This is a Netroots For The Troops Diary. We are nearing the goal of $50,000, but we are also nearing the end of the time to donate towards that goal. If you are able to, please donate today. The specifics for donating are explained later in this diary. I will personally donate at least $0.05 (five cents) for every comment made to this diary.
Today's subject: Military Animals
Many animals have been used by various military organizations over the centuries.
These various animals are employed to assist and protect the military in various ways. Humans have used the abilities of animals that exceed and complement the abilities of humans, such as: strength, extraordinary senses, swimming, or flying. They have been and are still used for everything from pack animals, to bomb sniffers, to mascots.
Although many animals are used by the United States military, this diary will primarily focus on the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program, based in San Diego, CA.
Here is a list of some of the many creatures that have been used by various military organizations over the centuries:
Homing Pigeons
Horses Elephants
Camels Mules
Pigs Oxen
Dogs Monkeys
Cats Rats (Gambian giant pouched rats)
Birds Chickens
Bats Insects (spiders and bees)
Sheep Frogs?
Dolphins and sea lions
Much of this list was found on Wikipedia.
US Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP)
The NMMP began in 1959 and is located in San Diego, California. They use primarily bottlenose dolphins and sea lions for underwater sentry duty, mine clearance, and object recovery. There is also research done, at the NMMP facility, to advance the health and breeding of the animals and to further the use of their special attributes for our military.
CARE & TRAINING OF THE ANIMALS
Feeding and Medical Care
There are full time veterinarians on staff, with someone on call 24/7 so that the animals are always fit for duty. The diets of the animals are carefully monitored to ensure they get the best nutrition. Part of the training is conditioning to cooperate when examinations are given, which can include anything from very basic checks to drawing blood, and even ultrasound scans. NMMP is a member of, and accredited by Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International, which means the animals are cared for at a level above what is legally required.
Training
Training is an important element a Navy animal's life and is used to achieve the remarkable behavior the animals perform in the open ocean. The Program uses the proven techniques of operant conditioning, especially the use of positive reinforcement. Training also supplements husbandry and care practices, and provides the mental and physical stimulation that contributes to overall health and welfare of the animals.
There will be more information on training later in the diary, in in the Research section, under the Dolphin Breeding Program heading.
Retention
The animals are released in the open ocean many times during a normal month, and over all of the years the program has been in existence only a few of the animals have not returned. The loss of those few may be due predators, since there is more danger from predators than from the work they do for the NMMP.
Moving the Animals
Various methods are used to move the animals where they are needed. The primary determinant in choosing which method is used is the distance to be traveled. “Over short distances, animals are trained to either swim alongside a small boat or to ride in the boat itself. For long distance trips, animals can be transported by sea in large naval vessels or by air in planes or helicopters.”
To read more about the accommodations for traveling dolphins and sea lions, see the next to the last item in this FAQ page at this link.
RESEARCH
There is a great deal of published information that has been generated from the research that has been done with the Navy's marine mammals. Much of the research has to do with protecting the animals in terms of their over all health and welfare and the continuation of the species. The Navy, and also visiting scientists, have learned many things about marine mammals through the various research program at NMMP. The research has included a broad range of topics including: hydrodynamics, sensory systems, anatomy and physiology, health care, behavior, reproduction, telemetry, open sea operations, and environmental ecology.
Environmental Compliance
The oceans of the world are home to marine mammals as well as other forms of marine life. The Navy needs to operate freely in that environment to ensure National security. At the same time, the Navy respects the need to preserve and protect the environment. New systems and various forms of Naval activities must follow environmental regulations just like everyone else. Scientists in the NMMP are the Navy's marine mammal experts. That is why we, more so than ever before, are active in and frequently called upon to provide technical support for environmental compliance and guidelines for Naval operations where wild marine mammals may be present. Here, our scientists, trainers, and engineers make a major contribution toward protecting life in the world's oceans.
