Olive-Drab.com Blog

In recent years combat casualties have included a lot of eye injuries, up to 16% in some studies. As body armor has become near-universal there has been a parallel effort in the U.S. military to develop and field eye armor as well.

During WW II many soldiers were issued Polaroid goggles, especially for dispatch riders, jeep drivers, and tank commanders who had to endure high-speed wind and dust as they performed their missions. During the 1990s the Sun, Wind and Dust Goggles (SWDG) that evolved from WW II were augmented with goggles and spectacles specifically designed for laser hazards as well as the traditional risks.

A problem was noted — soldiers did not like to wear eye protection if it made them look like geeks or cyborgs. That problem was solved by soliciting bids from leading eyewear manufacturers against performance specs — now you can look like Keanu Reeves in Matrix and have ballistic protection too.

Many aspects of the story of Combat Eye Protection, including the latest COTS NSNs such as Wiley-X SG-1, ESS Profile NVG, Oakely SI M Frame, Revision Sawfly and others is in the Olive-Drab.com section named Goggles & Other Combat Eye Protection.

On Saturday, 19 August 2006 the U.S. Navy christened a new Amphibious Assault Ship, the USS Makin Island. This giant ship, second in size only to the larest aircraft carriers, is designed to transport an entire expeditionary force of about 2,000 Marines, then land them and their equipment from an offshore point using helicopters, tilt rotor aircraft and Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft.

The ship is interesting in its own right for the power and capability it represents in the U.S. arsenal.  More than that, the name “Makin Island” recalls a daring Marine raid early in World War II that is now little known. Olive-Drab.com has a page that describes the 16 August 1942 raid on Makin Island in which two companies of 2nd Raider Battalion - “Carlson’s Raiders” - were put ashore from a submarine to disrupt Japanese operations there. The first Marine to earn the Medal of Honor in WW II earned it on Makin.

Medical treatment of battlefield casualties has come a long way, with accelerating progress in recent years. Just as technology has rapidly improved many aspects of civilian life, including medical treatment, the same is happening right at the front lines.

This article from the 42ID in Iraq describes some of the specifics:

Medical healthcare in the desert

One noteworthy development is the HemCon bandage. This 4×4 compress is impregnated with positively charged molecules of chitosan - a natural polymer derived from the exoskeletons of crab, shrimp and other crustaceans. The chitosan attracts negatively charged red blood cells, forming an adherent clot that halts even severe bleeding. The technology was developed under an Army grant in 2001-2002 and HemCon bandages are now used by all services, already saving lives.

The recent war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah is starting to be understood by military analysts as they examine the detailed information available. Ben Moores has a very good overview of both sides equipment, tactics, operational skills, and outcomes in his article titled A Military Assessment of the Lebanon Conflict at WindsofChange.net. Read the article and the extensive comments that follow.

One immediate impression is that Hezbollah possessed very high-tech capabilities, supplied by Iran and Syria, but operated and utilized by Hezbollah’s own highly trained fighters. This is not a rag-tag guerrila band, but in most ways an army equipped with offensive and defensive weapons for ground and air operations, anti-tank capabilities and even the famous anti-ship missile. Their command and control was impressive and remained intact to the last day.

This is very bad news for anyone who thinks that terrorists and other opponents of the U.S. and its allies will be defeated or even deterred anytime soon. Quite the contrary, they are moving up in class and are capable of an ever-expanding range of operations. The same organizational skills and technical weapons used by Hezbollah against Israel this summer can we used to mount an attack on a European or American city at a time of their choosing.

In March 2005 the U.S. Army announced the TUSK program for the Abrams, the “Tank Urban Survival Kit”. TUSK is a series of improvements, including some still in development, that will improve the Abrams’ ability to survive in urban areas off the traditional battlefield for which it was designed. To combat the urban 360 degree threat, TUSK includes additional protection at the loader’s gun station on the turret, the commander’s gun station, reactive armor to protect the tank’s side from attack by rocket-propelled grenades and slat armor to protect the tank’s rear from the same weapon, and the tank/infantry telephone to allow infantry and armor soldiers to work together in combat.

Photos and specs on the M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank found here on Olive-Drab.com.

Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal died on Sunday of natural causes at the age of 94. In addition to a respected career as a photojournalist, he achieved immortality on 23 February 1945 when he snapped the photo of the Marines raising the flag on the Japanese held island of Iwo Jima. Although he did not know it at the time, Rosenthal’s photo would become one of the most famous ever taken. After inspiring millions to carry on in the war weary latter days of World War II, it became a permanent symbol of the Marine Corps and American warfighters.

Semper Fi, Joe!

More on the Battle of Iwo Jima and the flag raising here. Here is the news story from the AP announcement.

UPDATE:  Power Line Blog has a priceless collection of responses from readers to their posting of Joe Rosenthal’s passing, many with personal notes related to Iwo Jima.

The Sun-Star newspaper of the Philippines reported that an arms cache was seized in Calinan, Davao City last week. Interestingly, the cache consisted of a number of U.S. Carbine, Cal. .30 M1 weapons, plus clips and ammunition in addition to an M-16 rifle and other items.

While the M1 Carbine has been considered obsolete in the U.S. military since the 1970s, it still persists as one of the more popular weapons on a worldwide basis as well as remaining popular among U.S. civilian gun collectors and sporting users.

One of the reasons for the M1 Carbine’s continuing popularity is that it is light and small with an easy to handle recoil. That is why it was issued to the ARVN — South Vietnamese Army — and is used in the Philippines where the average soldier is a lot smaller than his U.S. counterpart.

The USMC Interim Fast Attack Vehicle (IFAV) is a modified version of the Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen 290. Sixty-two of these highly capable vehicles were acquired by the Marines to replace the obsolete M-151A2 FAV used in the 1990s for Special Ops.

There is now a page on Olive-Drab.com in the Light Trucks section of the Military Vehicle Identification Charts with a description and some photos of the IFAV.

During the recent fighting in Lebanon the Israeli Merkava tanks were successfully attacked by Hezbollah fighters using the RPG-29 handheld anti-tank grenade launchers. The following UPI story is written by Viktor Litovkin, described as a defense commentator for RIA Novosti, who comments on the Israeli use of U.S. arms and tries to steer readers away from the idea that the RPG’s and other weapons originated with Russia arms sales to Syria.

You can try to ignore the obvious political spin going on and glean some interesting information about how each side was armed and equipped:

RPG-29 to blame in Lebanon?

The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) RESET Program performs depot level services to repair damage to the vehicles caused by combat and extended use. Units deploying to and returning from combat zones in Iraq and elsewhere submit vehicles for RESET and get a refurbished, combat ready vehicle in return.

This link will take you to an article in the Army Logistician magazine that reviews the RESET program as it is operated for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) by Stewart & Stevenson. There are photos showing the rebuild of a badly damaged M1081 standard cargo low-velocity-airdroppable FMTV along with a description of the process.