In a recent demo at a Fort Hood training area, the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center unveiled the latest technology in unmanned military vehicles, according to a press release on the group's website.

During the demonstration, two driverless vehicles worked through training ground streets covered with obstacles and oncoming traffic to effectively work with another manned vehicle within a convoy. At the same time, the vehicles followed the rules of the road, avoided pedestrians and managed to change routes several times to showcase the technology's decision-making capabilities and precision. Exhibiting advanced autonomous features, the new technology could present a future method of keeping soldiers out of dangerous locations while completing supply missions and other tasks.

Unmanned vehicles make a debut in the near future
Although the technology is still in testing phases, TARDEC is well on its way to producing independent unmanned vehicles on schedule. The group has set a national date to release a series of driverless vehicles as part of the Autonomous Mobility Appliqué System. That equipment is set to be introduced in 2025, according to Military Times. However, TARDEC Director Paul Rogers believes the driver assist technology could be released for military personnel by next year, and that vehicles could be traveling without soldiers behind the wheel within three years.

The technology still needs a lot of work before it can make a debut on the battlefield. According to Military Times, the equipment uses advanced radar and lidar systems to pinpoint oncoming traffic, and obstacles and read the surface of the road and painted lines. Using a pre-programmed system, coordinates can be punched in and a specific route can be followed by the vehicles, or they can be programmed to follow other manned vehicles within a convoy.

In a controlled environment, the systems work very well, but the unmanned vehicles are unready for other areas.

"In a military or unstructured environment, the challenge becomes much more significant," Rogers said, according to Military Times. "We're looking at how to make our systems robust so that they're able to operate in more of these unstructured environments."

Reportedly the vehicles cannot complete more complicated street maneuvers and have not fully passed exercises that require backing up or K-turns, but the technology's developers remain optimistic.

"We are very happy with the results, but the AMAS must undergo more testing before it becomes deployable," Bernard Theisen, TARDEC's lead AMAS engineer, said on the group's website.

Keeping soldiers out of harm's way but still in the field
According to TARDEC officials, the aim of the AMAS is not to replace soldiers. Instead, allowing the vehicles to operate themselves will give soldiers more leeway to work in a defensive capacity in convoys or to complete other tasks while in route to destinations. The system is intended to increase the capability of the vehicles and allow soldiers to retain more situational awareness or operate from a safer distance in particularly dangerous locations. Additionally, taking soldiers out of particular vehicles can help reduce vehicle weight by stripping vehicles of armor, allowing for greater mobility. Ultimately, equipping convoys with unmanned vehicles could drastically improve the performance and effectiveness of soldiers.

Following a heavy influx of undocumented foreign immigrants crossing the southern border from Mexico to the U.S., Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced plans to send 1,000 Texas National Guard servicemembers to the border to help secure the territory, according to Texas newspaper the Monitor.

The Monitor quotes Sen. Juan Hinjosa, saying Perry will reveal plans to send 1,000 troops at a cost of $12 million per month at a news conference July 21. The article continues to attribute more information to a memo that was given to the Monitor by an official who requested to remain anonymous. 

Thousands of fleeing children
The report comes after a wave of controversy surrounding about 2,500 fleeing foreign children that have entered the U.S. hoping to find asylum, according to Military Times. Those children are attempting to escape dangerous and violent regions in El Salvador, Honduras and other locations. Now, thousands of them are being held on three Defense Department installations including Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas; Naval Base Ventura County, California; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

A move long in the making
Gov. Perry reportedly spoke about Texas securing the national border itself at a recent Republican barbecue in Iowa, according to The Washington Post. 

"If the federal government does not do its constitutional duty to secure the Southern border of the United States, the state of Texas will do it," Perry said at the event.

Aside from this action, the governor also called on President Barack Obama to send 1,000 additional troops to the border in a June 11 editorial, according to Military Times. Reportedly, the governor wanted additional servicemembers protecting the border until more border patrol officials could be hired, trained and dispatched to protect against waves of undocumented foreigners.

In a Fox News Sunday report, Perry said that fleeing children could be taking attention away from other more dangerous foreigners, such as members of drug cartels.

