Regan, Michael P., "Soldier of the future will be plugged into a massive network"

Regan, Michael P. "Soldier of the future will be plugged into a massive network." Title in the Dayton Daily News 1 June 2003: A6 for AP story available as of 7 Jan. 2015 at [1]; suggested search words: the tech terms below and the opening clause, "Dennis Birch compares the U.S. soldier to a Christmas tree."

The US Army's "Objective Force Warrior technical program" is developing the "'Scorpion ensemble,'" which will "plug" American soldiers "into the military's planned Future Combat System" (currently budgeted at US$15billion, with a target date for the first suits set at 2010 or 2011). "As currently envisioned," the outfits include "an undershirt netted with sensors that monitor heart rate, body temperature [,] and respiration," over which is worn a uniform "with built-in tourniquets that one day might be tightened and loosened remotely. Body armor is built into a load carriage that includes water, ammunition, batteries[,] and circuits to keep the soldier plugged into the network." The helmet will be the highest-tech component, "with tiny, built-in cameras" that will place images "on semitransparent screens" before the soldiers' eyes; the screens can show other data, including global-positioning coordinates. Additionally, the full headgear system "will contain a laser-engagement system to identify friends and foes—and to serve as a 'laser tag' training device." MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies" opened 22 May 2003 and is doing research that "could lead to external skeletons carrying artificial muscles that would make soldiers faster and stronger." See this article and similar coverage for real-world development moving toward the fighting suits in the SF of R. A. Heinlein and J. Haldeman (q.v. under Fiction); see under Literary Criticism, L. G. Heldreth on "… The Fighting Machine in Science Fiction Novels and Films."[2]