Analytical Support Services for the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense (USAMRICD) Edgewood Area, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
Abstract
Due to the thermal stress induced by intensely hot environments, military operations conducted in these environments are difficult and demanding. The extreme thermal conditions found in deserts, for example, force soldiers to drastically alter their modes of operation. Here, heat stress and dehydration become real threats to the ability of troops to operate. The US Army's medical community, through the Program Office for Physiological and Psychological Effects of the NBC Environment and Sustained Operation on Systems in Combat has pursued various avenues in an effort to determine the extent of the Army's thermal stress problem and to develop ways of minimizing that problem. A recent attempt was the conduct of a Detailed Equipment Decontamination (DED) test, in which soldiers decontaminated chemically dirtied vehicles according to procedures outlined in Technical Manual FM 3-5. At the test's beginning, subjects ingested radio pills which tracked biomedical parameters -- core temperatures, skin temperatures, and pulse rates. The purpose of the test was to evaluate, under realistic conditions, the DED operation as a complete system. Eleven issues were addressed; these involved the interactions and effects among the human element, doctrine and eguipment. The issue of relevance to this analysis is thermal stress as it relates to a DED operation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA392357
Entities
People
- Donna L. Bareis