A new study, which appears in JAMA Surgery, is showing that a relatively new method of combat care could be saving soldiers' lives. It's called Damage Control Resuscitation. This method of servicemember care is intended to optimize wounded soldier outcomes by reducing blood loss and increasing tissue oxygenation, according to an infographic released by the JR Army Med Corps, and it encompasses an eight-step process after a soldier is wounded in the field:

1. Novel hemostatics reduce blood loss and dress wounds
2. Battlefield Advanced Trauma Life Support or emergency on-site surgery is provided to buy time to move servicemembers to the next level of care
3. Enhanced Medical Emergency Response Teams composed of four-practitioners  provide advanced interventions while the soldier is rapidly transported
4. The wounded soldier goes through consultant based resuscitation at a nearby hospital or field hospital
5. Hemostatic resuscitation – restoring and sustaining normal tissue blood flow – is pursued
6. Physicians run bedside diagnostics 
7. Damage control surgery is performed 
8. An intensive therapy/treatment unit or Critical Care Air Support Team is dispatched for ongoing treatment or transport

This system brings wounded soldiers from the point of wounding and battlefield care to hospitals. According to Military Times, JAMA Surgery researchers are calling DCR "one of the most important medical breakthroughs of our current conflicts." 

A silver lining
Unfortunately, the tremendous improvement in battlefield care has brought surviving soldiers to hospitals, which may have pushed in-hospital deaths of Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers to reach historic heights. To put it into perspective, the amount of servicemember deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan has been very low. However, DCR services provide such speedy evacuations and effective care that critically wounded soldiers make it to hospitals but succumb to their wounds despite the efforts.

Many believe that more soldiers would have died of their wounds without the DCR treatment. In fact, Military Times reports that JAMA Surgery author Nicholas Langan attributes many of the deaths to head injuries, not hemorrhaging or blood loss. Such an assessment suggests that DCR is improving survivability for troops.

Helping enhance in-hospital outcomes
Moving wounded troops to hospitals faster and in better condition increases their chances of survival. Now, researchers must make determining how to improve emergency room outcomes a priority. JAMA Surgery officials think there is a possibility of saving a great deal of patients by giving in-hospital care more attention.

"There appears to be a significant potential for salvage in up to 50 percent of patients who die of wounds at a military treatment facility," Langan wrote in the study, according to Military Times.

Nonetheless, there is wide agreement that DCR efforts have vastly improved wounded soldiers' outcomes since the procedure's adoption in 2006. Of the 57,179 troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan only 4.5 percent have died due to their injuries. Of that amount, 80 percent died within 24 hours of arriving to a military treatment facility. 

Moreover, many military medical professionals claim that this high attention to combat casualty outcomes could likely improve patient results in future wars. The Pentagon is working to chronicle all combat casualties in the Joint Trauma Registry, and the compiled data could lead to further medical breakthroughs.

A wave of ongoing scandals, including data manipulation and whistleblower retaliation, have undoubtedly tainted the reputation of the Department of Veterans Affairs, but it's the wait times that veterans face when scheduling appointments that has really caused the organization to fall from critics' graces. According to Military Times, over 630,000 veterans have faced wait times over a month long as of July 3.

To help the VA decrease those long wait periods, the current head of the organizations, acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson, has asked for an additional $17.6 billion to hire 10,000 new medical staff members, build eight new medical facilities and lease another 77 new medical facilities around the country.

Adding to present funding
VA officials are confident that an increased budget can dramatically improve the lives of veterans looking for medical care in the future, but some argue that the already steep budget enjoyed by the VA should be enough to correct current problems. Gibson refuted these claims in his first testimony on Capitol Hill.

"I know it sounds like huge numbers," Gibson told lawmakers, according to Military Times. "But [VA] historically has not managed to veterans' requirements, we've managed to budget numbers."

There is already an emergency VA reform bill that would attribute $30 billion to the VA over a three-year period, but this measure gives the organization just $500 million for additional hiring measures, a figure too small to fund 10,000 new medical staff members. Most of the remaining budget aims to help veterans seek private care options, reducing pressure on a VA that has been stretched thin over the years.

