Maj. Jose Javier Rodriguez, U.S. Marine Corps
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John awoke early; he had been fighting this war for two weeks. A few things ran through his mind as he got out of bed.
He wondered how his Great-Uncle Mark had dealt with the stresses of war. Having fought during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, his great-uncle indeed went through a lot. He wondered how much more physically demanding the battlefield had been then. His great-uncle had led a tank battalion during the 2003 invasion and was nearly killed by small-arms fire; that was forty-seven years ago. Things were different now; a battalion is not what it used to be. Today, a battalion is technically more significant than in 2003. Now, it is made up of only robots controlled by humans, and a typical battalion would obtain objectives historically reserved for much larger formations, which many believed was an added advantage to using robots controlled by humans who were located far away from harm’s way. Additionally, these battalions have unmanned aerial vehicles, tanks, and human-like robots attached. And, of course, this is just the land domain.
John was glad things had changed. His father, Javier, had predicted that war would change with the advancement of technology. John remembered that when he was around five, his father often talked about robots fighting wars and humans no longer needing to fight physically. He knew his father had been partially correct; robots were fighting the war, but humans maintained control. Given the stresses of combat, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. He wished his father had been more right so that he wouldn’t have to face the horrors of war firsthand.
John knew this was no time to mentally obsess on the country at war. He determined he needed to get his head in the game before returning to headquarters to continue fighting this war. As he began to plan his day, he quickly glanced at a picture of some of his Intelligent Tank (iTank) robot battalion assets but was interrupted by a phone call. He looked at his phone, and it was his mother. As she often did since the war started, she was calling to check up on him. The questions were the same, a testament to her unwavering concern for his well-being. “How did you sleep?” “What time are you reporting in for duty?” “Is war becoming too much for you?” “How are you dealing with the stresses of war?” “Why did you not become a drone operator like I wanted you to so that you would not have to see the horrors of combat?”
John’s mom would end by saying, “I will stop by this weekend to drop off a home-cooked meal to help you focus on fighting this war.” Today was no exception, but another call interrupted her phone call.
It was Thelma. Thelma was a planner at headquarters, and she wanted John to make his way to headquarters quickly. John asked what had happened and Thelma explained that headquarters had lost contact with an Intelligent Marine (iMarine) battalion. John thought of his friend Matt who oversaw the iMarine battalion and had done exceptionally well. John knew Matt from their days in college, when both excelled at virtual reality video games. Both had been recruited because of their virtual reality video game abilities, and both could count only a handful of times they had lost in a virtual reality video game.
Reflections on War
John dressed quickly; luckily, his apartment was a short fifteen-minute drive from headquarters. John enjoyed headquarters, which was in San Diego, California, at the southern tip, and headquarters overlooked the Pacific Ocean. As he drove to headquarters, John wondered what had happened to the iMarine battalion. He knew the iMarine battalion was operating out of Tasmania to block enemy forces from accessing the Pacific Ocean through the Tasman Sea. Securing this route would serve two purposes: it would facilitate operations in Jakarta, Indonesia, where John’s battalion would operate in the next few days, and it would prevent enemy forces from reaching the California coast, where John’s headquarters was located.
John knew enemy forces were capable of reaching the California coast if not impeded. Still, he also knew that sensors would have picked up any enemy movement well before they could reach the coast. He also knew that once detected, the United States could target enemy forces around the globe. Additionally, during the race toward artificial intelligence, the enemy (China) had opted to integrate man and unmanned teams more closely. This meant that humans had to operate closer to the actual scene of combat action.
In contrast, John could fight a war from California. The war was fought like a virtual reality game, and virtual training that the U.S. military services had conducted for years helped improve the military’s skills. Still, instead of an imaginary game, John and others controlled actual robots in combat deployed at great distances from the San Diego headquarters. John felt his ability and headquarters’ ability to operate away from the scene of action provided the United States advantages, such as minimizing casualties and using smaller-size units to achieve objectives because of the ability to replace robots via sea or air quickly.
As John continued to drive, he focused on the upcoming tasks and trusted that Thelma and Matt would figure out what had happened to the iMarine battalion. John decided to replay the last battle he had fought to determine how he could improve and best prepare for the upcoming fight. He was determined to break the events from the previous battle into three phases to reflect on the action.
