[wastoute]

I have to say, when I got my EFMB I sloughed off training for the litter obstacle course. It is unbelievable how difficult that is. I was really unhappily surprised how quickly I went from “this is gonna be a piece of cake” to “OMG, how could I not have realized...”

The other stressor that I anticipated but nevertheless intellectual understanding and “being there” can be quite distinct entities. 15 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever it was at MOPP 4 in the tropics almost killed me and I was at peak fitness. It probably would kill me in 5 minutes today.

[coldflamingo]

Way back when, in the med bn at Aschaffenberg Kaserne I was tasked to set up the Expert Field Medical Course. I had one entire section ail at retrieving/extricating a casualty from o Tank, four female medics were unable to pull a crewman through the turret to safety, the majority of the males were able to do it on there own. I could not have run the Medical Platoon without our female medics and if I had to set up a field hospital I could depend on them to run it completely and competently, but I would have to detach a squad of males to handle any heavy lifting . Upper body strength is needed in the majority of the combat arms and, women, God Bless ‘em, do not always fit the bill.

[MrEdd]

We alternated between MOPP3 and MOPP4 for three days during Desert Storm. Fortunately we had been issued lighter British suits rather than American suits so while we melted in our own body heat the weight was a little bit less.