Military Society & Global Positioning Systems

Although this far my blog has focused on the relationship between global positioning systems and law enforcement in the U.S., there are many more facets of society that the development of GPS has affected. It is common knowledge that global positioning systems are run by satellite signals that can track a system anywhere in the world. With this kind of precise technology and advanced applications, the military was able to create more organizational ties than ever before. Initially global positioning systems were produced specifically for military use and after observing the amount of benefits it had provided, it was clear that these benefits could be applicable to civilians as well. The applications that are used by the military today are navigation, target tracking, missile and projectile guidance, search and rescue, reconnaissance, facility management and nuclear detonation detectors. Military society is tight-knit and lives are often on the line, so these GPS applications were able to increase military personnel safety and efficiency creating a stronger institution. Navigation can help soldiers who are in unfamiliar, dark and rugged terrain obtaining where they are and where their convoys are located. Target tracking is also important because potential targets must be continuously tracked to determine whether or not they are hostile and if preventative action must be taken. GPS has also been instrumental in missile and projectile guidance helping the military to accurately hit the correct targets. However, one of the most crucial military GPS applications is search and rescue. It is able to provide the location of casualties and survivors lessening the emergency response time. Currently the U.S. Air Force is developing a Combat Survivor Evader Locator system that can trace drowned aircrew members more efficiently than ever. Reconnaissance is another vital application because it is necessary for the military to be able to plan operations and training through rapidly updated maps. These show the placement of weapons and targets accurately on a precise gridlocked map. The military organization also uses GPS to help facility management. The military manages a number of large bases that are distributed throughout the world and global positioning systems allow administration to create an accurate base map for all of these areas. Finally, GPS are used as nuclear device detonators. The satellites carry a set of these detectors with a number of sensors that are able to discover these devices before anyone gets hurt or killed. All of these global positioning system applications provide critical intelligence that in turn creates a stronger and more efficient military society, which is where the sociological aspect of this technology comes into play. Military sociology discusses the military as a community with shared interests like goals, values and survival in combat. These shared interests are reflected in the purpose and use of the specific military GPS applications, which ultimately interconnects the military community at a higher level.