Soldier energy needs outpacing technology, policy.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: Tactical Power

Eric Shields, an engineer with the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division, never thought he would have to monitor the use of a microwave oven in Afghanistan.

But that is exactly what he and his colleagues have been doing to gauge how much power Marines are using in theater.

"If the microwaves and coffee pots are turned on at the same time, it could trip your generator," Shields told a recent Institute for Defense and Government Advancement symposium. Sometimes a generator is left on too long, and the temperature inside the tent drops so much that Marines are forced to take their cots outside to sleep.

The military over the past decade has been grappling with the issue of power and its effects on everything from the mundane--like microwaves and coffee pots--to the sustainment of troops on foot patrols. But after years of study and laboratory work, troops still need a multitude of batteries to power their many devices, all of it adding weight to sometimes already intolerable loads.

In 2004, an Army platoon needed 889 batteries of seven different types that weighed about 160 pounds to power 13 individual systems during a five-day mission. The demand for power has increased since then.

"We're using more energy per soldier than ever before," said Army Col Bruce McPeak, director of materiel systems development at the Combined Arms Support Command. "The fastest growing requirement on the battlefield today is electric power."

Part of the problem is that energy demands on the front lines are growing quickly and technology can't keep up. But military leaders also are beginning to reflect on how their own policies contribute to the dilemma.

"Weight is the problem," said Army Maj. Mark Owens, assistant program manager for power at Program Executive Office Soldier. He suggested that one way to deal with the quandary would be to "take an appetite suppressant on the amount of capability we put out there."

Soldiers in Afghanistan have to power and carry around radios, GPS, day and night scopes, range finders and more. The Army is now bringing smartphones and new radio sets into the fold. Officials recognize that additional capability can translate to added pounds and confusion on the battlefield, where members of a single battalion could be in 40 different locations. The more soldiers and Marines are asked to do, the more equipment they are given, the more energy they need and the more weight they have to carry from place to place.

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