From his gift for stand-up comedy to his role as a nanny in "Mrs. Doubtfire," Robin Williams won the hearts and laughs of millions. But there's another side of the legendary actor and comic that some overlook. He was also showed incredible support to American soldiers.
Over a decade of performing for troops
According to Fox News, Williams participated in United Service Organization tours for over a decade, traveling to war zones in 13 countries and performing stand-up for nearly 90,000 troops. His respect for servicemembers of the U.S. ran deep, and he even spoke about his experience performing for soldiers in an interview with ABC News back in 2012.
"I'm so honored to meet them and know what they've gone through and say, 'Hey dude,' this is just something that really humbles me," Williams said, according to the news source.
Servicemembers remember Robin Williams
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel issued a statement Aug. 11, reading, "The entire Department of Defense community mourns the loss of Robin Williams. Robin was a gifted actor and comedian, but he was also a true friend and supporter of our troops. From entertaining thousands of service men and women in war zones, to his philanthropy that helped veterans struggling with hidden wounds of war, he was a loyal and compassionate advocate for all who serve this nation in uniform. He will be dearly missed by the men and women of DoD – so many of whom were personally touched by his humor and generosity."
Even off the stage during his USO tours, Williams showed his dedication to soldiers by visiting those who couldn't see his routine, according to ABC News' global correspondent Martha Raddatz.
"He would be tireless at these performances," Raddatz said in an ABC News report. "He would perform in the big shows where everyone could go see him, but when others were performing, he'd sneak away and go to the guard posts and the dining facilities to visit those soldiers and marines who weren't able to come to the big show."
The loss of Williams reverberated through every sector of the armed forces, even warranting a statement from President Barack Obama .
"Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between," Obama said "But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin's family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams."
The U.S. is slated to unleash an impressive new helicopter, called the "King Stallion." According to Foreign Policy, the King Stallion will replace older military helicopters like the Sea Stallion and Super Stallion. The source noted that the new helicopter may potentially be in use by 2019. Life after service for a retired military helicopter is quite unceremonious, according to the source, as they go to a boneyard to join other outdated military apparatuses. Regardless, military personnel may view the new innovation with anticipation, curious about what the future of military technology holds.
Stunning new innovations for King Stallion
"With its 88,000 maximum gross weight, powerful new engines, lightweight composite structure, new rotor blades and fly-by-wire controls, the CH-53K will have the means to move troops and equipment from ship to shore, and to higher-altitude terrain, more quickly and effectively than ever before," said Sikorsky President Mick Maurer, according to Foreign Policy.
Sikorsky is a company dedicated to building state-of-the art aircraft, helping the military pursue military objectives with vigor and success. The Marine Corps Times noted that the King Stallion will have new features that will display an aircraft significantly improved upon from previous military aircraft.
"We want to carry much more, carry it higher, operate at higher temperatures," said Sergei Sikorsk, according to the Marine Corps Times, "But we have the dimensions of the aircraft carrier, and that is the deciding factor. It is the one single engineering challenge to do the job, get the required performance, and get the aircraft small enough to go up and down the elevator."
Enormous effort behind King Stallion
The King Stallion will have to undertake innumerable exercises to ensure that it is primed and ready for combat – which helps explain why the helicopter will not be ready until 2019. The helicopter has lead to a high amount of expenditure. A total of $25 billion has been spent, including research and development, to help make sure that the helicopter is flawless come 2019.
Foreign Policy noted that the King Stallion will be indispensable for a number of reasons. A prominent reason is the helicopter's ability to carry heavy armored vehicles. The source noted that, just like updated helicopters, innumerable changes and updates are made to armored vehicles, leading to techniques to construct better vehicles being constantly refined.
Information is power, as the saying goes, and throughout history intelligence has often meant the difference between victory and defeat. Recently, the research and development of military technologies has relied less on firepower and more on innovative ways to give soldiers as much information as possible.
New technology from BAE Systems may offer the most cutting-edge example of information gathering and display seen yet. According to Military.com, the international defense contractor has begun field testing for a helmet-based heads-up-display system that would transmit real-time combat information to soldiers.
Advancing information technology
The display system, called Q-Warrior, would be easily installed on individual soldiers' helmets with a lens extending over the eye. Soldiers would then be able to view information overlaid onto landscapes, targets and anything else within their field of vision.
