I joke with people that if carrying an iPhone makes you a Yuppie, I am exempt because my iPhone lives in an armored MagPul carrier, and therefore, I am at worst a “Combat Yuppie.”
Ya know, it isn’t a joke anymore.
For decades, I’ve taught Good Guys how to do building searches. Since they came out with pocket phones that take pictures, I’ve included in the curriculum the tactic of putting your phone on photo mode, reaching it out around your cover when you’re doing the search, and simply taking a picture. The camera will instantly show you an image of what’s visible from its perspective, without you having to stick your head out into the field of possible opposing gunfire to see it with your own eyes, and maybe get your head blown off for doing so.
And, for some time, we’ve had iPhone apps for calculating bullet drop at distances: iSniper.
It turns out that our innovative young soldiers and Marines have found more ingenious applications for their smart phones: maps, direct communications on the battlefield, and more. The military establishment had caught up with what our sharp young techno-warriors have often already figured out for themselves, as seen here: http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20111005.aspx
If memory serves, it was Descartes who said, “I think, therefore I am.” Perhaps the new motto for those in mortal conflict may be, “iFight, therefore iPhone.”
Most of you reading this are more techno-literate than I am. Please share here any tips you have for using this technology to fight and reconnoiter, when the stakes on the table are the lives of the Good Guys and Gals.
The Find iPhone app could save your life or that of a loved one. My wife and I who both have iPhones (and iPads) are all trackable on a map via Apple’s web site or via another iPhone/iPad.
When my wife is out and past her expected check-in time, I’ll often pull it up just to make sure she’s where she’s supposed to be.
I phone apps…let’s hear your take on Canton.
Also, FRS walkie-talkies have been real popular with GIs – especially for nontactical uses – in Iraq as a sort of “party line” intercom.
Iphones- Ipads and such — my cell phone is so old , it has a rotary dial on it .
They tell me there are phones that you can take a picture with now — might have to go look at one of them .
LOL
At this point I’m frankly shocked that no one’s cooked up an augmented reality app for tactical purposes. Basically, the screen would display notes and icons giving information layed over the camera’s view of the world from the viewpoint of the camera.
Presuming a secure network I could definitely see potential uses for a tactical overlay so that independent teams could see from their own viewpoint, the location of friendlies, suspected hostiles, hazards and the like.
It would take a lot of guesswork and interpretation out of certain tasks. You wouldn’t have to ask where the injured civilian is, you could just hold up your phone and see exactly where they are.
R.I.P., Steve Jobs,who made so much possible.
My advise to any LEO would be to keep the Techno-iPhone on vibrate or silent. It would be very bad to all of a sudden hear the PacMan theme while your about to make a bust.
As with all “weapons,” you make sure it is reliable in combat situations. Typically, the more advanced something is, the more fragile it seems to be. It is then, therefore, very important to have a back-up system or other type of redundancy. That being said, I have heard the next iPhone will incorporate the ability to shoot a .22 round from the speaker.
Soldiers will always find a way to incorporate new technology to make their lives and missions easier. The best way to get a Soldier to embrace new technology is to prohibit the use of that technology on the battlefield or dare them to find new ways to use it. They will not disappoint.
Remember, everytime we find a novel new use for technology the criminals and/or insurgents out their have possibly already discovered it or will discover it shortly. If you can use an Iphone app for a heads up display that will enhance your situational awareness the bad guys can use it to. My understaning that during the Mumbai attacks, the terrorists relied heavily on celluar phones for navigation and coordinating their attacks on the ground. Your GPS pinger that lets the boss know where you can also let the bad guys know if they have cracked the signal.
I prefer ‘Dubito” over “Cogito Ergo Sum” {my Latin is so-so if I messed that up 🙂 }
I have an old flip phone, since I’m too cheap to pay for a data plan. That being said, it has a camera on it. Someone gave the phone to me when they upgraded to a smartphone. It has a number of sub menus that are very difficult to maneuver too under normal conditions, let alone under stress. Although I can get to the texting feature (something I NEVER use) in one push of a button, getting to the camera is can be done in as few as ten button press. Believe me, I just counted. Thank you, Samsung.
