The effects of weather and terrain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The effects of weather and terrain - Essay Example The nature of a given terrain is likely to affect the visibility of certain areas. For instance, highly mountainous areas may not be easily to view. As a result, commanders may need to apply technology to enable viewing of such areas and make their operations possible. Similarly, some areas tend to have very tall trees and thick vegetations which are likely to hinder the visibility of a given region1. Due to the challenges presented by this type of topography the commanders should invest in technology that enables them to avoid such challenges, for instance, satellite. Invisible regions of electromagnetic continuum, magnetic forces as well as radiations affect the means of communication in the context of war. For instance mountainous areas may affect the issue of communication network. In such a case, military commanders are likely to face challenges when giving orders to their forces. As a result, the concept of airmobile has been introduced to overcome the challenge of such terrain s. The transportation of war materials and troops is highly affected by the topography of an area. For instance, areas surrounded by oceans, that is, islands will not favor on-ground transport such as trains. Similarly, landlocked regions do not allow movement of troops by the sea or ocean. Moreover, mountainous areas require physically fit soldiers who can operate in such areas. This is because; the challenge lies in transporting the soldiers up and down in such steep and varied terrains areas as suggested by Keating2. During the civil war, maps on the topography were regularly supplied in order to make operations of the war possible. This is because the presence of inaccurate maps would proof a challenge in planning and coordinating the operations of the war. However, knowledge of topography ensured the union blockade of ports, control of the Mississippi river and control of higher grounds.