Those of us without a direct connection to the military do not regularly stop and consider that much of the technology that impacts our daily lives has its genesis in the military. Today's soldier is a walking network of systems, connectors, sensors, and communications capabilities that define the concept of the internet of things. A well-connected, well-informed, lighter-loaded soldier of the future means the internet will be part of a soldier's uniform, as well as his or her weapons and other equipment. With everything active online, troops will be able to generate a complete picture of the battlefield down to the level of the individual soldier. Advances in soldier technology touch everything needed to protect ground troops: think power solutions, vision technologies, communications protocols, encryption, miniaturization, high bandwidth. All of this is networked into the intelligent fabric of the soldier's uniform. Wearables, anyone? The Greater Boston community is fortunate in that many of these technologies are developed and integrated here as part of the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center and the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The community also has many strong defense contractors that develop technologies to improve the effectiveness of our freedom defenders. Demonstrations and presentations at this event explore one of the most sophisticated networked systems of our time: the Connected Soldier. (Photo: [Defence Images/Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/5036619838/in/photolist-8F4ZB5-7PNKsn-7PRXDY-agg5Ro-fZeNqG-dBrc8m-4nN12t-o6ivAa-rBkpEN-fZeCYK-o61wpb-kF5dfv-kF5qTB-kF4K8B-o6kb5q-wg7LSr-fZeMyS-fZfcUn-fZeJfM-fZfc4z-fZeM5p-nc5kFA-nc2f7M-nc23HK-nc2Z12-cBcFXu-n9ZyJu-n9YXQR-nc5nxS-nc2iBR-cBcPRA-n9YQAA-n9Z8gL-bvPRi9-nc4ekG-4DADvn-bnHYX4-bD5XKt-bJJLGt-bJJLnv-bvPZU5-bJJKQK-bJJKzV-bvQ15u-bJJLUT-bJJLLB-bJJKsn-bJJLqD-bvPZxm-8TJFDL "Defence Images"))
