Military

Military personnel participating in basic training and operational deployments often encounter heat stress that requires management for missions to be successfully accomplished. Excessive heat stress degrades mental and physical performance capabilities and potentially causes heat casualties.

Humans can tolerate extended exposure to any naturally occurring climatic heat stress if they are heat acclimated, given adequate shade and water as well as the ability to limit physical activity. However, military situation can involve heat stress conditions so severe they cannot be tolerated for extended periods. In addition, training and mission requirements that demand intense physical activity can lead to dehydration and make successful heat stress management very difficult. These include:

  • Deployment in desert or tropical regions
  • Operating combat vehicles or equipment under adverse climatic conditions
  • Wearing protective gear in high temperature environments
  • Working in engine or boiler rooms or other enclosed conditions

Temperature has provided the "best" single physiological measure
to estimate physical work capabilities during hot or cold weather operations; however, temperature values vary depending upon the measurement site.
BTT™ now eliminates the variability and provides the means to reduce
heat-related underperformance and casualties.

Army hospitalizations from heat casualties averaged ~60 per 100,000 soldier-years during the mid-1980's and averaged ~35 per 100,000 soldier-years during the late-1990's.

Heat casualties are more frequently seen during intense advanced training and operational settings. During combat operations under hostile conditions, the mission requirements, supply problems and physical condition may seriously impede a leader's ability to manage heat stress.

If not adequately planned for, the treatment of heat casualties may be delayed compared with what is possible during training. In such settings, medical officers are likely to see greater numbers and more severe types of heat casualties with a higher frequency of complications as compared to what occurs during well-supervised training in peacetime.

(The preceding is excerpted from the US Army Technical Bulletin "Heat Stress Control And Heat Casualty Management", 2003)

The application of BTT™ technology in all aspects of military operations enables
real-time remote and non-remote continuous monitoring of temperature.