Posted on 02/12/2011 6:50:36 PM PST by Saije
Before venturing out on patrol in Iraq, Spc. Joseph Chroniger would wrap his upper body in armor, then sling on a vest and and pack that contained batteries for his radio, water, food, flashlight, ammunition and other gear. With his M4 rifle, the whole get-up weighed 70 to 80 pounds — and left him aching.
His body hurt the most when his squad came under attack and he tried to run or dive on the ground. His neck and shoulders would burn as if on fire.
Since returning to Western Washington 2 1/2 years ago, Chroniger has been diagnosed with bone spurs in the vertebrae of his neck caused by a degenerative arthritic condition. Sometimes, the pain is intense, and he dreads getting out of bed in the morning.
"This is ridiculous," Chroniger said. "I'm only 25 years old. Arthritis is supposed to happen when you get old. What's it going to be like when I'm 50 or 60?"
Chroniger's injury is a symptom of the overloaded U.S. combat forces that have served in the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In 2001, an Army Science Board study, noting that weight carried by soldiers could decrease mobility and increase fatigue and injury, recommended no soldier carry more than 50 pounds for any length of time. The Army chief of staff hoped to approach that goal by 2010.
But the loads combat soldiers typically carry remain far above that goal.
That weight has helped fuel an avalanche of musculoskeletal injuries that are eroding the combat-readiness of the military. Long after the fighting ends, injuries such as Chroniger's will remain a painful and expensive legacy of these wars.
• Nearly one-third of all medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 through 2007 resulted from musculoskeletal, connective-tissue or spinal injuries...
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
They are some tough bastards; God love ‘em.
My kit weighed easily about 70 pounds and I didn’t have to carry the real heavy stuff since I was never more than 100m or so from a Stryker.
I have some knee problems, but they tend to dissipate if I take chondroitin steadily for a few days. I really feel bad for the Afghanistan light infantry guys carrying all their gear up and down mountains. That’s gotta hurt.
Another reason to not allow women in combat.
War is Hell, the men that fight it NEVER get the rewards they deserve from those they fight for.
Well, he better not seek his Sapper, Ranger, and/or Special Forces tabs because he’ll be in a wheel chair when it’s through.
I suppose the question comes down to: which is the greater risk. Lugging all that stuff into combat and slowing yourself down, or going in lighter but more vulnerable.
I don’t know the answer. Might not hurt to get some sergeants together and see what they think.
“Chroniger’s injury is a symptom of the overloaded U.S. combat forces that have served in the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “
Arthritis is an auto-immune disorder. I don’t see how a heavy pack caused it. Aggravated it yes, but caused it?
That is an immutable Law of War.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is, but Osteoarthritis is not.
This is a hit piece from a very liberal source. The gear that soldiers and Marines carry is by far better than what what we had 10 years ago. Is it heavy? Hell yes it’s heavy. But the trade off is better survivability in combat. Up untill the last 4 years of my 22 year Marine Corps career the only thing our body armor would was good for was to stop grenade fragments. Now there are ceramic SAPI plate inserts for everything. The helmet is very much improved also. Ask any warrior in Iraq or Afghanistan about his gear and he will tell you it works. Screw this reporter, the only thing he has ever had to hump was a laptop and his Starbucks cup.
A large portion of injuries to our troops are injured in IED explosions where armor does them little good. However, in battle, I would bet that the armor has saved more soldiers than it has hurt.
I wonder how fedex and ups guys don’d die from lugging all their packages (up to 75 lbs, too) they have to each and every day.
But then, if we wrote a story on that, it wouldn’t get us any political points
“I wonder how fedex and ups guys don’d die from lugging all their packages (up to 75 lbs, too) they have to each and every day.”
The ones I see usually have a dolly or a cart. It’s not really the same thing, is it?
There are a lot of physically demanding occupations out there - free climbing 1000 foot cell towers, hanging iron 75 stories in the air, welding 200' below the surface on an oil rig, the list is endless. What does the author expect? Should the DOD research lighter gear made out of renewable resourced materials so the libs can say they have done their part to "support" our troops? What a bunch of hippy blow hard knuckleheads.
