Healthy?

This is coolbert:

I have mentioned in previous blog entries that being in the modern military is inherently dangerous, even in peacetime.

Certain tactical operations and practices places the modern soldier at risk of loss of life or limb, even when not in actual combat.

Dismounted mechanized infantry troops afoot among moving tactical formations of tracked vehicles [tanks and Bradley type vehicles] stand a good chance of getting run over and killed if they do not keep their wits about them.

Crews on the flight decks of aircraft carriers while flight operations are actually occurring stand a good chance of being killed they are not alert at all times. [films have actually been taken showing how these flight deck crews protect themselves, consciously or not. Always operating in pairs, heads constantly swiveling around in all directions, alert for danger. Almost exactly the same behavior as seen in prey animals on the Serengeti in Africa].

Pilots of high performance aircraft and helicopters employing low-level flight [NOE] [nape-of-the-earth] stand a good chance of crashing and being killed if even the slightest degree of concentration is lost.

Night operations period pose a constant problem for all soldiers, regardless of their job. Accidents are a norm during reduced visibility, even for the most menial of military specialties. You can get run over or crash a vehicle in the proverbial heart beat!

There is also an irony here.

The military, even in peacetime, can be very dangerous for your health, but also can be very beneficial for your health!!

Many practices of the modern military are designed to produce a healthful soldier, resulting in a trooper who has generally just all-around better health than his/her civilian counterpart of the same age.

The modern soldier eats a more balanced nutritious diet.

The modern soldier engages in daily physical fitness training.

The modern soldier gets a full set of inoculations and keeps these inoculations up to date, and is mandated to do so!!

The modern soldier has medical care available on demand. Minor illnesses are treated to prevent a more serious condition for occurring. [by law, a member of the U.S. military CANNOT refuse medical care].

The modern soldier washes daily with soap and water. This of itself, the washing on a daily basis with soap and water, something that has become prevalent only in the last hundred years or so, is the single greatest advancement for the cheapest cost in health care period.

Preventative maintenance [constant cleaning and scouring] of living quarters [barracks] does away with dirtiness and uncleanliness that can lead to disease and just plain unhealthiness.

Soldiers engaging in unhealthful practices such as excessive drinking of alcohol, drug usage, overweight, etc., are given counseling and remedial treatment as required. Uncle Sam has too great an investment in the individual soldier to give up immediately with those troops that have run afoul of abusing their bodies.

All this contributes to having a soldier that is plain more healthier, robust, physically fit, less susceptible to illness. A person who when becoming ill, recuperates and recovers and returns to duty faster than would a civilian counterpart of the same age.

And there is historical precedent for this phenomenon of physical health among the military.

Archeological digs of grave sites containing the skeletal remains of Roman Legionnaires have allowed modern medical science to examine these remains of Roman professional soldiers and arrive at definite conclusions.

Roman Legionnaires had a better diet, better and more physical activity, and access to medical care in a way that the Roman civilian populace did not. The Roman soldier was just a more physically fit, healthy, and robust specimen that the rest of the population. Sounds familiar, doesn't it!!??

It seems that military medical care as practiced among the ancients was in many cases more skilled than we can appreciate. The ancient "doctors" knew how to treat wounds, set broken bones, open skulls [trepanning] to relieve pressure from blunt force trauma, use a variety of herbal medicines, etc.

[This PBS program on the Battle of Isandhlwana that was broadcast as part of the series "Secrets of the Dead" interviewed a Zulu isangoma [witch doctor], who described the process of opening the skull to release pressure caused by blunt force trauma. A correct opening of the skull by the witch doctor produces a "pssssst" sound as one would hear when opening a can of carbonated soft drink. Even the "primitive" Zulu possessed formidable medical knowledge of battlefield medicine].

There was an incident some years ago now that illustrates the superior nature of health as enjoyed by the modern soldier. An entire barracks full of Marines on Okinawa was engulfed by flames and an entire platoon housed in the barracks received severe burns. These Marines were treated and ALL survived, even thought some were severely burned. This survival rate was attributed to superior diet, physical conditioning, etc. Just plain superior health contributed to survival, faster healing and recuperation, etc.

And, among black American soldiers living on a military base, there is another healthful factor at work. Safety. Some staggering statistic exists that contrasts the safety enjoyed by a black American soldier and his/her civilian counterpart living in an "inner city" neighborhood. The soldier is forty times less likely to be the victim of violence or other criminal behavior. Except for alcohol, cars, and fights over women, life on a military base is generally very safe and almost crime free, albeit petty theft occurring as it does in civilian life.

coolbert.