Lawmakers and veteran officials have not decided which route would allow for a timelier and more effective solution for veterans. While many agree that allowing greater access to private care facilities would reduce wait times quicker than massive new hiring measures, Gibson told lawmakers that the new hiring and infrastructure initiatives would solve VA issues in the short term and provide longer-term problem solutions for resource issues.

The wait times will likely get longer with no additional funding for securing more beds and medical staff, Gibson told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, according to an article by The Washington Post. However, some politicians doubt whether increased funds will help the embattled VA.

"This sounds so similar to what we've heard over the years," Sen. Mike Johanns of Nebraska told Gibson on Capitol Hill, according to the Los Angeles Times. Johanns continued by mentioning the committee had previously granted VA budget requests, which did not solve many of the organizations issues.

"If you can't clean up your act, then guess what? You lose out," Johanns said. "I don't think you need more billions and billions of dollars."

A history of issues but a brighter future
The VA has faced many struggles in the past few months. The former VA secretary Erik Shinseki resigned in May following audits that discovered some veterans had to wait months for medical appointments. Additionally, administrators have been covering up those wait times to protect performance bonuses.

All of this activity has lead to the VA undertaking several changes to improve the current health system. Since the turmoil in May that ended with Shinseki's resignation, Gibson has reported the VA health care system has reached out to 160,000 veterans on the wait list, according to the Military Times.

Whether the VA receives Gibson's requested funds or gains the $30 billion from the emergency reform bill to help increase access to private health institutions, the organization may be lead by a new secretary within weeks or months. President Barack Obama's nominee, former Proctor & Gamble chief executive Bob McDonald, may become the new VA head by December, which could mean a whole new direction for the department.

The ReWalk exoskeleton device has become a stunning marvel for paralyzed individuals, and after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the use of the system in the community and at home in late June, it has changed the lives of some wounded soldiers.

Improving the lives of servicemembers
A feature by the Military Times Group tells the story of 30-year-old, Marine Capt. Derek Herrera, who was paralyzed by a sniper's bullet in Afghanistan June 2012. The 6-foot 2-inch Naval Academy graduate goes about his day by wheelchair for a majority of the time, but three times a week, Herrera, an active duty servicemember in a special operations unit, straps himself into the ReWalk exoskeleton device and strolls the floors of a physical therapy room at 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion. 

The best part about the experience, Herrera said, is the ability to talk to people at eye level once again.

"Being able to look at a person at eye level is awesome. It's not something you'd probably think about unless you spent most of your time sitting," Herrera told Military Times.

But that's not the only benefit paralyzed servicemembers and other people get from using the technology.

Improving health one step at a time
Paralyzed individuals face many additional health complications due to prolonged time sitting. Muscle mass decreases, bone density is negatively affected, stamina plummets and overall health can be reduced because of difficulty exercising and being active. According to an NBC news health report, however, the ReWalk can help paralyzed individuals regain their strength and improve their health.

Additionally, many say that the psychological affects of walking can be hugely beneficial for paralyzed people. Standing and walking again can be a huge boost for people coping with a spinal injury. Herrera told Military Times that, although his wheelchair is quicker and more agile, he would choose ReWalk's braces and standing supports over sitting.

The future for the ReWalk
Now that the device is cleared for use in the U.S., many are taking advantage of the system, but the $69,500 exoskeleton is not cheap for individuals. Few health insurers offer to cover ReWalk, and Defense Health Agency officials have not considered whether Tricare will cover the expense either, according to Military Times. That may change according to an article in The Boston Globe.

An official from Argo Medical Technologies Inc. – the facility that developed the ReWalk – told The Boston Globe that the ReWalk may save users up to $30,000 by preventing other health issues linked to prolonged sitting in wheelchairs. Those savings could be alluring to insurers, but the process to cover ReWalk will be slow, according to Tony Dodek, the associate chief medical officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. 

