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Jill Haram
SPSL 331
Jessalyn McGuire
2 May 2017

Weather Conditions in the Army

Planet Earth is blanketed with a variety of ecosystems, landscapes, and

continents that all contribute to a wide range of weather environments.

Humans inhabit this planet and survive in the weather conditions where they

find most comfort. In a time of war, neither the allies nor the enemy chooses

where an area of conflict occurs. Because of this, the United States Army

operates in a variety of training sites and deployment areas with extreme

weather conditions that effect the soldiers body and performance. An

average soldier is threatened with multiple heat related injuries such as

dehydration, heat stroke, and heat cramps. On the other spectrum, in cold

weather the soldier is threatened with frost bite and hypothermia. Mission

effectiveness is essential to the United States Army and if a soldier is not at

their peak performance or readiness due to the weather conditions, the

execution of the mission suffers. Along with combat training that involves

tactics, weapon operations, and survival skills, soldiers are taught about cold

and hot weather injuries. They are taught how they affect the body, how to

treat them, and how to best avoid them.

There are a few different heat related injuries that have the most effect

on soldiers. The first is heat cramps. These are painful contractions in the

muscles that usually appear in the abdomen or the larger muscle groups of
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the extremities usually caused from a large loss of electrolytes when

sweating. Another injury is heat exhaustion which occurs when the

cardiovascular system is no longer able to meet the demands of the

exercising muscle and the peripheral tissue. This injury effects the soldier

just enough to inhibit the value of training but not enough to be treated by a

medic. However, a life-threatening illness is when the body temperature

reaches above 102 Fahrenheit. This is considered heat stroke. If a soldiers

tissue is damaged enough, this injury could lead them to being medically

discharged from the Army. One final injury, heat syncope, occurs at a lot of

training graduations and ceremonies because of the required standing and

pooling of blood in the limbs.

Along with the heat related injuries and illness, dehydration,

hyperhydration, and hypohydration can occur. Dehydration is the process of

losing water and can happen to soldier in cold or hot environments.

Hyperhydration is also known as water intoxication and can happen to soldier

who dont understand the water and electrolyte balanced system.

Hypohydration is a state of water deficiency. It causes a reduction in plasma

volume in the blood. This means there is less blood available for the muscles

and the heart has to work harder.

One other weather spectrums other than heat, cold related injuries

also take a toll of soldiers. Hypothermia is a condition when the core of the

body is below 95 Fahrenheit. A mild case if 90-95 Fahrenheit while a severe

case is below 90 Fahrenheit. Frostbite is another injury prone to soldiers.

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Frostbite is when the superficial layers of skin become frozen while

superficial frostbite is freezing of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Deep

Frostbite causes the most damage and is when the deeper structures such as

muscle, bone, and tendons freeze.

There are different training options that depend on a soldiers rank,

MOS, or branch. These training options range in locations and physical

demand. Basic Combat Training locations are mostly found in the southern

states. Although training takes place all year round, most soldiers attend

training during the summer months because of school. The southern states

typically host hot and either dry or humid weather in the summer. Some of

the training that can be strenuous and prone to heat injuries include road

marches with 40 pound ruck sacks, obstacle courses, physical readiness

training, shooting at the range, and much more. During training soldiers are

required to wear beads on their camel back water packs. Each bead

represents one full to empty camel back. The soldier moves a bead for every

camel back they consume. Additionally, the beads are blue, but if you were

effected by any heat injury, you became known as a, Heat casuality, and

would be given red beads so Drill Sergeants could enforce water more often.

After Basic Combat training soldiers either go to Advanced Individual Training

or Officer Candidate School where training continues. Both of these trainings

are offered in numerous states which are mostly in the southern states with a

few on the central east coast. A few advanced training school such as Basic

Airborne Courses, Air Assault School, Ranger School, and SAPPER Leader
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Course are offered to some soldiers. These are very physically and mentally

demanding schools that only advanced soldiers attend. A soldier in

attendance at these trainings need to be very careful and aware of the

danger of heat and cold related injuries and must take the correct protocol to

be at their peak performance. In fact, Scudder, the author of, Winning

battles with weather, says this, The 101st Airborne Division is developing a

more integrated approach to intelligence and weather team analysis and by

knowing what the mission goals and enemy situation are, we will be able to

provide useful products directed at exploiting opportunities presented by

atmospheric conditions.

Along with training locations and demands, the areas of deployment

usually host extreme cold or hot weather. For the War on Terrorism, soldiers

were deployed to countries of the middle east. Imagine how foreign that

weather is to soldiers and how intensely it can affect the execution of

missions. Missions in the Army are essential and a soldiers top priority.

