*Disclaimer: You guys are about to see that I have no idea what I'm talking about but going forward with the "there are no stupid questions" motto. National defense is obviously such a huge slice of the budget. Some expenditures are necessary while other segments are likley wasteful. In addition to evaluating how to spend money on national defense more effectively, do we (or can we) have communication regarding the new inventions/technologies created by our national defense over to the private sector? Today's "American way" for corporations is to maximize profits with a lesser focus on R&D for future growth. If industry experts could have representatives to evaluate new technologies created by our national defense, could it be a way for the private sector to "buy" patents from the government and get a running start on their R&D? Does this already happen to some extent? On my drive home yesterday, this thought popped into my head and (on the surface) appeared to be a good way for the Fed Govt to make some money (by selling patents/technology) while also spurring growth in the private sector.
Not just Defense but federal research spending in its entirety. Universities and federal agencies develop new technologies all of the time. One of the keys to getting these grants is to have a technology transfer plan to get new technologies out to industry through partnership, marketing, company incubation, or privatizing non-profit research groups into corporations. University research is where most technologies are developed for rapid transfer to industry along with scientific federal agencies like NASA and the US Geological Survey. The problem with Defense research and especially with deep black intelligence research is that it is highly classified and dangerous in the hands of enemies. We are WAY ahead of the competition in this area, but we can't show our hand too soon. In this fashion we developed stealth technology, secretly manufactured several squadrons, and had them operational for years before the world knew they existed. In fact those F-117's are all now retired and obsolete and our enemies are just now getting stealth aircraft operational. Defense research spins off technologies regularly but the primary emphasis is not technology transfer. Deep Black research is working on God-knows-what but research projects and top scientists expert in anti-gravity, zero-point energy, neuroscience, particle beams, and teleportation seem to drop off the research horizon, even though they are apparently extremely well-funded, and they never publish a thing. Any breakthroughs will be held secret until the entire military is upgraded and ready to defeat all comers in the new technologies.
Just a thought. During my F-15 Training, I saw two unique plans. F-22 with a tail flash of 1991 and a UAV with a tail flash of 1990....... These were flyable working models......
in "my family is cool" news: my brother in law is career military, first served in kosovo while a college student, now he is 40 years old and a colonel. he has been to iraq and afghanistan rough 900 times each. he is a former green beret and airborne and a ranger and pathfinder and a bradley fighting vehicle guy and some sort of high up guy in intelligence. my sister was furious because he always volunteers to take a position that sends him to war, and was mad psyched because recently he was given a job safely directing drones from america. the family was pumped, no more war for my bro. but that crazy mofo got a chance to command a battalion with 82nd airborne and took it. now he is a battalion commander of the 82nd (i dunno hw many battalions make up the division, maybe around 8 to 12 or so?). that means a return to war is far more likely, but he doesnt care. that dude is badass. also the most soft spoken person i ever met.
Wikipedia says a battalion can consist of anywhere from 300 to 1200 men. Several battalions (usually 3) form a regiment (or brigade), and usually 3 to 6 regiments form a division. That's a lot of lives to be responsible for; very badass indeed.
