Multiple sclerosis support - Cooling Vests in Iraq

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Cooling Vests in Iraq

GT Tick

2005-12-21, 5:59 pm

This is great, I'll bet it would work fine in a John Deere! And my cost
would be a tiny fraction of what the militaries would be.
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Soldiers Testing Cooling Vests in Iraq
Army News Service | Gary Sheftick |

December 20, 2005

WASHINGTON - About 500 liquid-filled cooling vests are now being tested
by Humvee crews in Iraq and Kuwait.

The vests are worn under body armor and a hose from each vest is plugged
into the Humvee's on-board air-conditioning system. Liquid from the
vehicle's AC system circulates through the vest, cooling its wearer.

The vests were developed by the Army's Tank Automotive Research,
Development & Engineering Center, known as TARDEC, in coordination with
the Natick Soldier Center. They were sent to Kuwait this past summer and
then forwarded to Iraq.

The Humvees with add-on armor were fitted with air conditioners after
TARDEC engineers in Warren, Mich., were given the requirement to figure
out how Soldiers in armored vehicles could be kept cool under the desert
sun.

Some of the same engineers had designed the add-on armor kits for the
M-998 and M-1025 Humvees in theater. But with the extra armor and doors
closed, temperatures inside the vehicles could reportedly reach more
than 130 degrees.

"It's like putting somebody in a toaster oven on low heat," said Charlie
Bussee, an engineer at TARDEC.

So the engineers began "backward designing" to fit an air-conditioning
system into the rear of the Humvees.
About 21,000 of the air-conditioning systems have been ordered for
Humvees in theater and more than 13,750 already have the AC systems
installed, Bussee said.

But even with air conditioning, temperatures inside the armored vehicles
could still reach 95 degrees in the sun, Bussee said. So something more
was needed.

Design of the vests actually began in the spring of 2004 said Brad
Laprise of the Natick Soldier Center in Massachusetts.
"We learned a lot about physiological conditions and cooling since
then," Laprise said.

Each Humvee cooling kit consists of four water-filled vests known as Air
Warrior Microclimatic Cooling Garments or MCGs. Fungicide-treated water
is chilled by the AC system in the Humvee and circulated through the
garment
A rapid-release system allows Soldiers to quickly disconnect the hoses
so they can jump out of the vehicle and keep the vests on.

"All of this was a logical extension of the armor and the heat issue,"
Bussee said.
For the collaboration between TARDEC and NATICK in developing the vests,
the two commands received the 2005 Research and Development Laboratory
Collaborative Team of the Year award by the assistant secretary of the
Army for Acquisition Logistics and Technology. The award was presented
at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in October.
Some of the vests are now being used by Soldiers operating ambulances in
theater, TARDEC officials said. Others are being used on convoys.

"Since we have had the vests, they have become increasingly popular with
the platoon," said 1st Lt. David J. Dixon Jr., 18th Airborne Corps, who
provided feedback via e-mail to TARDEC engineers. "They argue over who
gets to wear them. They wanted me to ask for more."

Operational assessments of the cooling kits are being made to gather
Soldier performance evaluations, TARDEC officials said.

*****Don't Cry Because It's Over...Smile Because It Happened.*****

Alex

2005-12-22, 10:59 am

GT Tick wrote:

> Each Humvee cooling kit consists of four water-filled vests known as Air
> Warrior Microclimatic Cooling Garments or MCGs.

Sigh, I so miss being in the service. I mean, where else do you get to
refer to a cooling vest as an "Air Warrior Microclimatic Cooling Garment"?

Reminds me of the old joke:

"An elephant is a mouse built to military specifications."

Ah, the good ol' days.

Alex