Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Some soldiers in Afghanistan are alive today because of a novel piece of do-it-yourself technology.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Fessenden is on duty in Afghanistan now after tours with the Army in Iraq. He has traveled with standard-issue equipment -- weapons, helmet, uniform, boots and so forth -- plus a radio-controlled model truck his brother sent.
The truck is not a toy to him. He says it just saved six soldiers' lives.
The little truck was used by the troops to run ahead of them on patrols and look for roadside bombs. Fessenden has had it since 2007, when Ernie and Kevin Guy, the owner of the Everything Hobby shop in Rochester, rigged it with a wireless video camera and shipped it to him.
In other words, it's an Improvised Improvised Explosive Device Detection Device.
Last week, it paid off. Chris Fessenden said he had loaned the truck to a group of fellow soldiers, who used it to check the road ahead of them on a patrol. It got tangled in a trip wire connected to what Fessenden guesses could have been 500 lbs. of explosives. The bomb went off. The six soldiers controlling the truck from their Humvee were unhurt.
These things have to be pretty cheap compared to many of the other anti-IED systems that have been tried, especially considering the cost of the lost Humvees, not to mention the immeasurable value of saving the soldiers' lives. Why aren't these being produced on a massive scale and deployed with every patrol unit?
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Jun '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Great idea! Will save a lot of lives and put a lot of Americans to work provided they're manufactured in the U.S. How fast can it get ramped up? How can I help?
Oct '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
American ingenuity! Now let's get Obama out of the way so it can blossom again here.
Dec '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
By the time it gets through the approval process it won't work like it does now.
Nov '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
I would argue that it's not Obama, but the general state of things in the military. I am an Army vet and loved serving, but ingenuity and resourcefulness isn't necessarily encouraged in the average soldier. In fact, we were told we were not authorized to use non-issued equipment.
May '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Awesome.
We should just sponsor a "Toy Drive" and our soldiers can claim they're carrying the cars to give to Afghan kids.
Jun '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
I'd love to see Dr. Hanson comment on how in American military... as in American culture, innovation can come from anywhere, and can go up the ranks rather than down the ranks...
I believe VDH drew parallels with the adaptations to the Shermans in France in WW2 and with Spartan warrior strategy as well in regards to ideas coming from lower ranks.
Edited on Aug 4, 2011 at 10:24pmMay '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
They are flying all kinds of autonomous drones to perform aerial surveillance and UAVs to launch sophisticated attacks against distant targets. You'd think it wouldn't be hard to use the same concept for something a little more mundane like this.
What are the logistics of getting something like this sent to our soldiers? Does it have to go through certain channels? If a large number are sent over will it attract bureaucracy? Anyone know?
Jul '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Absolutely brilliant! I love reading about ingenuity in combat environments. This follows Professor Hanson's idea quite well about democracies being better at war because of individualism and ingenuity. The Theban democrat Epaminondas annihilated Spartan power forever in Greee by simply stacking his phalanx against protocol of the day. The GIs broke out of Normandy when I believe an NCO devised a plough of sorts to attach to the Shermans. I'll commision next year in the Army in the Armor branch, and I'm absolutely going to try to use this if I am on patrol some day.
Mar '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
"Why aren't these being produced on a massive scale and deployed with every patrol unit?"
The reason, which I'm sure you intuitively sense, is the amount of bureaucratic red tape it takes to get anything approved for a government contract or, even if it is approved COTS, getting the spare parts you need through the supply system.
Most junior officers I know, and most NCOs, have gone outside the government supply system for something at some point due to the cost/benefit calculation of the amount of time they'd have to spend to get it through the government, versus the "need it now" imperatives of a changing situation on the ground.
Our enemies have said it in the past: They hate fighting Americans because we never hew perfectly to our doctrine. We're unpredictable, and we adapt and overcome.
May '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Not to burst anyone's bubble, but he could have just gone to his supply officer and gotten almost the identical thing without paying for it. But I guess that wouldn't have made the news.
Believe it or not, our military has been doing amazing stuff in the past ten years. One of the things I like is their willingness to adopt cheap off-the-shelf tools like this (or Commercial off the shelf COTS). The real problem is just making everyone aware of all the great stuff that's already here. There are so many programs that it's quite an effort to keep up with all the programs making gear available.
Unlike in the past, we are generally pretty open about new stuff and I often have felt that our operating forces are doubly serving as our R&D. Marines and soldiers can buy their own holsters or knives or whatever, and when something gets really popular the procurement guys take note and start buying it for everyone. In the past they would have instead complained about uniformity and not allowed non-issued gear.
It's changed a lot in my 28 years.
Mar '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
By the time it gets through the approval process, it won't be anywhere near as cheap as it is now either.
