Military Strengths

impact on both military size and its organizationalstructures. For instance, Alexander the Great had to stayclose to his troops to dissipate orders. In contrast,Schwarzkopf was at his headquarters in Riaydh, SaudiArabia, miles away from the actual battlefield but stillmonitoring closely the entire war operations and at thesame time relaying commands to his commanders andsuperiors. Since the introduction of informationtechnology, information and communication systems haveallowed commanders to oversee large combat forcesoperating on multiple fronts.Information technology allows great freedom ofcommunication; however, it does not eliminate the elementof uncertainty in war situations. It can help indetermining what level of command deals with thatuncertainty. For instance, the adversaries and precedingcommanders of Napoleon had a

These troops operated in a decentralized manner,picking their own targets to attack and, using laser-spotting equipment, called in air strikes withoutrequiring approval through a long chain of command. Thedevelopment and deployment of information technology intimes of war, is seen as only a part of the bigger pictureof military operations and functions.Information technology is currently enabling themilitary to have greater flexibility in the way theyorganize their command structure (Goldman, 2004).“Information technologies facilitate more efficient anddecentralized command and control arrangements, allowinggreater flexibility in reacting to quickly changing battlesituations and a higher operating tempo” (Goldman, 2004,p.209).Advanced information technology especially in thecommunication systems, combined with innovativeorganizational concepts and designs has provided theUnited States military the current Revolution in MilitaryAffairs. A theory that seeks to exploit the advantages ofinformation technology, advanced weaponry, andorganizational concepts, given the United States militarya tactical advantage over its