22 January, 2007

Are Soldiers not Human?

From this article on a special RFID tattoo ink:

The ink also could be used to track and rescue soldiers, Pydynowski said.

"It could help identify friends or foes, prevent friendly fire, and help save soldiers' lives," he said. "It's a very scary proposition when you're dealing with humans, but with military personnel, we're talking about saving soldiers' lives and it may be something worthwhile."

Excuse me? Did that person just imply that soldiers aren't human? I can't believe someone is considering tagging soldiers like livestock.

Via Bruce Schneier.

Elsewhere, apparently I'm not grateful enough. I suppose that's true; I'll have to work on that.

3 comments:

Jason said...

Well you of all people should know that the military only sees soldiers as commodities and not actual human beings. So his train of thought isn't unusual.

Toby Tripp said...

I never really got that impression while I was in. Some of the policies made it seem as though soldiers were seen as commodities, but I never heard anyone directly make the implication. After I left the military and entered the defense industry, the focus became about saving the lives of war-fighters.

I really hope that I'm misreading the person's statement, because it seems to make a very dangerous implication.

Jason said...

Well maybe it's my time around the military as a whole and listening to the long drawn out stories of my mother and father complain about their various situations. But I always got the impression that the military sees its soldiers as commodities. That's probably why I never succeeded in the military as well.