EVALUATING SOLDIER SURVIVABILITY IN A CONDENSED URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

War seems to be an inescapable part of the human condition. With continual political, economic and religious conflict around the world and increasing deployments to urban environments, improving our ability to protect our soldiers in those environments is key to their survival. The current combat environment is different from evolving war environments decades ago. Thus, being able to increase the soldiers' survivability in the war environment effects many regions of our lives such as continued protection for our freedom in the US; reduced cost to taxpayers for surviving soldiers being able to serve again; and increased military and family moral for soldiers coming back home. Exploring ways to increase soldier survivability through advancements in weapon technology and war tactics in the urban environment is a continuous work in progress for the United States Army. This study focus is to identify the factors that increase soldier survivability in a condensed urban environment against advanced munitions.