XBradTC

I want to joke about the Marines forcing their Navy Corpsmen to be miserable, but hypothermia is a very real problem for deployed forces.

Often times, unless you’re specifically looking for symptoms in your fellow troop, you can miss early stages. And it often occurs at temperatures much higher than you’d think.  I’ve seen people who were sweat soaked dip into mild hypothermia with temperature in the 60s. The combination of wet clothes and a fair breeze led to evaporative cooling. Troops who had been safe minutes before because of the heavy exertion of moving with a full combat load were quickly rendered ineffective.

Indeed, back in 1995, the US Army Ranger School had four students die from hypothermia The students were in chest deep water in the Florida swamps. The 60-ish weather, and water temps in the low 50s led to 8 soldiers being evacuated, four of whom succumbed to hypothermia.

For you civilians out there, hypothermia, or exposure as its often called, is the single biggest cause of death during outdoor activities. Always, always have a backup plan for bad weather, and spare dry clothes.