Dodek told The Boston Globe a fair amount of scientific evidence must be explored by a central Blue Cross Blue Shield committee, which could take up to six months. After that, the 37 Blue Cross Blue Shield member companies will decide individually whether to reimburse ReWalk buyers.

The U.S. military has enlisted some unconventional help for a new plan that intends to encase the soldiers of the future in high-tech, powered body armor capable of lifting hundreds of pounds, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This revolutionary military project dubbed the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit – or Talos – is calling on special effects designers to help imagine a viable futuristic suit for soldiers. Special effects designers who have worked on movies such as "Iron Man," "Robocop," "The Terminator" and other films are wracking their brains trying to figure out how soldiers in the real world can be outfitted with hundreds of pounds of body armor without utilizing technologies present in works of fiction.

"Hollywood has definitely made the Iron Man suit impossibly thin, impossibly light, impossibly agile and impossibly energy efficient," Russ Angold, co-founder of Ekso Bionics a company that primarily designs exoskeletons for medical use, told The Wall Street Journal. "So we're really trying to solve the problem and ask the question: What would Iron Man look like if it was real?"

The real world Iron Man
There are a few daunting barriers to creating a suit anything like the exoskeleton in Marvel's blockbuster film. One of the biggest problems is finding a power source that could make it functional. According to an article in The Week, the exoskeleton is intended to protect soldiers from bullets, explosions and bayonet attacks. Extra body armor capable of deflecting such forces would be hundreds of pounds in weight, which means some sort of external power source – 365 additional pounds of batteries, according to Pentagon researchers – would be necessary.

Far from having the fictional "Arc Reactor" that powers Iron Man's suit, the U.S. military does not intend on finding any substitutable breakthroughs any time soon, but the project is continuing to fund research and conduct tests.

A more realistic exoskeleton
The U.S. Special Forces Operations Command intends to design a new body armor within four years. Hollywood 3-D printers have already been commissioned to produce some of the early prototypes that mostly deal with mobility issues. A team of bioengineers, combat veterans, tech experts, prop makers and other researchers have joined forces to break ground in the military exoskeleton project, but U.S. politicians are skeptical about any huge advancements.

According to The Wall Street Journal, lawmakers and the House Armed Services Committee have already asked for a briefing on the project. The U.S. military has already spent close to $10 million funding Talos, and the briefing will inform lawmakers if the project is wasting money.

A video posted by The Wall Street Journal records a soldier drafted for exoskeleton exercises working through a shooting range equipped with mechanical braces, an early prototype for powered movement. Reportedly, the braces made it difficult to run and were troubled by engine failure and other complications.

Ultimately, the U.S. Special Forces Operations Command may have a revolutionary body armor ready within four years, but it is doubtful that a powered exoskeleton will be a military issued piece of hardware within the near future.

Traumatic brain injuries rob veterans of their memories and affect their ability to create new memories every year. Moreover, TBI​s present a widespread problem in the civilian community that diminishes the quality of life for hundreds of thousands, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. To help solve the problem in both communities, DARPA recently announced that several research grants would be awarded, helping fund efforts to develop brain implant technologies.

Repairing the brain with hardware
According to a Military Times report, the research sector of the Pentagon is looking into devices that may reconnect areas of a damaged brain that could lead to retrieval of lost memories. The imagined technology would be a wireless neuroprosthetic. Where pharmaceutical remedies and therapies have not made dramatic breakthroughs in TBI and memory dysfunctions, this innovative technology could help pave the way for newer treatments. According to a Military.com report, DARPA claims there are no current effective treatments for the long-term effects of TBI on memory, but they are eager to change that.

"We're trying to change the game on the options available to our military members when it comes to traumatic brain injuries, and come up with new therapies," said Justin Sanchez, DARPA's Restoring Active Memory program manager, according to the Military Times. "We need new hardware, new devices that can interface with the brain, and we need to develop new computational models that allow clinicians to interface with the brain."

This project is not new to DARPA either. About a month before announcing the research grants, Military.com published a report about the Pentagon's Restoring Active Memory project. Aiming to restore memories in injured patients as well as treat people with mental health disorders, such as depression and Parkinson's disease, the RAM project is just one of the developments benefiting from $50 million of funding for research this year, allocated by DARPA.

