It began, key participants say, with the Americans confidently assuming that they could intercept enemy communications and predict enemy movements.
The biggest fight taking shape was around Kandahar, where marines and allied commandos sealed roads and scouted for enemy movements.
They can chat more easily with them than the drone crews, which are based in the United States, to position the spy gear and interpret data about enemy movements.
In the American civil war, for example, both North and South put observers in tethered balloons to scope out enemy movements.
They also said questions were raised about whether the soldiers deployed there had received proper support -- not only construction supplies to build defenses, but also surveillance aircraft to warn of enemy movements.
Everywhere the marines fought, Navajo code-talkers, under fire, hoarse, tired and thirsty, were vital in victory, directing fire, calling up reinforcements, evacuating the wounded, and warning of enemy movements.Gratitude came slowly.
Since the opposing fleets would close with each other at a relative 40 miles per hour, a scouting line had to be thrown out well in front to report enemy movements by wireless.
Dioxin was an ingredient in Agent Orange, the defoliant the United States sprayed across Vietnam in the hope that by stripping bare the country's jungle canopy, American troops could better detect enemy movements.
They argue that lightly armed soldiers, provided with real-time information about enemy movements and supported by precision air power, can replace heavy armor, especially against enemies who lack their own.
The top Air Force scientist, Dr. Mark Maybury, told Foreign Policy's Danger Room blog earlier this month that he would like to "see into the hearts and minds of people" with a kind of "social radar" that could provide advanced warning of enemy movements and other tactical intelligence.
