Peacekeeping: The Invasion Of Haiti

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20100128.aspx

In the past, civilian disaster relief workers generally had better gear than the military, because the main source for the civilian relief workers was the commercial market, which moved faster with innovations than the military. However, in the past decade or so, that has changed. The major source of that change has been the U.S. military, which has been increasingly rapid in its adoption of civilian gear and, more importantly, improving and adapting it for military purposes. This has encouraged civilian firms to develop new items for military use, knowing that it was more likely that the military would buy the new gear. For example, a GPS guided parachute system was developed, to provide accurate drops of military equipment. The military quickly bought this one, but the system is also very useful for disaster relief, and even some commercial applications.