Rising Temperatures Put U.S. Troops at Higher Risk, Report Finds

The troops in the United States are sweating under the summer heat as the nation faces an increased threat due to global temperature rise, a new report warns.

The InsideClimate News report discovered at least 17 heat-related deaths during army training in the last ten years with a 60 percent surge in heat-related injuries - mostly heatstroke and heat exhaustion and heatstroke - within precisely the same period.

Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and the lead author of the report, told NBC News that thousands of service people suffer from heat-related illnesses every year. She added the problem might grow much worse.

"The growing number of dangerously hot days could pose a challenge to the military's efforts to protect service members' health while also ensuring mission readiness," she said.

The Air Force is investigating two other deaths of support members that fell from the heat during exercise in Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina this season. The army is already working to improve a progressive, inclusive strategy for handling the current heat, from instruction during summer at home to orders during deployment to war zones.

In fact, reports had it that the army has taken steps to decrease heat disorders, such as upgrading prevention steps, refining therapy protocols, and developing special medical units and brand-new gear and technologies, among other actions.

Steep growth in harmful heat days

The study conducted by the InsideClimate News discovered that generals and admiralties still flagged climate change as a threat to domestic security. The Trump administration made it challenging for leaders to frame the rising temperature issue as a pressing climate change threat.

These findings are based on information from a previously nationwide report, printed in the journal Environmental Research Communications, demonstrating that almost every component of the United States will confront a considerable growth in scorching times by mid century.

Heating is getting an increasingly powerful enemy of army employees, accounting for tens of thousands of lost duty days due to heat-related illnesses annually and costing almost $1 billion over the previous ten years.

A lot of the military instruction from the U.S. happens in sweltering areas with drenching humidity, in which service members are occasionally pushed to their limits based on the belief that soldiers have to be hardened to resist the rigors of battle.

Retired Army Capt. Jon Gensler, who served as a tank commander in the first Gulf War and later as a training officer, told InsideClimate News that temperatures as bad as the forecast in the Union of Concerned Scientists report meant it would have harmful outcomes during training and preparedness.

Gensler, who was not involved in the study, said the temperature will severely restrict the quantity of outdoor instruction and create uncertainty, hence affecting what the soldiers can achieve.

"It [reduces the number of available time] to ensure troops are [ready to be deployed] and trained into the skill levels needed to complete assignments," he added.

Heating has disrupted training programs, forcing the army to find alternative strategies of making certain employees are ready without exposing them to mortal ailments.