Where the money is going
According to the Military Times, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Pennsylvania will each receive funding to develop electronic interfaces that can help recognize memory deficits and improve brain function. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California will also receive funds.

The amounts for each institution are:

• UPenn: up to $22.5 million over four years
• UCLA: up to $15 million 
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California: up to $2.5 million

The effects of TBI and memory loss are widespread in the U.S. Since 2000, DARPA reports that over 270,000 servicemembers have sustained TBI injuries, which often results in difficulty retrieving memories and affects the ability to form new memories. Adding to those numbers, DARPA estimates that 1.7 million American civilians have been affected by TBI injuries. Scientists and researchers face significant biological and technological challenges in producing a piece of neuroprosthetic hardware, but plans to develop and test initiatives such as RAM and other projects are well underway. Veterans and many others stand to benefit from future innovations as well. Military.com reported that the benefits of a neuroprosthetic device could also help treat and restore the memories of patients with Alzheimer's disease. 

In a report by the Military Times, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Drew Sloan said greater energy efficiency can save lives. A high dependency on diesel fuel leaves soldiers dependent on this energy source to power everything from base generators that make cooking meals possible to combat vehicles used to travel in dangerous areas. That means soldiers are on the hook when it comes to obtaining oil, and a loss or reduction of supply can leave servicemembers stranded and poorly equipped defensively.

Traveling in dangerous convoys
Sloan also told reporters for the Military Times that convoys that transport these fuels are largely susceptible to attacks by insurgents, and greater access to renewable energy sources could lessen risks and increase independence. 

"When you create a culture change and behavioral change in which people use their resources more productively, you take convoys off the road," Sloan said. "You lessen soldiers exposure to ambushes and [improvised explosive devices]. When you use renewable resources, you do the exact same thing."

According to Sloan, replacing just diesel generators with arrays of solar panels means less need for fuels transported by convoys and eliminates the necessity for fuel powering those convoys. According to the Department of Defense, roughly 3,000 army personnel and contractors were killed or injured during convoy attacks between 2003 and 2007.

Military green initiatives
The Associated Press reported in 2012 that the U.S. military plans to generate enough energy from renewable sources on military bases to equal the energy output of three nuclear plants by 2025. Of that, armed forces planned to announce a goal of generating 3 gigawatts of energy on Air Force, Navy and Army bases using renewable sources. According to the Department of Defense, petroleum-based liquid fuels accounted for over 70 percent of the group's total energy usage in 2010. Everything from ground vehicles and aircrafts to base generators uses a form of fossil fuel, but the military intends to change that.

Recently, the AP reported that Purdue University will be working in conjunction with the U.S. Navy to discover better ways of using alternative power sources. It is all part of a green energy initiative that hopes to convert half of the Navy and Marine Corps' energy to alternative sources by 2020. The military and Purdue University plan to meet that goal using increased levels of biofuel, energy conservation methods and technological innovations.

Recently, the Military Times reported that the Department of Defense has announced several plans to further increase renewable energy use and energy efficiency by 2025. Devices such as solar cells, electric combat vehicles, solar blankets and solar panels are being field tested by soldiers every day to discover ways to reduce dependency on oil and other fossil fuels. 

The AP reported in 2012 that roughly 90 percent of the energy used by the federal government goes to military efforts. That equates to roughly 2 percent of the entire country's energy usage. Increasing renewable energy usage can save lives, and it can also reduce military spending.

For Marines and the Army, studying how to integrate women into ground combat positions without sacrificing certain service standards has been tricky. Ongoing studies and physical tests have shown that possible female ground combat candidates have struggled at times because of size and upper body strength limitations. However, the Marines are pushing forward in studying how women can be fully integrated into more strenuous combat positions in a few different ways, according to a Military Times Group report.

Several new open training options
The Marines are required to make a recommendation to the Secretary of Defense in Jan. 2016 regarding whether  all ground combat specialties should be open to women or if particular specialties should be closed for certain reasons. The recommendation comes just as the military intends to wrap up their Women in Service Review.

