
US Army wants to equip all soldiers with an Apple iPhone or Android phone - evo_9
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/14/us_army_wants_to_give_soldiers_a_choice_of_apple_iphone_or_android_phone.html
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davidst
Good idea. Wrong target. What we really need to do is equip all non-combatants
with smart phones and provide them with free service. Secularize them
overnight and end the war.

~~~
ceejayoz
Make 'em come with Angry Birds and hire a few hundred programmers to put out
new levels every day and you'd be set.

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shrikant
The linked article ([http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/12/army-smart-phones-
for-...](http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/12/army-smart-phones-for-
soldiers-121210w/)) is a great read, Well researched, well written, and chock-
full of information.

It's also a pleasure to see the level of 'thinking through' that's being
reported (for e.g. they're even considering setting up their own equivalent of
the App Store!)

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RK
I'd imagine that in the field you'd be wearing gloves a lot. That might be
problematic with most touch screens.

~~~
jonknee
That's a solved problem, it just requires the fingertips of gloves to have
some conductive material.

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cosgroveb
It's mighty cold in Chicago right now and my girlfriend noticed recently for
the first time that her brand new Android phone's touchscreen doesn't work
while wearing gloves... Is there a potential market for this or is someone
already doing it?

Edit: Found one <http://www.gloves-online.com/proddetail.php?prod=FH-1120B>

And a DIY guide: [http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-A-Glove-Work-With-
A-T...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-A-Glove-Work-With-A-Touch-
Screen/)

~~~
jonknee
You can also use sausage, which I always find amusing:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv02XeCMQFs>

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grav1tas
Doesn't the Army have the ability to make its own, more pertinent, more secure
mobile device for the troops? I figure some of the strengths of Android iOS on
the consumer side may wind up being weaknesses or just plan extraneous on the
defense military side.. (security, why would you need to install "apps", etc).

Also, I thought those kinds of devices needed more verified software than is
available on consumer-grade devices. I'm not sure about that one, though.

EDIT: Maybe it would make some sense if they forked Android and used it for
their own in house purposes.

~~~
wmf
_Doesn't the Army have the ability to make its own, more pertinent, more
secure mobile device for the troops?_

Which would then be so expensive that most soldiers would not be issued them
and thus would buy civilian devices with their own money.

~~~
grav1tas
Maybe my edit went in too late. It really could be a modded platform, which
isn't THAT much more expensive. Figure in cost of tweaking the software and
providing infrastructure along with installing custom software on the phone
and you've got something that at most probably wouldn't be much more than
twice as expensive as a normal smartphone. Exclude infrastructure costs that
would probably be there whether you used civilian stock phones or not.

I don't see how what you said fully relates. If the soldiers bought their own
devices, they wouldn't get to put secret information on them...which was the
point I was trying to make. I should have emphasized "more secure" more than I
did.

The soldiers can freely buy whatever phone they want for their own private
use. Why should the taxpayer be buying personal smartphones, anyway?

~~~
wmf
My impression is that anything mil-spec becomes really expensive, but I could
be wrong. I was also making an analogy to soldiers buying their own gear when
the military won't buy it for them, which AFAIK is happening in Iraq.

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verdant
I wonder what they would do to ensure a network would be available in remote
or combat situations. Perhaps the investment in technology and research would
benefit the private sector as well.

~~~
bostonvaulter2
They mention that in the linked article. They have balloons that can provide
cellular service in a 40 mile radius. Also, places like Afghanistan actually
have workable cellular service.

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MoreMoschops
Yes, just the job to help them clamp down on leaks. :)

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twodayslate
Not going to happen. The administration at West Point wanted to give every
student a cell phone back in 2007 but that never happened. Do you know how
hard it is for the military to accept new technology? We are still using
Vista!

~~~
lucasjung
I expect this to fizzle. Back in 2002 (and a little bit on either side), the
Navy was issuing brand-new Palm Pilots (yes, they were still "Palm Pilots"
back then) to every newly commissioned ensign. The original plan was that, as
the PDAs became obsolete every few years, the officers would turn them in for
upgrades. Nobody ever really used them and it became obvious that the whole
program was a huge waste of money so they just stopped issuing them.

~~~
steverb
Wow. I totally used the hell out of my Palm Pilot when I was in the Army. It
was great for keeping track of all the minutiae you have to know about every
one of your soldiers (as a squad leader). Totally replaced my zip up nylon
filo-fax, and I always knew when Private Snuffy's Birthday was coming up and
when it was time to remind PFC JimBob to buy his wife something for their
anniversary.

Crap like that along with an insane op-tempo is why I left the Army though.
Haven't had a use for a PalmPilot like device since then.

~~~
lucasjung
Interesting to hear from someone who actually made his Palm Pilot work well. I
tried using one, but I've always found that a simple notepad and pocket
calendar work better for me. YMMV, but based on what happened with the Navy's
Palm Pilot program, most naval officers preferred the good old fashioned
wheelbook or government-issue green logbook.

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dejb
Imagine if they decide they need to make some custom apps and Apple doesn't
allow them in the app store or kicks them out of it. Very funny.

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JabavuAdams
That's not so great, since they're basically un-securable.

~~~
qq66
It's not like everyone in the military has ultrasecure data on their mobile
device. There are 2 people on each aircraft carrier whose full-time job is to
stock vending machines.

~~~
whatusername
That sounds like a bit of an urban myth. How many staff are there on an
aircraft carrier?

~~~
lucasjung
I'm not sure what you mean by "staff." There are about 6,000 people on an
aircraft carrier when the full airwing is embarked. A handfull of them are
civilians, but they usually fill senior administrative positions or provide
technical expertise in support of maintenance; they're not there to perform
menial tasks like loading vending machines.

There are a relatively small number of enlisted personnel who specialize in
"domestic" tasks: cooking, cleaning, etc. They are augmented by larger numbers
of very junior enlisted personnel (E-3 and below) who are trained for other
jobs but each serve a short stint working in service jobs. For example, a
brand new seaman apprentice (E-2) electrician's mate finishes all of his
training and reports to a carrier. For his first six months, he doesn't work
as an electrician--instead, he gets sent to work in the ship's laundry; in the
mess or wardroom; at the post office; cleaning and taking out trash; cutting
hair; or serviung as a clerk in one of the convenience stores. When his time
is up, he gets to go join his division and do the job he actually trained for.

The job of restocknig the vending machines probably would reduce to about one
or two people if that was all they did. In reality the job is spread out among
quite a few more people, who also do other things. Typically it's the
convenience store staff who do this.

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rhizome
Yes, but who's idea was it?

