Going into Battle......with an Apple?

Who would have thought it? An Apple iPhone or iTouch being used by the American military in battle in Iraq?

The Independent reports in "iPhones in Iraq – the US Army's new weapon":

"In Basra's Hayaniyah district, a notorious stronghold of Shia militias, a US army sergeant leading a patrol faced two suspects in the street. Amid rising tension he produced a gadget from his pocket and after a few minutes of its use the matter was amicably resolved. The Iraqis and the Americans went their separate ways.

The equipment being used – described by the US Army as ideal for 21st-century warfare – was an Apple iPod Touch. In a matter of minutes the soldier had established through words and images that the two men were not considered to be serious threats and detaining them was unnecessary.

Apple's iPods and iPhones, symbols of a modern urban lifestyle, are now in use in a very different setting – the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. They are, say the US forces, ideal for the age of "network centric warfare", relatively easy to use, safe with secure software, and far cheaper than manufacturing a military version."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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