Army Wants To Issue Smartphones To Every Soldier; Fort Bliss Testing For War Zone

The Army wants to issue every soldier an iPhone or Android cell phone ? it could be a soldier?s choice.

And to top it off, the Army wants to pay your monthly phone bill.

To most soldiers, it sounds almost too good to be true, but it?s real, said Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center. He said the Army would issue these smart phones just like any other piece of equipment a soldier receives.

?One of the options potentially is to make it a piece of equipment in a soldier?s clothing bag,? Vane said.

With the backing of officials such as Vane, efforts are underway around the Army to harness smart phones to revolutionize the way the service trains and fights.

Army-issued smart phones are already in the schoolhouse and garrison, in the hands of some students at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Fort Lee, Va.; and at Fort Sill, Okla., under an Army program called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications. CSDA?s next step, already underway at Fort Bliss, Texas, is testing for the war zone.

Read the full Army Times article here.