First, he recalled loading his battalion of iTanks onto an Intelligent Ship (iShip) at the San Diego naval port. The plan was for the iShips to move past Hawaii into the Tasman Sea and secure Tasmania. Securing Tasmania would provide a base of operations, and a secure Christmas Island would set the stage for conducting an attack on Jakarta, Indonesia. John’s battalion was part of the primary attack to remove Chinese forces from Jakarta. In synchronization, there were two other forces operating at the same time: one was conducting a demonstration near the Coral Sea, and the other force was a demonstration north of Papua New Guinea. These demonstrations were meant to deceive the Chinese into believing the attacks would come north of Australia and present multiple dilemmas.
The second phase was to secure Tasmania. He recalled that it was odd that the iShip had dropped off his iTanks along Badger Beach, increasing the distance his iTanks had to travel to their objective (Devonport Airport). John thought it was odd and wondered how the iShip had calculated it. John had discussed this with Dom, who oversaw the maritime domain, but Dom had chalked it up to a data input error. John had been concerned, especially since he had lost signal with his battalion while transitioning through the Tasman Sea and did not regain signal until the iShip’s arrival at Tasmania. However, Dom and others had reassured John that his battalion was on the iShip that had not lost contact. Soon after, it was discovered that Northdown Beach was, in fact, closer to the objective and would have saved a significant amount of time. On the other hand, John was able to manage the landing, and he moved his iTanks to the objective.
John recalled using his assigned unmanned aerial vehicle to oversee his entire iTank battalion scattered along the beach. He kept this view until his iTank battalion approached the airport, at which time he switched from his UAV view to his iTank view to monitor the movement and narrow in on the heaviest fighting. When John switched to this view, he first noticed the lack of clarity; his view appeared foggy, but the weather was clear. It was as if something was causing his sensors to present a distorted view, displayed regardless of the iTank he chose to use as his main view. John reported this to Adam, one of the commanders on duty at the time. Nevertheless, John and Adam determined that this would not stop John from accomplishing his mission, and they thought nothing further.
Also, as John’s iTank battalion approached the airport, John thought it odd that no other robots were found, and there were no signal-producing units on the ground. But he decided to deploy his ground iTroops to secure the airport itself. As he deployed his ground iTroops, he switched views again, and now he could see from his lead iTroop. As his iTroops entered the airport, they quickly came under fire. Shortly after receiving fire, one of his iTroops identified a human being; John switched views once more.
His iTroop had identified a human attempting to surrender. John quickly took over and through the iTroop, he interrogated this human, whom John believed was a Chinese troop. John found talking to this Chinese troop simple; he would use the iTroop to translate everything John said into Chinese. When the Chinese troops responded, the iTroop would translate it back into English for John. The Chinese troop was nervous, and he informed John that he had been recruited into the Chinese military a few days before arriving in Tasmania. The Chinese troop explained that he and several others had been dropped off by a naval ship approximately a week prior and told to defend the island at all costs. The naval ship had departed, but he informed John that neither he nor anyone on the island knew to where the ship had departed, though they all assumed it went back to China to bring in more reinforcements.
John passed this information to the commander on duty at that time. Adam had conducted turnover with Melissa, so this new information went to Melissa. Later, John discovered that Melissa and headquarters had determined that the naval ship had departed toward Indonesia and possibly back to China. The determination was made because no enemy signals had been picked up east or northeast of Tasmania. Also, all the Chinese within Tasmania that provided information told the same story: all had been dropped off by a naval ship. The only notable difference was the time and date of the drop-off. There appeared to have been at least six drop-off dates, and—notably—humans manned these naval ships as opposed to robots.