As part of the research, numerous training options have been opened to female troops over the past week. For example, next week women marines will be able to volunteer to participate in seven new ground combat training schools including specialties such as:

• Machine Gunner
• Mortarman
• Infantry Assaultman
• Anti-Tank Missileman
• M1A1 Tank Crewman
• Assault Amphibious Vehicle Crewmember
• M60A1 Tank Crewman

Additionally, the Marines' Infantry Officer Course experiment has been opened to female company grade officers instead of just entry-level officers. This means female lieutenants and captains will be able to test their ability to complete the course. This change is intended to bring more women to the course to study female effectiveness in ground combat positions. According to the Military Times Group, the Marines intended to have at least 100 women attempt the course within a three-year period. Currently, only 20 women have attempted the course, which has a failure rate of 25 percent for male officers. So far, none of the female volunteers have passed.

Keeping a high standard of physical ability
According to Col. Anne Weinberg, deputy director of the Marine Corps Force Innovation Office, the physical fitness test score is important in recognizing ground combat readiness.

"Based on historical evidence, successful completion and injury mitigation has a stronger correlation with a [high] first-class PFT score," Weinberg said, according to the Military Times Group.

Many proponents of female ground combat integration do not believe in compromising any of the physical standards, which sets a challenging precedent for women. In many training camps potential servicemembers are required to hike with full packs – which weigh roughly 100 pounds – and complete grueling exercises that test upper body strength. 

Marine Lt. Col. Michael Samarov – a member of a planning group that will be taking 160 women across the Sierra Nevada mountains, Mojave Desert and Pacific Coast beaches to complete training exercises – believes women can meet standards and improve combat outcomes.

"Male and female, the task has got to be the same. Combat readiness will not be compromised," Samarov said, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting. "If we get this right, combat readiness will improve. We're not going to lower standards."

To increase security and provide increased reconnaissance concerning groups of Islamic extremists in the region, U.S. forces have raised the number of drone surveillance flights over Iraq, according to an article published by Military.com. 

President Barack Obama has authorized the buildup of 775 U.S. troops in Iraq, of which roughly 640 servicemembers have arrived in the region. Instead of relying on ground forces, however, Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that armed and unarmed drones would be flown over Iraq.

Increased security measures
"We continue to fly both manned and unmanned aircraft over Iraq at the Iraqi government's request predominantly for reconnaissance purposes," Kirby said. 

Although most of the drones are unarmed, some have been equipped with Hellfire missiles to protect the U.S. embassy and the airport in Baghdad, according to Military.com. Additionally, Kirby told reporters the armed drones were being used for increased security for other reasons.

"The reason that some of those aircrafts are armed is primarily for force protection reasons now that we have introduced into the country some military advisors whose objective will be to operate outside the confines of the embassy," Kirby said.

According to Military.com, the number of unmanned drone flights over Iraq has increased from roughly 35 per day to gain intelligence about the developing threats presented by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces to 50 flights per day. Additionally, the 775 troops sent to the area have been charged with providing increased security at the U.S. embassy,  installing Joint Operation Centers in Baghdad and advising Iraq's security forces. They are not meant to serve in ground combat. 

"We're taking a very measured, deliberate approach," Kirby said.

A build up of troops, but no plans to deploy
The 775 soldiers are a tiny portion of the 31,000 troops and sailors within the area, according to Military.com. U.S. forces have deployed aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and several other commissioned vessels into the area, yet there is no assault plan ready unless U.S. territory is threatened.

According to a report by The Associated Press, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said that no assault against Iraqi insurgents will be made unless those forces become a threat to the American homeland.

Instead, Dempsey said that he does not believe a strong U.S. military force is necessary to bolster Iraqi forces in battling the ISIL insurgency. The general conceded that U.S. military action could be a future possibility, but encouraged a higher focus on political reform within the country instead.

"I think the situation demands first and foremost that the Iraqi political system find a way to separate the Sunnis who have partnered now with ISIL, because they have zero confidence in the ability of Iraq's politicians to govern," Dempsey told reporters, according to the AP.