Army Gives Its Official Support to the Time-Honored Practice of Field Napping

The U.S. Army's new health and fitness manual is officially endorsing an activity for sustaining mental alertness that soldiers have always practiced unofficially: nap time.

Whether they are sitting in the back of tightly packed military aircraft, Bradley Fighting Vehicles or resupply trucks, soldiers will always catch their Z's while they can, especially during lulls in continuous training and combat operations.

Now the Army's new field manual for Holistic Health and Fitness recommends that leaders create time for soldiers to take short naps during long periods of continuous operations when troops are getting less than six hours of sleep a night.

"When regular nighttime sleep is not possible due to mission requirements, soldiers can use short, infrequent naps to restore wakefulness and promote performance," according to the manual. "When routinely available sleep time is difficult to predict, soldiers might take the longest nap possible as frequently as time is available. During periods of restricted sleep … napping combined with appropriate doses of caffeine may help to sustain cognitive performance and alertness."

The new manual, dated October 2020, revises the Army's 2012 version of the manual to build "peak performance" in soldiers who "must be able to fight and win in both defensive and offensive operations that occur without notice."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/10/01/army-gives-its-official-support-time-honored-practice-of-field-napping.html

Facebook cracking down on QAnon and militarized social movements

Facebook is taking steps to hide content from groups affiliated with QAnon, a conspiracy theory that revolves around President Trump fighting a deep state that includes a secret global cabal of pedophiles.

The company announced in a blog post on Thursday that it will ban all advertising that expresses "praise, support or represent militarized social movements and QAnon."

It also announced that users who follow groups restricted under the company's past policies aimed at tamping down on conspiracy groups will see posts from restricted pages far lower down their news feed than before.

"On September 16, we started down-ranking content in the Pages and Groups that have been restricted but not removed. Now, people who are members of Groups that have been restricted and follow Pages that have been restricted, will see content from these Groups and Pages further down in their News Feed," said Facebook.

"We are taking steps to address evidence that QAnon adherents are increasingly using the issue of child safety and hashtags like #savethechildren to recruit and organize. Starting today, we will direct people to credible child safety resources when they search for certain child safety hashtags," the company continued.

Facebook has faced criticism for months over the widespread prevalence of conspiracy-minded groups on its platform, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic during which many right-wing conspiracy pages have spread disinformation about everything from the virus itself to the effectiveness of masks and the safety of vaccines.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/519084-facebook-cracks-down-on-qanon-and-militarized-social-movements

EXTENDING THE RANGE: MARINES SECURE MARITIME TERRAIN, DEPLOY ROCKET SYSTEM

OKINAWA, Japan –

U.S. Marines refined their ability to rapidly deploy to remote regional islands in order to control key maritime terrain as 3rd Marine Division and 3rd Marine Logistics Group conducted operations September 23 = 25 centered on the Okinawan island of Ie Shima.

During this operation, elements of 12th Marine Artillery Regiment partnered with Marines from 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion and U.S. Air Force Special Operations Squadron to develop the unit’s ability to rapidly insert and employ a range of military capabilities from remote islands within littoral areas of the region. Jumping from Air Force C-130s, Marines and Sailors from 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion conducted a high altitude-low opening jump to secure an airfield on Ie Shima. Once secured, an Air Force C-130 loaded with a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launcher landed and conducted a simulated precision-guided firing mission. Shortly after finding and destroying the simulated target, the HIMARS launcher reloaded and departed the island having completed its mission.

Simultaneously, Marines from Combat Logistics Regiment 3 and 9th Engineer Support Battalion, at nearby locations in Okinawa, established an expeditionary advanced logistics base and practiced the ability to resupply the forward-positioned element on Ie Shima. Their efforts included surface reinforcement and resupply of Ie Shima and tested the ability to move fuel ashore under expeditionary conditions. The exercise represented a step forward in demonstrating how III Marine Expeditionary Force units can leverage the unique capabilities of joint partners in rapidly dispersing to and operating from key maritime terrain, sustain these distributed positions, and quickly displace or withdraw as necessitated by the tactical situation.

“Today’s mission provided us an opportunity to work with the Air Force, and it's also an opportunity for reconnaissance elements to integrate with the HIMARS launcher and its crew,” said Marine Capt. Robert O’Neill, a platoon commander with 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, and Brookville, Maryland native. “The training we’re conducting is helping us enhance and expand our concepts of employment and increase our ability to conduct distributed maritime operations.”

The reconnaissance platoon, which boasts more than 700 jumps in a tactical environment among its current members, served as a key enabler for the operation by conducting a low-signature insertion and ensuring the security of the airfield. The employment of C-130s to quickly transport the HIMARS extends the range and efficiency with which the Marine Corps can employ missiles and rockets, increasing the lethality of the force.

https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/2367711/extending-the-range-marines-secure-maritime-terrain-deploy-rocket-system/