However, not all went as planned. While John was interviewing the surrendering Chinese troops, his other iTroops attempted to signal him to confirm they were cleared to engage other Chinese troops within the airport. For example, one of the iTroops had identified a human woman within the airport and noted that she had an object and appeared to be holding a gun but was not shooting. The iTroops were programmed to raise awareness, wait for fifteen seconds, and, if no feedback was provided, decide on the next step. In this case, the iTroop determined the woman’s object was a gun and shot the woman. As the iTroop shot the woman, John switched views and saw the bullet hit and kill her. However, the woman was only a civilian holding a ticket scanner; the iTroop could not tell the difference, only that the woman had what appeared to be a gun but was not firing. John and headquarters had been lucky that this incident was not used to counter the narrative of using robots to minimize casualties on both sides. John also thought he could have stopped this if he had been quicker and not been distracted by the interrogation. He also thought to himself that he should have been a drone pilot so that he did not have to see the horrors of war because war is hell.
Once Tasmania was secured, the third phase involved reloading onto iShips and moving south of Australia to reach Christmas Island. Several actions would occur at Christmas Island. First, U.S. forces had to reinforce the narrative that they were only there to regain Indonesian sovereignty. After all, it was the Chinese that had invaded Indonesia. The narrative included pointing out that any civilian casualties resulting from this conflict were attributable to the Chinese alone. This was intended to counter opposing narratives promoted by the Chinese-controlled local media. Additionally, U.S. forces dropped leaflets via drones over Jakarta to let the civilian population know what was coming and to provide them with directions on where to evacuate to avoid the damage that was going to result because of the conflict. The instructions included instructions on how to surrender to the iTroops, hoping it would minimize casualties, including those such as the airport worker in Tasmania.
Second, Jakarta had to be isolated from outside influences. These influences were within space, cyberspace, the electromagnetic spectrum, and physical space. The isolation of the battlefield would be risky. This was the first time the battlefield would be isolated with only robots entering, and John knew that headquarters was unsure if the isolation would cause issues for their robots. Should this isolation also affect their robots, a decision would be made to enter the battlefield with only physical isolation but not within cyberspace, space, or the electromagnetic spectrum. Additionally, no humans were prepared to conduct such an operation should the isolation fail.
Arriving at Headquarters
John’s mind quickly shifted as he entered the front gate to headquarters. He realized he had been thinking about the upcoming battle but had not considered what to ask during the morning brief on the battalion’s status and the forthcoming operation. Every morning before he regained control of his battalion, he received a brief on their location and logistical status (battery status, fuel, etc.). However, today was different. He knew that no combat had occurred overnight and that his battalion would be waiting on Christmas Island. John’s battalion had been on the island for about twelve hours, waiting for all conditions to be set to conduct final operations. The diplomatic channels were also at work to give the Chinese one last chance to depart Jakarta.
John entered headquarters and was quickly met by Thelma. Thelma hurried John into the briefing room. Within the briefing room, the entire team was waiting for John, and the briefers were lined up, ready to brief. As soon as John sat down, the briefing started. First, Dom briefed that no enemy naval forces were located within the Pacific, and none had been identified near Christmas Island or Indonesia. The Chinese naval forces had retreated to the South China Sea to protect their territory. He also briefed that his iShips had encountered distorted views upon entering the Tasman Sea, and the distortion continued. Still, he was unconcerned, and the distortion would not prevent accomplishing the objective. Shameek briefed that no known obstacles would preclude operating within Jakarta. Eddie said his air component had achieved air superiority overnight and did not expect additional enemy drones within or near Jakarta. Eddie explained that his Intelligent Air (iAir) had fought a swarm battle, and his forces had come out on top. Eddie had guided his iAir to the location, and once the battle commenced, he could only watch from the camera view of one of the iAir drones.
Next, Kevin gave an intelligence brief and noted that no robot-human teams were expected at Jakarta. He also said that few humans were located within Jakarta, and most were in a naval defensive position within the South China Sea. Mike briefed space and confirmed that satellites were not picking up large enemy formations within or near Jakarta. Additionally, he reinforced that he took out the last Chinese satellite a week ago. Mike ended by reinforcing that the suspicious ships traveling south of Hanga Roa Island three days prior were cargo ships traveling toward the Panama Canal. Mike noted that his satellites had not clearly depicted these ships. Still, the Panama Canal had logged in several cargo ships traveling in the same direction and passing through the Panama Canal and into the Caribbean Sea. Kevin and Mike typically briefed together and reinforced each other’s battlefield analysis. In this case, they both concurred that several systems had been receiving distorted pictures. Still, there was no concern about accomplishing the mission, and they were expecting to regain contact with the iMarine battalion soon.