While using the phone for tactical purposes is nice, I have found that you CANNOT turn off the camera sound. I read the manual to confirm this. This is presumably so perverts can’t take up skirt pics without anyone knowing, but it also let’s wildlife know that you’re there (it was loud enough to startle a Deer I happened upon in a park) and it’s also loud enough to alert an intruder or hostile to your whereabouts. Something to think about.
@Chris- Apple would never add a .22 to a iPhone. They’d just include an app that displays a picture of a gun. Afterall, the mere sight of a gun can scare a criminal right?
Sure technology improves but I have yet to see an upgrade for common sense. Heck, I don’t think they sell that program anymore 😛
In all seriousness, I’d recommend “The Art of Deception” by Kevin Mitnick for anyone curious about IT security. Think I mentioned this book to the Evil Princess, you’d probably enjoy it as well Mas (think the Ayoob Files meets the IT world).
Brilliant. Makes perfect sense, and seeing’s how I have my phone on me just about 24/7, it’s real handy.
“While using the phone for tactical purposes is nice, I have found that you CANNOT turn off the camera sound”
Nope, but what can do is use the live video “viewfinder” used by the iPhone and most smartphones as a substitute mirror. Stick a phone out into a scary doorway so you can see the screen, and you’ve got a live-video feed of what’s on the other side, right there in your hands.
Also, from a disaster prep standpoint, the earthquake in Virginia showed us once again that because of their small data footprint, text messages and Twitter can get through when phone calls and the web cannot. Also on the prepping topic, I’ve got a police/fire radio scanner app on my iPhone as well as the Red Cross 1st Aid app.
And for fun there’s the Surefire Shot Timer app and the ballistics calculator apps. 🙂
There are iPhone apps that allow one device with a camera to display live images on other devices, including iTouches and iPads that don’t have cameras themselves. The connection is wireless (bluetooth, I think).
Thus, the camera device could be just inched past a corner — enough to let the camera lens see beyond — while a real-time image is displayed on one or more connected devices that don’t have to be anywhere near the corner. The partner on the other side of the doorway, or even the other end of the hall, for example.
Here is an early version, but there are lots: http://ismashphone.com/2010/04/isee-what-you-see-iphone-becomes-ipads-remote-video-camera.html
If open carrying, and local/state laws don’t prohibit, turn on the audio recorder before leaving home. In case of a bad encounter, the audio will be evidence of the encounter.
Erase the recording when you get home, if nothing happened,
Always film enforcers interacting with freemen. Sometimes, one or the other does stupid things, and then their pals lie about it.
The truth, justice, and liberty are under attack: A short video can defeat thugs.
Cool, so now all we need is a device to mount an iPhone near a rifle/shotgun muzzle and an iTouch back in a view-friendly area and you can see around the corner for safer house-clearing… I’ve long thought weapon-mounted sensors had potential for Home Defense.
“Home Invasion? There’s an App For That.” Between this and the proliferation of e-FLIPs (Flight Pubs–manuals, maps, charts–hell, I’m surprised they haven’t made an integrated iPad instrument panel/autopilot) I may have to rethink my “anti-anything-‘i’ bias”…
Here’s a very interesting device – a complete camcorder that fits inside a bluetooth headset thingie:
http://www.looxcie.com/
It can talk to an Android or Apple smartphone up to 20+ feet away, and use the phone as the viewfinder for the camera with a bluetooth wireless link between them. So you could put it on the floor pointing down one hall, cover another hall yourself, and use the phone as a viewfinder to look elsewhere at the same time in realtime, remote-covering a separate approach.
—
Another major subject with military implications is cryptography – “coded messages”. If you don’t know anything about the subject and want to, I highly recommend the novel “Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson. It is sometimes wrongly labeled “science fiction” because Neal does a lot of that. Basically, this book does for Crypto what “Unintended Consequences” does for gun rights – traces the history in the form of an excellent novel. In the case of Cryptonomicon, it follows two stories, one back in WW2 when electronic codes and their implications was first being explored, and then in modern times, interweaving the two extremely well.