comments on FD 2030:
Has anybody ever heard of Wake Island?
No war has ever been won on defense.
How did General Berger divest our MAGTF capabilities dictated by Title 10 USC with no congressional oversite?
This gives FD-20XX far too much credit for where it currently stands. The concept is easy enough to understand:
1. Develop situational awareness over hundreds of miles of ocean.
2. Identify the ships you wish to sink
3. Develop the firing solution to sink the moving ship.
4. Engage the target while neutralizing its countermeasures
5. Determine if you have sunk it
Steps 1, 2 and 3 can be exercised from Southern California. Five years after introduction I have seen no evidence to that effect. Steps 4 and 5 can be exercised on open ocean ranges. We have yet to see that.
In short, no part of the Revolution has been demonstrated in a benign environment let alone in a non permissive environment.
Revolutions tend to be successful initially as they destroy the status quo. The next step of instituting the new vision is where gross failure is the norm. Show me the new capability.
Over the bleached and jumbled bones of failed civilizations are written the pathetic words: “ Too late… too late.”
Does anyone at HQMC have a date when one might expect trained and ready units? Plan, Equip, Organize, Train and Exercise. Are we, five years later, still stuck in “Plan”? Anyone got milestones? The sophomoric ignorance is only matched by the arrogance.