Bioacoustics
According to Merriam-Webster online, bioacoustics is a branch of science concerned with the production of sound by and its effects on living organisms.
The dolphins have very sensitive, sophisticated natural sonar; with this ability they easily able to perceive the objects in their environment, even in murky waters. Dolphins are chosen for the bioacoutics research because no other animal has quite the same ability.
“The NMMP Biosonar Program has two main efforts: 1) the development of a biosonar measurement tool (BMT) and 2) the design, fabrication and testing of a prototype dolphin-based sonar (DBS) as a test platform to evaluate various biomimetic signal-processing strategies gleaned from the BMT.”
The BMT is a dolphin-wearable computer that collects the emitted clicks of the animal and all the returning echoes during a free open-ocean target search and detection task. The BMT has an on-board 9-degree of freedom inertial navigation system that collects the animal's position and movement in three dimensions and is earth-referenced using a differential GPS.
If you want to know more about the biacoustics research, it is the second bold heading at this link.
Other
NMMP is concerned about more than the just animals they work directly with.
Combining the extensive animal health database maintained by the NMMP and the frequent deployment of animals around the world, NMMP scientists are also investigating the possibility of our dolphins acting as environmental sentinels to monitor the condition of the world's oceans.
Hearing/Noise Research: NMMP works primarily with dolphins and beluga whales, in a manner that is safe for the animals, to predict safe levels of man-made noise for marine mammals that live in their natural environment, as well as the animals in the Program.
Mammal Immune Systems:
Research on marine mammal immune systems, the development of DNA-based vaccines, and the assessment of risks that may be posed by various infectious diseases are critical to the health and operability of the animals.
Support Systems for the Program
In addition to the personnel that train and care for the animals, there are other groups of personnel that are an integral part of the program, two are noted here: System Engineers And Maintenance Depot Personnel.
Systems Engineering: An expert group of engineers maintains continual vigilance on hardware to ensure the efficiency and safety of current hardware and enhance the operational capabilities of the system.
Maintenance Depot: There are materials and equipment that need to be keep ready for use, especially when there is a deployment. The storage and maintenance facility known as the Depot provide equipment needed for operation of marine mammal systems. The Depot is operated by experienced who prepare for an exercise or operation and ensure that all the equipment is properly maintained to enhance mission readiness.
Dolphin Breeding Program
Artificial insemination research that takes place in San Diego has a goal of worldwide genetic diversity in bottlenose dolphin breeding programs.
The primary reason the dolphins are bred at NMMP is to replace aging animals in the program, without taking animals from the wild.
When they are old enough, the young dolphins have training in some basic activities until they are old enough for the training involved to become a full working member of the team. The early training for the young calves includes teaching them how to follow small boats and how to slide out of the water onto beaching trays. During this period, the calves will become familiar with things in their surroundings and that will will be a part of their daily life as adults. They spend time around boats with motors, and divers in various gear, like wet suits. A little later, they will learn about wearing special equipment, leaving and returning to the familiar enclosure area. They will swim, for short periods of time, in the open water, and do a beaching exercise into a specially designed boat and going for a ride.
DEPLOYMENT
The Navy does not now train, nor has it ever trained, its marine mammals to harm or injure humans in any fashion or to carry weapons to destroy ships.
This link is to a map that shows places, all over the globe, where various teams have been deployed.
References and Credits
All of the quotes in this diary are from the NMMP site.
This is only an overview of the Program, if you would like more information, with numerous photographs, here is a link to the NMMP site.
There is also information on wikipedia, which includes additional references.
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Now the specifics about the Netroots For The Troops 2009:
This is how we are coming towards the goal.
Our goal for Netroots For The Troops 2009 is $50,000.00 (cash or in-kind donations).
