Three random things that aren’t too important for U.S. military

Forward Observer has made a list of three things that the U.S. military needs to fight in NATO-aligned Europe. The list is:

1. Installation of GPS navigation in those Blackhawk helicopters that don’t have it already.

2. Better cold weather gear and boots.

3. An ADR safety certification of cars and trucks laden with hazardous materials.

They could have picked anything, and this is what they found it worthwhile to put on the list? Might as well have called the article “Three random things we heard about this week”.

Update: Turns out that this list is actually from Defense One. Here the list is elaborated and put into context:

After 15 years of fighting in the comparatively uncontested deserts of the Middle East, everything from tactics to the physical environment offers new challenges and chances to learn, they said. They also listed a few items that they say U.S. forces need to fight a war in Europe.

This angle makes a big difference for me. The list contains three things that of course need to be solved, and that are good examples of lessons learned by specific units returning from Europe. But it also makes it clear that the range of new things to learn is much longer.

I might add, though, that two of the three things on the list aren’t necessarily crucial for fighting in Europe but more related to moving things around in a regulated peace time traffic environment. In case of a war with Russia there is a good chance that GPS doesn’t work, so Blackhawks should be able to navigate without it. And ADR safety certifications aren’t that important for actual fighting either.