Military.com also explained that the Q-Warrior system may able to link with other intelligence gathering efforts, such as overhead reconnaissance planes and forward-staging troops. With information from various perspectives, soldiers may be able to use the BAE-developed technology to identify enemy targets hidden from their unaugmented view.
Gaining the upper hand
While BAE Systems hopes that the Q-Warrior technology will be standard issue equipment one day, the firm is currently testing it for use by troops normally tasked with missions that prize intelligence above all else, such as scouting or reconnaissance.
"The biggest demand, in the short term at least, will be in roles where the early adoption of situational awareness technology offers a defined advantage," Paul Wright, soldier systems' business development lead at BAE Systems, said in a statement. "This is likely to be within non-traditional military units with reconnaissance roles, such as Forward Air Controllers/Joint Tactical Aircraft Controllers or with Special Forces during counter terrorist tasks."
Wright also explained that because the Q-Warrior system is expected to link up to a wider network, troops may be able to use it as a navigation tool with waypoints and suggested routes mapped directly onto the soldier's field of vision. Extra features will also include night vision, thermal imaging and personnel tracking.
There is speculation that the Q-Warrior system could be integrated into the futuristic Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit explained by Adm. William McRaven, according to Stars and Stripes. The TALOS suit is expected to see deployment around 2018, though there is no word yet on the Q-Warrior systems' rollout date.
The U.S. military could soon be one step closer to making "Mission Impossible" a reality
The Pentagon and the Defense Advance Projects Agency announced in January that they have chosen technology firm IBM to produce processes that would render the mobile technologies used by soldiers in the field useless after the operational length of missions – or if they fell into the wrong hands, Military.com reported. Modern troops use mobile technologies in a wide variety of applications, such as GPS devices, smartphones and health monitoring devices. DARPA has titled the initiative the "Vanishing Programmable Resources" program.
"These electronics have become necessary for operations, but it is almost impossible to track and recover every device," DARPA officials said in a statement. "At the end of operations, these electronics are often found scattered across the battlefield and might be captured by the enemy and repurposed or studied to compromise DOD's strategic technological advantage."
The exact manner of how the electronics would be destroyed is still indeterminate, but DARPA's website lists a number of ways in which technology firms could go about it. Whether the device components are ecoresorbable (naturally decomposing into the environment) or implanted health devices that are bioresorbable (reintegration into the body) remains to be seen.
IBM was awarded $3.4 million for the VAPR contract.
The newest addition to the Navy's fleet of submarines, complete with all the bells and whistles, is set to begin testing.
The Department of Defense reports that the first of eight new Virginia-class submarines has completed construction and preliminary factory testing and is ready to stretch its legs in open waters. Construction was completed two months ahead of schedule, moving its estimated certification and delivery date up as well.
The new sub, christened the USS North Dakota, is the first of a new sub-section of the Virginia class. It features a host of technological upgrades including digital touch screens in lieu of mechanical controls and "photonics masts" instead of traditional periscopes, the Navy explains. The photonics masts are attached to the outside of the hull and contain high-resolution cameras that modify light sources to transmit a detailed, dynamic view of the sub's surroundings to the control room.
Still, the ship must pass a rigorous three-step testing process before being handed over to the Navy. Everything from its ability to dive and surface without incident to the amount of noise that escapes the dampening in the hull will be under intense scrutiny.
The submarine is being constructed and tested by Connecticut-based General Dynamics.
A study conducted by the RAND Corporation found that veterans and civilians who work as defense contractors in combat zones experience post-traumatic stress disorder at similar rates, The Washington Post reported. It is only the second study to focus on federal contractors in war zones.
According to the news source, 25 percent of defense contractors who worked in Iraq and Afghanistan have symptoms of PTSD, compared to 20 percent of veterans. Nearly half of the contractors abused substances such as alcohol, while 18 percent of the civilian employees had symptoms of depression. For servicemembers who fought in these wars, analysis from the Institute of Medicine show similar results, with 39 percent of veterans abusing alcohol and 37 percent testing positive for depression.
"The military has programs before, during and after deployment to help service members address deployment-related mental health problems," Carrie Farmer, a RAND health-policy researcher who co-authored the study, told the news source. "The majority of contractors we surveyed reported that they did not have access to similar resources."
While the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have resources for veterans with PTSD, defense contractors are not eligible for these health care benefits. Although the departments announced last August that they are investing $107 million into PTSD research, none of the research will focus on federal contractors.