Where is the environmental testing necessary? How does the little truck stand up in salt fog? Does it cope well with jungle rot? Where are the provisions for operation in an NBC environment? Without all that (and that is not even the tip of the tip of the iceberg) some DOD apparatchik will weep bitter tears of regret as he reaches across his desk for the "REJECTED" stamp. Every defense procurement fiasco you have ever heard of has led to new regulations, which leads to new forms to fill out and documents to file. Occasionally, all this actually addresses a problem, but the original regulations were enacted to make it seem that Someone was Doing Something, so any actual benefit is usually incidental.
Working for a defense contractor may not make you rich or famous, but it is great for turning wool-headed liberal college graduates into cynical tea-swilling hobbits.
Mar '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Skyler: Unlike in the past, we are generally pretty open about new stuff and I often have felt that our operating forces are doubly serving as our R&D. Marines and soldiers can buy their own holsters or knives or whatever, and when something gets really popular the procurement guys take note and start buying it for everyone. In the past they would have instead complained about uniformity and not allowed non-issued gear.
It's changed a lot in my 28 years. · Aug 5 at 2:09am
Yes, it has gotten a lot better (or rather it was getting better up until I left defense work for the glories of the private sector). "Pretty good right now" is a whole lot better that "perfect in six months," and a lot of the time "pretty good" is on a shelf somewhere.
Feb '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Mark,
Considering your interests on your profile, let me recommend you pick up a copy of Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near. Genetics, Nanotechnology and Robotics all rolled into one.
May '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Hang On: Mark,
Considering your interests on your profile, let me recommend you pick up a copy of Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near. Genetics, Nanotechnology and Robotics all rolled into one. · Aug 5 at 7:05am
Cool, thanks for the recommendation. Since I joined Ricochet my reading list has gone unstable, expanding unbounded by adding books faster than I can read them. Perhaps that was my own personal singularity.
Jun '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Crow's Nest: The reason, which I'm sure you intuitively sense, is the amount of bureaucratic red tape it takes to get anything approved for a government contract or, even if it is approved COTS, getting the spare parts you need through the supply system.
Most junior officers I know, and most NCOs, have gone outside the government supply system for something at some point due to the cost/benefit calculation of the amount of time they'd have to spend to get it through the government, versus the "need it now" imperatives of a changing situation on the ground.
Going through the government contracting process could take years, cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. As long as the warriors who need these things can sneak them past the REMFs, they can actually win a battle or two before the bureaucrats give it all away.
Jun '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
I remember during the first Gulf War, when it was discovered that HMMVs needed more armor, that military armor plate was available, ready to be cut to shape and applied in the field, but the general in charge of the procurement system said that it needed to be tested and would be two to three years before he could release it.
A National Guard unit's hometown paid to have armor installed on their unit's vehicles but the military removed it when they got in theater.
And who can forget troops having to buy their own body armor? Or a better oil for their weapons, one that worked in the sand, because the procurement system wouldn't approve it?
Sure, the success are unheralded, but it's the failures that kill people, that need fixing, that need all the attention they can get.
May '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Good grief. This reminds me of the guy who was going around complaining that the Marine Corps was providing helmet pads that he said were no good. He convinced the local newspaper that the "REMF's" were giving substandard equipment to our heroic Marines. If only, just only the Marines would buy the helmet pads that his business provided, all would be well in the world. His were more comfy, you see. Problem is that his were too soft and contribute to brain injuries and that's why he didn't get the contract.
Meanwhile, gullible people were buying his substandard helmet pads and mailing us boxes of them thinking that they were helping the war effort -- and writing their congressmen about it. In truth, they were just causing a huge headache as we had to go around inspecting stupid helmet pads to make sure our guys were properly protected.
Radio controlled cars can be quite dangerous. The salesman got his free advertising. Be happy for him and leave it at that.
May '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
I never met anyone who had problems with the oil for their rifles. If you keep it clean, it works. If you let it get dirty and then oil it, it won't work. We're still using the same oil as before the brouhaha, and no one is having any problems. Newspapers and politicians loved that story, though.
I can't tell you how frightening it was to be invading an Iraqi city in a homemade up armored HMMWV that could barely move because it was falling apart from too much weight and the engine could barely more it. It took a couple of years, but the bigger engines, hefty door hinges and beefed up suspensions were very important. The up armored HMMWV's probably just delayed our ability to get the MRAP and MATV which are vastly more survivable.
There are usually two sides to these stories.
May '11
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
Robert E. Lee
I remember during the first Gulf War. · Aug 5 at 10:01am
Are you sure you didn't mean in the early days of OIF?
Jun '10
Re: Somebody Get This Guy a DoD Contract
With the dementia, I have a hard time remembering what day it is sometimes. Dementia is a cruel fate for a historian.