Within the Warrior Ethos, the first sentences is, I will always place the

mission first. At training soldiers are taught these three things about

military operations or missions;

1. Heat illness is a threat to individual health and to military

operational success:
Each year an average of 2-3 Soldiers have died from heat stroke and
more than 1000 Soldiers have developed a heat-related illness that
required medical attention and/or lost duty time.
Even mild heat illness and dehydration can significantly degrade
performance:
2. Heat illness is preventable
The best solution to heat illness and dehydration related problems is
prevention!
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3. Training is required!
It is critical to be at top performance to execute a mission and that is
why avoiding heat and cold injuries is essential.

The Army takes training extremely serious. They have rules and

regulations for every little detail possible. One of these categories of rules

and regulations are called Heat Categories (chart can be found below the

reference page). These are written on a chart for soldiers to see at training

and can be found in specific Army regulation books. The heat categories

range from one to five, five being most severe. In Heat Category One, the

temperature ranges from 78-89.1 degrees Fahrenheit, there is no limit to the

work/rest ratio, water intake is half a quart per hour. In Heat Category Five,

the temperature range is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the work to rest ratio

is 50 minutes to 10 minutes, and the water intake is one quart per hour.

Furthermore, the chart breaks up work into the three categories of easy,

moderate, and hard. Depending on the heat category and type of work,

different guidance will be given. Charts for cold weather regulations are also

found on posts and at training sites and work in a similar fashion as the,

Heat Categories.

On the Armys website they teach about the importance of water and

daily requirements. Soldiers often fail to drink enough water, especially

when training in the heat. Water is an essential nutrient that is critical to

reaching your best physical performance. It is also important for good health

because it plays an important role in maintaining normal body temperature.

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The website also has an example of how much water an average sized

soldier should consume.

DAILY WATER REQUIREMENTS

Example for a 150 pound, active person:
Pounds of body weight: 150lbs.
Water requirement from below: (75% of body weight for an active
person): 112.5 oz.
Add for dryness of climate: +16 oz.
Add for strenuous exercise: + 16 oz.
Total per day: 144.5 oz.
Divide by the number of hours you're awake to find your hourly water
requirement: 144.5/16 = 9 oz.
Drink 50-75% of your body weight in ounces.
Sedentary people: 50%; Active People: 75%
(https://www.army.mil/)

Another requirement the Army enforces are arm emersions. According

to Degroo, Gallimore, Thompson, and Kenefick, the authors of, Extremity

cooling for heat stress mitigation in military and occupational settings,

recently the Army has developed an Arm Immersion Cooling System (AICS)

for use in military training environments. Extremity cooling in cool or cold

water can accelerate body (core temperature) cooling from 0.2 to

1.0C/10min. Arm immersion up to the elbow results in great heat loss and

may reduce cardiovascular strain by lowering heart rate by 1025 beats/min

and increase work tolerance time by up to 60%.

During training soldiers are taught how to react to fellow battle buddies

who are effected by the weather. For a heat causality soldiers are taught the

following four steps:

Step one: MOVE victim to cool location (e.g., shade, A/C car, building)
Step two: ASSESS victim to determine type of EHI
- Signs/symptoms
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- Hydration (550 cord) to check for hyponatremia

- Risk level (red beads or risk factors)
- Mental status (for heat stroke)
Step three: DECIDE which heat issue occurred and take proper
management approach
- Heat Exhaustion: rest in shade, rehydrate
- Heat Stroke: begin rapid cooling, evacuate immediately
- Hyponatremia: evacuate immediately
Step four: EVALUATE other Soldiers and adjust training as necessary
(https://www.army.mil/)

Bedno, Han, Cowan, Scott, Cavicchia, and Niebuhr are the authors of,

Exertional Heat Illness Among Overweight U.S. Army Recruits In Basic

Training, write that, Despite the knowledge known about risk factors for the

prevention of heat illness, there has not been a substantial decrease in the

incidence in heat stroke or heat exhaustion in the U.S. military. It is proven

that hot and cold weather injuries effect the human body if the proper

protocol is not taken. Soldiers in the United States Army are human and are

effected daily. It is important to know the proper steps to avoid the injuries

and the treatment if it does happen.

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Works Cited

Bedno, S. A., Li, Y., Han, W., Cowan, D. N., Scott, C. T., Cavicchia, M. A., &
Niebuhr, D. W. (2010). Exertional Heat Illness Among Overweight U.S. Army
Recruits In Basic Training. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine,
81(2), 107-111. doi:10.3357/asem.2623.2010

Degroot, D. W., Gallimore, R. P., Thompson, S. M., & Kenefick, R. W. (2013).

Extremity cooling for heat stress mitigation in military and occupational
settings. Journal of Thermal Biology, 38(6), 305-310.
doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2013.03.010

The Official Home Page of the United States Army. (n.d.). Retrieved May 01,
2017, from https://www.army.mil/

Scudder, S. V. (1998). Winning battles with weather. Military Intelligence

Professional Bulletin, 24(1), 26.
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