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March 24, 2001
   
One question infantry officers frequently get asked by their troops is why they can't use their cell phones in the field. The answer, quite simply, is that there are no transmission towers out in the boondocks where training is conducted. While there is cell phone use in some urban battlefields where the cell phone facilities still survive, a "combat cell phone" (CCP) has to be more self contained. So, late in 2001, the US Army will test a "soldiers cell phone." Actually, the device will be more like a cell phone/PDA/GPS device. It will use the Linux operating system and use coded signals to connecting with other CCPs in the area. In effect, the CCP will automatically create a network when ever two or more of them are within range of each other. It will be a few years before the devices are debugged and issued to the troops.