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March 19, 2003

Get Over the Moon, Already

One of Steven Den Beste's readers laments our decision to launch war during a full moon in Iraq, arguing we shouldn't give the Iraqi army an advantage if we can fight in the dark.

Quick news flash: the U.S. Army relies on moonlight to see at night, too. While the thermal sights on many vehicles (particularly the M1 tank and M2 Bradley) do allow units to target forces at night with zero ambient light, the same is not true of the rest of our night vision devices.

Both the night sights used by ground troops and the night sights installed in armored vehicles are not thermal sights, but ambient light enhancement devices. Therefore, they are of marginal utility during operations when the moon is new, or not up at all. With a full moon, the devices are excellent, and allow troops to see almost as clear as day. But this misguided notion that NVGs turn night into day regardless of other conditions is utterly false. A full moon may give Iraqi forces some advantage, but it will give our troops corresponding advantages. Since we train to fight at night and they don't, the balance will be firmly in our favor.