Imagine living 300 years ago; darkness was an uncontrollable part of your existence. Barring a lantern, a candle, or the light of the moon, once the sun set, so did your ability to see.
Flash forward to the present day world; light is a permanent part of most environments around the world. It can be made at the flick of a switch or press of a button. Ambient lighting lines our city streets, shops, and homes. A world that was once off limits to us has changed so drastically we’ve coined a term for it: Light pollution… and it’s utterly changed not only the lives of humans, but of animals and ecosystems.
We care about this because we’re used to being able to see.
So what happens when we can’t?
Vision and Fighting
Our primary sense as a human being is vision.
Exploiting our adversary’s lack of ability to take in and process visual information is one of our major advantages in warfare. Night vision devices, thermal imaging, and the tactical use and depravation of light are all components of modern warfare that stack the deck in our favor. However, for the citizen who may find themselves confronted with low-light emergencies in a more ambiguous sphere of violence, these advances mean almost nothing.
Whereas military forces often have intelligence as to the type of threat they’re facing, technological superiority, and a network of support from close air support to casualty evacuation, the citizen has skill and wit. Why then has the use of light doctrine from the military sphere of violence been carried over to civilian training?