What I was thinking is this is not really that hard on a twenty something guy in peak condition to do for 3 or 6 years. But a laborer that does the same dam labor for 40 years is going to be chewed up like a piece of meat in a meat grinder. Or a professional athlete that retires at 40.
This particular guy with the bone spurs isn’t typical. However, my chiropractor told me its not uncommon for a 20 year old to have bone spurs in his neck if he’s a football player. Maybe this kid played football in highschool.
I’ve got problems with one knee, my lower back, left shoulder and my neck. I am on leave and will be retired 30 April. Carrying the weight in Iraq was truly a pain but someone had to do it. I’d do it again if I had to. Now I plan on carrying the weight of speaking out against the domestic enemies of our constitution.
Yeah, no matter how tough a man will break under these loads over time.
Women don't carry loads like that, ever.
I fully understand this weight injury problem because a full size Sousaphone (tuba worn on the shoulder) easily weighs as much as 55 pounds and the better the instrument, the heaver it is.
A highest quality Sousaphone with 4 valves can weigh up to 75 pounds. All of that weight is carried on one shoulder which twists the spine. While going through the U.S.Navy School of Music at Little Creek Va, I was carrying a Sousaphone on my shoulder up to 8 hours a day along with playing and taking lessons on a string bass.
I woke up one day partially paralyzed from the waist down with massive muscle spasms. I could barely walk even with extremely small steps. After two days, I was sent to the base hospital where I was given a massive injection of Cortisone directly into a vein.
At that time, Cortisone was a new discovery and touted to heal any and all injuries. The theory of injecting it directly into a vein was that it would spread throughout the body and go where ever it was needed. It was recognized as very dangerous if injected too quickly or too much at one time. It took over 15 minutes to SLOWLY push the large dose they gave me into my vein.
After it was over, they gave me pain pills and muscle relaxants and placed me on two weeks light duty where I wasn't allowed to even touch or pick up an instrument.
All together, I was treated four different times over a three year enlistment for my back problems which continue still today even though I've been out of the Army for over 44 years now.
I am permanently disabled due to my back problems along with a left knee injury and cardiac arythmias which popped up in the army. The cardiac arythmias are probably a result of the Cortisone injection damaging my heart.
I have had three major operations on my left knee resulting from the injury while I was in the Army. Normally if one is carrying heavy weights, they try to keep the weight evenly split across the entire body, front to back and left to right. A sousaphone is not evenly split weight wise in either direction. There is more weight up front due to the large bell and all of the weight is carried on the left shoulder.
All the muscles in the back and especially on the right have to overcome the uneven weight distribution which leads to severe damage over time.
I have several hundred bone spurs on my spine and six bad discs to go along with the spurs. It is normal as one ages to develop these problems but the abuse endured in the army greatly accelerated the problems.
I have never been either thin or weak and I have always been heavily muscled and more than strong enough to be able to handle a Sousaphone and yet I still suffered from it.
I am very glad for and proud of being in the Army and if I could do it all over I would do it again. I would just be wiser about the injuries which accrue without one being aware of the damage being done.
When we are young and healthy, we think we can do things and get away uninjured but that isn't true.
It became recognized that sousaphones presented a high risk of injury and in an effort to prevent the back injuries the manufacturers first went to thinner and lighter metal which didn't sound very good at all and then finally went to Fiberglass Sousaphones which were terrible.
No great sounding band would ever use the fiberglass Sousaphones and any tuba player who was any good would shun them like the plague because they sounded so bad. However, they became almost mandatory in grammar school and high school bands due to the back injuries suffered.
During my time in the 5th Army band at Ft Sheridan Illinois, the band used the fiberglass Sousaphones due to the large number of parades we marched in.
However by that time the damage to my back had already been done and the last year and a half of my enlistment was spent in the 74th Army Band at Ft Benjamin Harrison IN. (Uncle Bennies Rest Home) where we still used the metal Sousaphones for all our parades and outdoor ceremonies.
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