In a nuclear battlefield, the concentration of forces into a spearhead would present a perfect target for the employment of tactical nuclear weapons. A single well-placed weapon could break up the attacking forces before they even had time to properly prepare, causing enough casualties to make them ineffective even in the defence.

This is the type of equipment it was expected an infantryman attacking an irradiated zone might need to push forwards after the employment of a tactical nuke on an enemy formation.

https://taskandpurpose.com/tech-tactics/army-soldier-future-1959-video/

Jeep mounted Davy Crockett tactical nuke:

  • @[email protected]English
    2•11 months ago

    I like how most of this is fairly reasonable, then right at the end out of nowhere it’s just a jetpack.

    Also any idea what “welded” boots means?

    • @FireTowerOPMEnglish
      2•11 months ago

      Well obviously you’d need a jet pack to jump over the nuclear craters you’ve just made.

      When they say welded, they don’t mean welded in the way you think. What they mean is molded combat boots. Directly molded soles were much stronger than stitched soles and much stronger than glued soles. This was relatively new and fancy at the time and made for super tough boots. We’d begin to see molded boots become the standard in Vietnam, so I guess this prediction was dead on.

      https://www.youwillshootyoureyeout.com/2022/08/15/1959s-future-g-i-concepts-how-close-were-they-by-travis-pike/