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Weight Of Combat Gear Taking Its Toll On U.S. Soldiers

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Weight Of Combat Gear Taking Its Toll On U.S. Soldiers

Carrying heavy combat loads is taking a quiet but serious toll on troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, contributing to injuries that are sidelining them in growing numbers, according to senior military and defense officials.

Rising concern over the muscle and bone injuries - as well as the hindrance caused by the cumbersome gear as troops maneuver in Afghanistan's mountains - prompted Army and Marine Corps leaders and commanders to launch initiatives last month that will introduce lighter equipment for some U.S. troops.

As the military prepares to significantly increase the number of troops in Afghanistan - including sending as many as 20,000 more Marines - fielding a new, lighter vest and helmet is a top priority, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway said recently. "We are going to have to lighten our load," he said, after inspecting possible designs during a visit to the Quantico Marine base.

Army leaders and experts say the injuries - linked to the stress of bearing heavy loads during repeated 12- or 15-month combat tours - have increased the number of soldiers categorized as "non-deployable." Army personnel reported 257,000 acute orthopedic injuries in 2007, up from 247,000 the previous year.
As injuries force more soldiers to stay home, the Army is having a harder time filling units for upcoming deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, said Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the service's vice chief of staff.

"There is no doubt that [in] our non-deployable rates, we're seeing increase," he said. "I don't want to see it grow any more."

The number of total non-deployables has risen by an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 since 2006, putting the current figure at about 20,000, according to Chiarelli. "That occurs when you run the force at the level we're running it now," he said.

"You can't hump a rucksack at 8,000 to 11,000 feet for 15 months, even at a young age, and not have that have an impact on your body, and we are seeing an increase in muscular-skeletal issues," Chiarelli told reporters last month.

The top U.S. commander for eastern Afghanistan, where the bulk of U.S. troops in the country operate, has issued a formal request, known as an operational needs statement, for lighter body armor for troops there. The new equipment, called a "plate carrier," would protect vital organs and weigh less than 20 pounds. It would not include additional pieces that troops currently use to shield sides, shoulders, arms, the groin and other areas - pieces that, with a helmet, weigh about 35 pounds.

Commanders would determine in what circumstances troops could wear the lighter gear, which would make it easier to maneuver when pursuing insurgents over rugged terrain at high altitudes.

"Our dismounted operations are occurring at very high elevations, 10,000 feet and higher, where the air is thinner and it is difficult already to maneuver. You add to that body armor, ammunition and the full load that soldiers carry - it is difficult," said a military official familiar with the request. "You are operating against an enemy that is very agile - running around in tennis shoes, if that - and they are fleet of foot and can move faster and elude us," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the request had not yet been approved.

Pietro Tonino, chief of sports medicine at Loyola University Health System in suburban Chicago, agreed that the loads troops carry would "absolutely" predispose them to muscular-skeletal injuries over time. "They will get stress fractures or overuse injuries of the back, the legs, the foot," said Tonino. "Recruits get these stress fractures in their feet all the time just from walking."

The military has added to its protective gear in recent years to guard against improvised bombs and other threats common in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that has come with a trade-off, as soldiers and Marines routinely carry more than half their body weight into combat.

Individual Marine combat loads - including protective gear, weapons, ammunition, water, food and communications gear - range from 97 to 135 pounds, well over the recommended 50 pounds, a 2007 Navy study found.

In Afghanistan, soldiers routinely carry loads of 130 to 150 pounds for three-day missions, said Jim Stone, acting director of the soldier requirements division at the Army Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Georgia. In Iraq, where patrols are more likely to use vehicles, loads range from 60 to nearly 100 pounds, he said.

"It's like a horse: We can load you down, and you just don't last as long," said Stone.

Injuries - the bulk of them muscular-skeletal - are the main cause of hospitalizations and outpatient visits for active-duty Army soldiers, leading to about 880,000 visits per year, according to Army data. The injuries include sprains, stress fractures, inflammation and pain from repetitive use, and they are most common in the lower back, knees, ankles, shoulders and spine. They are one of the leading reasons that soldiers miss duty, said Col. Barbara Springer, director of rehabilitation under the Army surgeon general.

The overall injury rate for active-duty soldiers has increased slightly to 2.2 injuries per soldier each year, according to Bruce Jones, director of injury prevention at the Army Center for Health Promotion & Preventive Medicine at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Jones confirmed that soldiers "are now carrying heavier loads on our back, so there is a greater opportunity for overuse injuries." And with the rapid pace of deployments, he said, "you get a chronic back injury, then you don't recover before the next cycle. ... You have to go back to theater 100 percent fit," able to wear the life-saving armor every day.

Sgt. Waarith Abdullah, 34, is struggling to recover at Fort Stewart, Ga., from a lower-back injury that he says was caused by the strain of wearing body armor for long hours each day during three deployments to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah's injury flared up painfully during his most recent 15-month deployment to Balad, Iraq, where he had to maneuver to search vehicles and stand for 12-hour shifts in guard towers.

"That takes a toll on you, because you have to maintain your center of gravity wearing all that stuff and doing your job," said Abdullah, of Miami, Florida. He wore a Kevlar helmet, body armor with four plates, a throat and groin protector, and shoulder pads, while carrying 10 pounds of ammunition, a rifle, a flashlight and other gear.

