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Byron Harris: An enemy among us |
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Official site: Warfighter Fatigue Countermeasure Program |
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Official site: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research |
Posted on 03/25/2003 3:32:10 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Sleepy soldiers face serious dangers in Iraq
03/26/2003
“Nap early. Nap often.”
For Col. Gregory Belenky, it’s his battle cry.
As the top sleep researcher at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., Col. Belenky preaches the importance of a well-rested fighting force.
“We like to think of sleep as a logistical element of re-supply,” he said, calling a little shut-eye as important a commodity to troops as fuel for their tanks and ammo for their rifles.
So when news images from Iraq show bleary-eyed troops barreling through the desert for hour after restless hour, Col. Belenky worries that some commanders may not realize the threat chronic fatigue may pose to the operation.
“There is no way to measure how much sleep people are getting,” Col. Belenky said. “Probably the reality is that some units take this into account in planning and focus on it. Others just hope their personnel get some.”
Those fighting on the front lines would seem the most vulnerable to sleep deprivation, but Col. Belenky said he’s more concerned for the soldiers driving the tanker trucks – not the battle tanks.
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The U.S. military has been studying the effects of sleep deprivation on combat troops since the early 1950s, and the potentially deadly consequences of fatigue have long been realized. Sleepy soldiers have been shown to suffer lapses in attention, judgment and memory – symptoms only compounded by the inherent stress of combat.
The chances for everything from traffic accidents to friendly-fire incidents go up with every hour of sleep lost.
“In peacetime, we don’t think very much of it. But in wartime, it becomes a front-burner issue,” said Dr. John Caldwell, principal research psychologist for the Warfighter Fatigue Countermeasures Program at Brooks City-Base Texas.
Dr. Caldwell’s research focuses on military aviators who are especially at risk, flying long hours in cramped quarters where any mistake could prove fatal for those in the air or on the ground.
“The other day I heard people (in Iraq) were going three days without sleep and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, that’s a bad situation,’” Dr. Caldwell said, adding that research indicates people become “significantly impaired” after 40 hours without sleep.
“It really is up to the individual commanders to monitor their people and make sure they watch for signs of fatigue in their troops,” he said. “There is no fuel gauge on people’s heads.”
But even that soon could change, thanks to Col. Belenky’s work to add physiological feedback to the U.S. soldier’s basic uniform.
“Image 10 years from now, commanders have on their displays … biomedical status unit by unit, soldier by soldier,” Col. Belenky said. “The system the soldier wears will have a computer, GPS, communications and biomedical status assessment.”
Col. Belenky envisions a type of smart suit that will automatically register a soldier’s pulse, respiration, hydration level and sleep status, allowing commanders to easily identify whole groups of soldiers who may be on the brink of exhaustion.
A prototype “Sleep Watch” capable of monitoring an individual soldier’s sleep pattern and providing basic biomedical information is already in testing. But until that advanced technology is available to the rank and file, more conventional techniques are in use to keep tired troops on their toes.
Soldiers are encouraged to wash their faces and brush their teeth as a form of refreshment during the most difficult hours, which tend to be between 4 and 6 a.m. Bright lights and brief periods of exercise also help invigorate a weary warrior.
Col. Belenky said ground troops are known to make a paste of Tasters Choice coffee mixed with water, cocoa and sugar for a potent anti-sleep concoction. The military has considered dispensing caffeine-laced gum with soldiers’ meals.
In the most dire of circumstances, pilots have been instructed to take low doses of what Dr. Caldwell called “alertness-promoting compounds” such as amphetamines to fight fatigue, although the practice generated controversy last April when two sleepy U.S. aviators accidentally dropped their bombs on friendly Canadian ground forces in Afghanistan, killing four soldiers.
Lawyers for the two Illinois Air National Guard pilots argued that the Dexedrine amphetamine their clients had been ordered to take during their mission may have clouded their judgment the night of the accident.
But Dr. Caldwell defended the practice when faced with the choice between pilots’ taking amphetamines or struggling to keep their eyes open while on particularly lengthy missions.
“I’ll fly with the guy on Dexedrine any day of the week,” he said. “We are always looking for better ways to help us remain vigilant in the combat environment.”
Still, the power nap remains the most reliable weapon in the soldier’s fight with fatigue.
“We spend an awful lot of time in preaching good crew rest, the importance of naps and the importance of getting that restful sleep,” Dr. Caldwell said. “Even naps 20 minutes in length can have a significant impact on alertness. Even a little sleep is better than no sleep at all.”
E-mail briananderson@dallasnews.com
This is platoon level wisdom...
That's very interesting. I've often wondered why a very short nap seems to do no good at all...on the other hand, if I nap too long, I can't sleep that night. I'll have to learn more about this.
Amen. I remember 20 minutes of luxurious sleep seeming like 2 hours had gone by. Walter Reed docs can preach all they want about sleep deprivation of less than 6 hours but that is just totally unrealistic to most soldiers in the field, especially for leaders. You can go alot longer and further than you realize when the adrenaline is pumping. Sleep is important and good leaders enforce it with adequate security posted when the situation allows it.
Running on adrenaline only may win a war but probably with more friendly fire mistakes.
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