New technology has been able to produce better combat gear for American soldiers at the cost of taxpayers, according to an Associated Press article on Oct. 2. The new gear will save the lives of many soldiers because they’ll be able to see their enemy before they come.

“The ground soldier was perceived to be a relatively inexpensive instrument of war,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Brown in the article. Brown is the head of the Army agency for developing and fielding soldier equipment. What this quote means to me is that human life is cheaper than the money it would cost to fly a plane over a battlefield and drop a few bombs.

Now that uniforms and armor are getting more expensive, thanks to technology, maybe the government won’t send out as many troops or they will be more careful with the troops in dangerous situations. That’s what we can hope for, at least.

I know several men who have gone overseas to fight in Iraq. Some of them came back unscathed, only to be waiting for their next deployment date. Some of them have come back with injuries that make fighting in combat impossible. I have heard things that happen in Iraq that I would never want to experience in my life.

Ricky Alvarez, 25, was injured in Iraq by a land mine that blew up the truck in front of him. He watched five members of his troop blow up. A piece of Alvarez’s armor was damaged in the incident and he was told to pay for the damaged equipment.

This is not the first story of injured soldiers being charged for damaged equipment after the enemy had injured them. Maybe that is how soldiers were thought to be the most inexpensive instrument of war. They have to pay for any equipment that was damaged during an attack.

These men have laid their lives on the line for Americans and some have come back with injuries that make day-to-day tasks difficult. My friends have told me that they didn’t get a lot of the equipment and armor they really needed. Mothers, friends and other loved ones back home had to seek out these necessary items in combat. They had to spend money out of their pockets to buy and ship these items to their beloved soldiers.

Now there’s better equipment that’ll be available to soldiers so they can spot the enemy more easily and be able to protect themselves better. Will the soldiers be able to get their hands on this new equipment? Probably just the soldiers that have rich relatives or friends who are willing to shell out a pretty penny to get their soldier home in one piece.

I don’t think the soldiers are too thrilled about this new technology that may be coming their way within the next few years. If they get injured and damage the new equipment in the process, they may go into debt to pay back the government for the damaged equipment.

Soldiers have enough to worry about without having to think about protecting the equipment that is given to them while they are being attacked. The new technology for combat may not be such a good thing after all.

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