"At times, I did think the equipment we were wearing was heavier than usual, but I'm a soldier and I still do my job," he said. "I think it could be lighter and stronger at the same time."

During the deployment, Abdullah was allowed to go without armor for 30 days, but the pain returned when he started wearing it again. He returned last July to Fort Stewart, where he is in physical therapy. He is still unable to wear armor but hopes to recover in time for his next deployment.

Maj. Neil Vining, an orthopedic surgeon at Winn Army Community Hospital at Fort Stewart, said many of those sidelined have debilitating lower-back pain. "If their condition makes them a danger to themselves or others, if they couldn't wear their armor or extricate themselves or others from danger, then they are non-deployable," he said.

After two tours in Iraq, Staff Sgt. James Otto, an Army mechanic, has undergone nine months of physical therapy, traction and medication for back pain. He hopes that in three to four months he will be able to wear his vest again and switch to a different job so he can stay in the Army. In November, an Army board gave him a six-month probationary period in which he has to prove he can "wear the vest and shoot a weapon again," he said.

Further evidence of the frequency of the injuries, which have forced some to leave the military, has come up in studies of veterans.

Carroll W. McInroe, a former Veterans Administration primary-care case manager in Washington state, said he has seen such injuries in hundreds of veterans from today's wars. "Our infantry should not be going into battle carrying 90 to 100 pounds on their backs," he said. "The human muscular-skeletal system is simply not designed for that much weight, and it will break down over time."

Army experts say some units are adopting more strenuous exercise routines to prepare soldiers for the strain.

At Fort Drum, New York, the 10th Mountain Division readies its troops for Afghanistan using aggressive strength training. Command Sgt. Maj. Joe Montour said the training, which involves pull-ups and other drills while wearing full body armor, helped reduce injuries by 45 percent.

Also, the Army is now deploying a physical therapist with most active-duty combat brigades, said Lt. Col Nikki Butler, a senior rehabilitation specialist. And the Army recently held its first two-day summit devoted to tackling the issue.

"We refer to soldiers as tactical athletes," said Butler. "You want to help take care of them early so they can get back in the game."

Intellpuke: You can read this article by Washington Post staff writer Ann Scott Tyson, reporting from Washington, D.C., in context here: washingtonpost.com
Washington Post staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
 
Very informative ... this shows the hidden cost beyond logistics and ammo ... this cost doesn't end with the end of a soldier's career because that ex-soldier will depend on the DoD for his medical care etc for the rest of his life.

The US and the Allied forces have no other option but to wear the full gear ... otherwise imagine the number of dead and injured.
 
It is very difficult to move fast in mountains with 120 lbs extra load for soldier ,this is one main factor for their failure in Afghanistan where mountains average heights are 12000 fts serving talaban well.
 
97-150 pounds! That is hell of a lot.

We carried about 75-90 pounds of gear in the Stan, which is quite a load itself to carry while fighting, but over 100 pounds! That has got to decrease effectiveness especially in mountainous terrain. I suppose when you are going on three day missions you are going to need to carry more than what we did.
 
The US and the Allied forces have no other option but to wear the full gear ... otherwise imagine the number of dead and injured.

Well, I would say without gear they may not die due to combat but may not be willing to be deployed on risky missions or perhaps more men would be required to achieve the objectives.

"You can't hump a rucksack at 8,000 to 11,000 feet for 15 months, even at a young age, and not have that have an impact on your body''
How do they expect Pakistan army to over come those physical challenges with far less resources?
 
There was some embellishment there. Multiple day ops behind lines for SOF guys, yeah, they might be at 150lbs though they're not intending to move far with that. Set in, set up, and observe.

Most of the ops I've seen in the Korengal didn't have guys rucked out to the max. Reality makes clear what's needed and that's water, ammo, and batteries for the radio. Most of these guys intend on being back in their COP within 8-12 hours.

Altitude-not every fight is happening at 11,000 feet. Most of these battles take place at altitudes considerably more manageable, 5000-7500 ft. Not much happening above the tree-line and, least of all, people. All the serious action is down on the slopes and in the valley floors where the farms, villages, and people are living.

All that said, this is damned hard work. Life as a light infantryman, especially airborne, is limited-even without combat. It's hard to do a twenty year tour and not seriously fcuk something up on your body.

Calling these guys tactical athletes isn't far from the truth.

Shiny Capstar is correct. Most of these guys are moving with 75lbs or less. Humping 50-75lbs up and down shale and gravel trails, btw, is a BEAR.

I really wonder about the mentioned 150lbs. I ain't buyin'.
 
I really wonder about the mentioned 150lbs. I ain't buyin'.
You are missing the point which is the injuries due to accompanied gear i.e. mainly the rucksack.
as you said it can't be more than 75lbs than it is even serious because what more can they reduce?
There is a very simplified solution and i.e. why don't US army consider using mules to carry their 75lbs rucksacks?
 
"...why don't US army consider using mules to carry their 75lbs rucksacks?"

It is a solution but not nearly as simple or all-encompassing as you imply. There are plenty of circumstance where animals aren't going to be an asset though, in certain applications, I'd not be opposed.

At the moment of contact, they could be a real impediment if procedures aren't carefully worked. Guys and animals hurt and gear lost. Not good if not thought through carefully.
 

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