In the trenchesU.S. military looking for ways to lighten the load infantrymen carry on missions
Typically, an infantryman on a three-day mission will carry 80 to 100 pounds and often more, when the weight of the weapon, night vision equipment, extra batteries to power the advanced equipment, and body armor are added to the burden. When it comes to a one day combat patrol, the weight carried drops to a “mere” sixty-five pounds.The effects of such a burden not only slow the warfighters down, they reduce agility and my result in log-term harm. The military is looking for ways to lighten the load.
Anyone who has been a member of an infantry unit, Marines, or Army, can describe what it means to go on a three day reconnaissance mission. They will describe the difficulty of navigating unfamiliar terrain, and the maintenance of silence lest their presence is made known to enemy forces. They may also tell you of the backpacks they carry.
The array of equipment, munitions, food, and water that can be stored in a backpack can be surprising, but there is an often unmentioned side effect of the range of items that are borne by infantry troops when on a three-day mission. That side effect is the weight of the pack.
Typically, an infantryman will carry 80 to 100 pounds and often more, when the weight of the weapon, night vision equipment, extra batteries to power the advanced equipment, and body armor are added to the burden. When it comes to a one day combat patrol, the weight carried drops to a “mere” sixty-five pounds.
The effects of such a burden not only slow the warfighters down, they reduce agility and result in fatigue, joint sprains, or long-term ailments like arthritis or chronic back problems. The military has long been aware of the drawbacks, but did not have a method.
To determine how to reduce these hazards, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has presented the Marine Corps with a 3-D computer simulation program that measures equipment weight, distribution, and effects on body mechanics and individual warfighter performance.
The program called Enhanced Technologies for Optimization of Warfighter Load, ( ETOWL) and its support software to be delivered to the Gruntworks Marines Expeditionary Rifle Squad, which focuses on individual mobility. Gruntworks, established in 2007, serves as a “workshop” to test existing and emerging equipment that would help infantry Marines. Once given to the Marine Corps, ETOWL will be renamed GruntSim.
The University of Iowa’s Center for Computer Aided Design, developed GruntSim. When handed off to the Marine Corps, its design software (called the SANTOS human simulation environment) will be made available to the academic community to access free of charge from the center’s Web site.
Users can create a Marine avatar from one of the one of seven Marine body types, load it with as much or as little equipment as test parameters require and run it through a virtual obstacle course featuring different warfighting scenarios. A color-coded system, ETOWL measures the stress placed on each avatar’s joints, as well as its measuring balance, flexibility and center of gravity.
Using the data from the virtual tests, the Marine Corps can quickly design real-world prototypes for testing by live Marines.
