Soldiers Get Solar Training Before Heading To War

[Fledermaus]

For the first time, U.S. Army soldiers are receiving specialized training on how to use generators with solar-power capability before heading to Afghanistan. The Army says these generators save lives by reducing the amount of fuel that needs to be trucked to troops over dangerous roadways.

The military has been deploying green gear in Afghanistan for a while—we’ve reported on Marines at one forward operating base using flexible solar panels they can carry to power radios, solar tarps to power tents at night and even solar panel arrays that can power more than 20 lighting systems and 15 computers.

But the Army said it hadn’t before had the opportunity to integrate work with green-energy devices into the focused training soldiers undergo directly before they ship to Afghanistan. The Vicenza, Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat team is the beneficiary of this training, which was scheduled to wrap up this week at the Hohenfel Training Area in Germany.

“The 173rd allowed us to catch someone in the right timeline. It was the first opportunity to actually train a unit at home-station, look at the equipment during their CTC [combat training center] rotation, and actually take it into theater and put it to use,” said Col. Peter A. Newell, director of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force
http://www.earthtechling.com/2012/03/soldiers-get-solar-training-before-heading-to-war/