PLEASE DONATE HERE
We realize that you would like to donate something tangible to go inside the packages that will be mailed to the troops. Unfortunately, accepting in-kind donations from individuals is not practical in terms of storage and handling of the items. The Pittsburgh Convention Center is a union shop so we have more stringent rules that need to be followed. Instead, we will only be accepting corporate donations or cash from YOU to purchase items for the care packages this year.
Here’s how YOU can help:
- Please contact TexDem or DonnaMarie if you know someone who might be helpful in securing the corporate in-kind donations. To help you think of companies who could donate products, see below* for a list of potential items. Put your thinking caps on and let us hear from you. It takes time to get through the corporate processes so we need to hear from you ASAP!
- We are accepting cash from individuals and
beg ask that you DONATE HERE to contribute to this worthy cause. Your donation will enable us to purchase the things that we are unable to obtain through corporate donations, and will help to pay the costs of shipping them to our troops. This year your donations will be tax deductible, thanks to Netroots Nation and their partner Netroots Arts and Education Initiative, a California 501(c)3 corporation.
- Sign up for a diary! Our goal is to post two diaries per day until NN09. That’s a lot of diaries! Don’t worry---we’ve made it easy for you. We’ve got a template set up, and all you need to do is add a small introduction telling us why you are donating, sharing a story of someone you know who has served or is serving, or any other thing you want to share that might help motivate others to donate. Please contact Donnamarie if you are interested in posting a diary.
- Do you know a service member who would like to receive a care package? Email a request to: NFTT.request@gmail.com before July 31, 2009.
Please include all of the following information. Unfortunately we will not be able to process any incomplete requests:
Rank:
Last name:
First name:
APO Address Line 1:
APO Address Line 2:
APO Address Zip:
- Write letters to be included in the packages! Our own jlms qkw is collecting the letters and will print them out and bring them to Pittsburgh. Just email your letter to her jlms_qkw@yahoo.com. Look for more information from jlms qkw soon. If you need some ideas, rbutters wrote an excellent diary with tips on how to write letters to troops and why it’s so important to them.
- Help us assemble the packages in Pittsburgh. It's fun! More information will be forthcoming for those of you who are going to be in Pittsburgh and would like to help there.
- Please consider joining the NFTT FaceBook Group. Invite your FaceBook and non-FaceBook friends.
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*The following list contains some of the things we would like to include in the packages. Please let us know if you know someone who might be helpful in securing these corporate in-kind donations. (Please DO NOT send these items yourself! We have no way to accept them. Instead, your cash donation is the very best way to help make this happen on the ground in Pittsburgh.)
- Baby wipes
- Mechanix gloves
- LED flashlights
- Gel shoe insoles
- Goop Cleaning Gel
- Powdered energy drinks
- Gel energy food packets
- DVDs and CDs
- Letters to the soldiers
- More suggestions coming soon
Books for Soldiers
Soldiers love to receive books, but due once again to the logistics of collecting and storing them prior to NN09, books will not be included in the packages that NFTT will put together this year. Other organizations are more specialized in the collection and distribution of books to Iraq and Afghanistan. If you are interested in sending books, please consider checking out the Books for Soldiers Website. It is run by DKos's very own StormBearand is a great resource for giving.
Important Note about Successful Online Donations
PLEASE DONATE HERE
When you make your online donation, the screen indicates that you are donating to Netroots Nation. This is the right screen! Rest assured all donations WILL go to NFTT. If you wish, feel free to use the comment area provided to note that your donation is intended for Netroots For The Troops. It isn’t necessary to do this however, as this is the only fundraising activity being conducted for Netroots Nation at this time. For further information about online donations, please read TexDem's diary on the subject.
Update 07/08/09
We have our first deep discount of a product. Our LED pinch-light flashlight. Princeton Tec, through Hit the Trail Wilderness Gear and Nature Goods, a hiking store in Newnan GA, are providing us a discount for the top of the line "Impulse".
If you need hiking gear, please support Robbie Hinley online via, Hit the Trail. Spread the word.