Soldier Protection Demonstration III - Field Testing and Analysis of Personal Cooling Systems for Heat Mitigation

Wearing body armor increases physiologic strain in Soldiers operating in warm and hot environments. This increased heat strain is due to inhibited air circulation to the torso and increased insulation. Microclimate cooling systems MCCS are used to mitigate these problems in a number of situations for the mounted Soldier, such as helicopter flight crew or armored vehicle crew. The U.S. Army is actively pursuing candidate MCCS that can be used by the dismounted Soldier. The Product Manager for Soldier Survivability PM-SSV requested the Soldier Battle Lab SBL of the U.S. Army Infantry Center, Ft. Benning, conduct a Soldier Protection Demonstration. The principal focus was to collect user input evaluations of commercially available lightweight MCCS worn during routine dismounted activities. There were six critical operational issues addressed 1 Does the system affect the Soldiers core body temperature 2 Does the system affect a Soldiers ability to fight 3 Does the system affect Soldier protection 4 Is the system suitable to wear in an operational environment 5 Is the system compatible with current weapons and equipment and 6 Does the system affect Soldier mobility Two candidate personal cooling systems PCS were selected for the demonstration based on the main parameter of being lightweight. The demonstration was conducted in the desert at Ft. Irwin, CA, during daytime hours in late August 2007. Soldiers were divided among three, 4-5 member teams, and each team was scheduled to test a different randomly assigned PCS configuration each day. The volunteers completed five events each day. These events were compatibility testing, individual movement technique on an obstacle course, a road march, a vehicle patrol, and a live fire exercise.