Iraq: the environmental challenge to HM Land Forces

Booth, Thomas C.

doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.8-4-399

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…As previously utilised on operational deployments [8] an investigational review board consisting of a total of eight clinicians and non-clinicians was convened and approved the final study protocol. …”

Section: Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Administration of Exercise and Dietary Supplements in Deployed British Military Personnel During Operation TELIC 13

et al. 2010

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This is the first study to investigate the use of exogenous nutritional supplements within the British Military and has identified their widespread use during operational deployment. The use of anabolic steroids is particularly worrying, given both their illegality and their well-recognised and deleterious health effects. There is a need for greater awareness and education regarding potential benefits and dangers of supplement use in order to maximise any potential benefits and minimise clinical risk.

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Section: Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Administration of Exercise and Dietary Supplements in Deployed British Military Personnel During Operation TELIC 13

et al. 2010

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“…Over the last two decades, many Western militaries have conducted land-based campaigns in climatically-severe regions (World and Booth, 2008;Cox et al, 2016a). These operations frequently evolved into mature missions allowing for targeted physical training prior to deployment and large-scale graded acclimatization practices upon arrival to operational theaters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat Adaptation in Military Personnel: Mitigating Risk, Maximizing Performance

2019

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The study of heat adaptation in military personnel offers generalizable insights into a variety of sporting, recreational and occupational populations. Conversely, certain characteristics of military employment have few parallels in civilian life, such as the imperative to achieve mission objectives during deployed operations, the opportunity to undergo training and selection for elite units or the requirement to fulfill essential duties under prolonged thermal stress. In such settings, achieving peak individual performance can be critical to organizational success. Short-notice deployment to a hot operational or training environment, exposure to high intensity exercise and undertaking ceremonial duties during extreme weather may challenge the ability to protect personnel from excessive thermal strain, especially where heat adaptation is incomplete. Graded and progressive acclimatization can reduce morbidity substantially and impact on mortality rates, yet individual variation in adaptation has the potential to undermine empirical approaches. Incapacity under heat stress can present the military with medical, occupational and logistic challenges requiring dynamic risk stratification during initial and subsequent heat stress. Using data from large studies of military personnel observing traditional and more contemporary acclimatization practices, this review article (1) characterizes the physical challenges that military training and deployed operations present (2) considers how heat adaptation has been used to augment military performance under thermal stress and (3) identifies potential solutions to optimize the risk-performance paradigm, including those with broader relevance to other populations exposed to heat stress.

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“…They will be encountered and overcome by the majority of personnel with no disease but some will lack the physiological reserve due to variation in genetic constitution (figure 1). Unchallenged in temperate UK, their vulnerability may become apparent in harsh operational conditions as has been found in Iraq 4 and Afghanistan. Existing diseases, such as diabetes, with the potential to compromise physiological compensation would put these personnel at increased risk in this situation and reduce their fighting capability.…”

Section: Environmental Conditions On Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%