Next, Ben briefed the audience that the cyberattacks on the Chinese network were successful and that the attacks were able to take the Chinese network offline. Capone reinforced that the success of the attacks had helped ensure that the U.S. maintained the information initiative and narrative. Lastly, Fred briefed the logistical status. He estimated that each robot could operate for a week in Jakarta with the logistics currently available. Should additional logistics be required, his Intelligent Logistics (iLogistics) battalion was prepared to deliver additional ammunition and batteries for the robots. Fred would flow his logistical support through Christmas Island and to Jakarta should the need arise.
As Fred completed his brief, Melissa and Adam, the commanders assigned to this mission, entered the room. John knew that this was typical. Before a large operation, the commanders assigned to the mission would give their guidance. Melissa, the senior of the two, commented and explained that the forces had isolated the island, and that securing Jakarta was a go. She further explained that the political leadership was undecided on continuing operations or holding Jakarta, which would secure Indonesian sovereignty. Melissa further explained that soon, the decision would be made but the war would continue, and she expected the war to continue for at least another month. She closed by providing the two commanders’ schedules so everyone knew to whom to report concerns while fighting.
Conducting the Turnover and Questions for the Future
Once Melissa finished, John began to make his way to receive a turnover brief from Luke. Luke, Alice, and Andy were John’s counterparts. All four took turns controlling the iTank battalion. However, John knew that he had most of the responsibility, including doing the actual fighting. Luke did a quick brief and reported that the iTank battalion was still on Christmas Island, all systems were operational, and logistics were not a concern. Luke closed by stating that he had heard that the upcoming fight would be easy because there were minimal human enemy forces on the ground and no robots. Luke looked forward to returning to normal days and began to make his way out of headquarters.
John settled in and put on his headgear. He commenced his daily checks and verified that all systems were current. As he was finishing up, he heard a loud noise; he had not heard that sound before. Within seconds, he began to hear several pops, and as he began to stand up, Thelma ran up to him and yelled, “We are under attack!” She continued to run toward the exit. John was confused and did not know what to do.
Within seconds, John heard another pop, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He was now on the ground, and when he touched his chest, he felt a liquid saturate his hand; he was bleeding. The popping sound grew louder and more frequent, and he could see individuals running. Matt stopped and said something to John, but John was slowly fading. Matt yelled again and said, “These are Chinese troops; they must have gotten into the Pacific and California without being detected.” Matt knew he could do nothing for his old friend, and Matt ran in the same direction as Thelma.
John could do nothing but wait; he continued to hear shots and individuals running and pleading for their lives. As John waited, a flurry of thoughts flowed through his mind as he asked himself several questions. “How did the enemy reach the facility in San Diego?” “Were the systems compromised?” “Why did both he and the iShips receive distorted views?” “Had the enemy intersected the headquarters signal and traveled without a signal to headquarters?” “Why had Mike’s satellites not captured the movement of these ships, and did the ships at Hanga Roa Island have anything to do with this?”
Edging toward unconsciousness, he darkly mused further, “Was the iMarine losing signal caused by this force, which created a gap in coverage, allowing the enemy force to bypass all the sensors and go undetected?” “Had headquarters and John’s team become too comfortable thinking they were superior to the enemy force?” “How could they have closed gaps within cyberspace, space, and the electromagnetic spectrum?” “Was technology more valuable when the human is in or on the loop?”
Laying helplessly on the floor and staring out over the chaos and commotion, John looked out and could only see human Chinese troops clearing the various offices. Stunningly, there was no resistance—none of the personnel within headquarters had been trained in weapons employment, and many had never held a weapon in their hands much less used one.
Fighting to remain conscious and lucid to the last, John attempted to make use of his remaining time by sketching out a message of warning that he hoped might find its way into the hands of future U.S. Military and Department of Defense personnel, should any survive.
Maj. Jose Javier Rodriguez, U.S. Marine Corps, is a plans officer at I Marine Expeditionary Force, Command Element, G-5, and is a 2024 graduate from the School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His assignments include a tour in Okinawa, Japan, and he has deployed in support of the 11th and 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Operations Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom.
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