The Soldier System — The Army's Future Vision

Abstract

The U.S. Army Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center has undertaken the work of treating the soldier as an entire system, commensurate with the treatment received by other major weapon systems in the military. The ultimate objective is to enhance the effectiveness of the soldier on the battlefield by integrating the identified domains of the Soldier System concept. This concept has been developed cooperatively through workshops with participants, who themselves are soldiers and/or who have a direct effect on soldier performance by virtue of their research and development of soldier items. The individual Soldier System is defined as a battlefield system which maximizes the warfighting capabilities of lethality, command and control, protection, sustainment and mobility through the integration of the individual soldier with doctrine, training, leader development, organization, and materiel to counter the threat/environment. This paper introduces the concept of the Soldier System, describes the process used to develop the concept and presents the arguments for its necessity.