Carlton Meyer
Noise and the dispersion of troops during small unit combat make voice communication difficult; S.L.A Marshall wrote about this eloquently in Men against Fire. Hand signals are helpful, but only if infantrymen pay attention. Platoon leaders need small bullhorns to amplify their voice when necessary. Large hand-held bullhorns have been around for years. Modern electronics and new small batteries should permit bullhorns the size of a coke can with a strap so it can be worn around the neck. This would extend the range of the human voice from 50 meters to 200 meters, allowing platoon leaders to communicate with any member of his platoon during combat.
For example, a grunt may be pinned down by enemy fire in an open field. The platoon leader wants to tell him to stay put until enemy fire is suppressed, but is unable to communicate this message 50 meters away. The grunt makes a foolish dash to rejoin his unit and is gunned down. Platoon leaders need small bullhorns to control grunts with basic commands such as: "Gas!" "Move Forward!" "Stay there!" "Fall back!" "Minefield!" "Cease fire!" In addition, leaders could better control machine gun fires and other crew-served weapons with bullhorns.
Bullhorns could also provide an emergency method for company level officers to communicate in cases when radios malfunction or are subject to jamming. Bullhorns could avoid problems when friendly units are encountered at a distance with a loud "Halt, who goes there!" GIs in encampments and airfields suffer from confusion during surprise attacks since gunfire only tells them that "something" is happening. If guards had bullhorns, they could immediately announce, "Battle stations, Battle stations, infiltrators near the river."
One drawback is that enemy forces could hear the amplified shouting. However, it is very unlikely they would understand English or the context of the message. On the other hand, hearing English voices may frighten enemy Soldiers. A bullhorn would also prove valuable to encourage enemy surrenders.
Finally, the primary way for infantrymen to communicate with tanks, APCs, trucks and helicopters is to run over and climb onto the equipment and shout in ears. Bullhorns would help, and prove valuable in coordinating operations at seaports, construction sites, and airfields. Likewise, every combat vehicle and helicopter should have a small loudspeaker system like those used by police cars.
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e-mail May 1998