GI's go GREEN, save lives in Iraq !

A 5 year old think tank for military innovation has added a positive green twist to the lives of GI's in Iraq. Previously, the Rapid Equipping Force had come up with several ideas to save soldiers' lives, such as robots to search caves in Afghanistan, an acoustic sniper finder and a laser pointer to flag down cars at night.

Instead of a new gadget, this time, Joe Amadee III, of contractor Synovision Solutions, proposed a green solution. How could a an environmentally friendly solution help save lives?

He and an Oklahoma roofing contractor sprayed foam onto soldier's tents at the desert base east of Baghdad.

The huge, heat-absorbing tent barracks were turned into rigid shells of 2-inch insulation. The solution improves soldier's lives in two ways: 1. The soldiers are subject to less extreme temperatures while they are in the tents, and 2. Because the insulation reduced the need to heat the tents, they are going out on fewer trips in their conveys to obtain the fuel. As most people know, many of the deaths and injuries are received while out on convoys.

The more fuel a base uses, the more convoys that have to venture out to obtain fuel. Dan Nolan of Rapid Equipping Force says the price of insulation, which works out to about $30,000 a tent, is worth it. Preliminary data show that insulation tents can cut a base's fuel use by 40 percent, he said.

So the soldiers are more comfortable, and they are safer, plus there is an approximate 40% reduction in fuel use!

Gleaned from Denver Post 11/29/07; by The Los Angeles Times