The Effect Of Desert On Personnel CSC 1985 SUBJECT AREA General THE EFFECT OF DESERT ON PERSONNEL The desert has been described as a well protected castle for the one who knows it and a grave for the one who doesn't know it. To reach this environment the soldier should be well prepared so he can work in full capacity. Keeping the high morale of personnel in the desert is of a special importance because of hard nature and also for one who never been in this climate. In the desert there are no good sights to see that can distract attention. Also inside the vehicles are only heard the engines and smells the burning of gas. Therefore, the dust storms and the way of living results in affecting the morale of the personnel. This will lead to increased effort in their training and an increase in casualties. As a result the process of increasing the morale of personnel should be of the most importance. Adaptation. There must be an available period of adaptation to the desert condition to avoid casualties. The soldier which is fit is able and prepared to accept the changes in the weather and the conditions in the desert better than the less fit soldier. The nature of adaptation available is by a special exercise for the hot areas and takes about four weeks but still they can have a high degree of adaptation within 10-12 days. Conditions might not permit along enough adaptation period and the troops have to do large assignments when they reach the operation area. Under these conditions all the work should be done during the night or during the less hot periods of the day and the troops should take enough rest. Medical consultation is very important for adaptation in the desert. Heat Casualty. Water plays an important part in keeping the temperature of the body and the body loses its efficiency when it loses liquids. Heat casualty can be in three types: 1. Heat exhaustion. This type happens when not enough water is taken. Loss of water through sweat and in the same time not taking enough water to compensate for it, causes drowsiness and feeling weak. 2. Loss of salt. This is similar to heat exhaustion for the personnel that are not adapted. The loss of salt in the body which happens after sweating will cause gradual exhaustion, vomiting, headache and stiffening of the muscles of the hand, legs and belly. This can be treated by drinking water with salt added to it according to a doctor's pre- scription. 3. Sun stroke. This is one of the most dangerous cases. This happens when the system which adjusts the body temperature stops and the body looses its ability to control its temperature by sweating. The body temperature will increase and when the patient is not treated immediately will lose his life. This can happen to soldiers with adaptation and one with heavy weight and the immediate treatment is to decrease the body temperature by putting the patient in the shake and taking his clothes off so it will give him a chance to cool off. Water. In the desert water wells are very few and most of them are not drinkable because of the high percentage of salt in them. Therefore water must be checked before drink- ing. During operations water for personnel must be brought from outside the desert or from deep wells dug by engineers. The human need for water varies according to the amount of exercise he does the type of food he takes and the local temperature. Though it is preferable to take a small amount of water all the time. During less heat time soldiers should take a large amount of water once a day. Soldiers should stick to strick system of water usage. Any man can not adapt to low quantities of water permanently. The adapted soldier needs an equal quantity of water or may need more than the less adapted one, and in case there is not enough water they must decrease the rate of activity and increase it during the coolest times of the day. If water becomes limited for some times the efficiency of personnel will decrease highly even if they are in a relaxed state because he will be needing half a liter when the temperature is very high. An appropriate amount of salt must be taken to keep the body balanced, salt should be distributed with food and they should distribute additional quantities during the adaptation and heavy work time. Medical consultation should be taken about the amount of salt taken. Health. With the heat illness soldiers are susceptible to get other desert diseases. A high degree of health training, personal cleanliness, shaving, washing and sticking to the principles of health precautions is of special importance. Soldiers become more susceptible to intestinal diseases so they must be careful during food distribution cleans food containers, and also cooking containers and to dispose waste by burning. Clothes. They must wear the appropriate clothing during desert operations. It must be light so it will allow air to come through and they must use small cotton towels for the protection of the face and neck from the sun and dust. They must wear also colored glasses to protect the eyes from the dust and sun heat. Clothing during operations becomes dirty so they must take care of their clothes and clean it. During the night the soldier needs woolen clothes and it is important to have sleeping bags. Rest. Being an operation for a long time the soldier will become tired and exhausted and this will lead to a decrease of his efficiency quickly. So enough time for rest and sleep should be provided if he is to continue in the opera- tion. Soldiers should take a rest after 3 to 4 continuous days of operation. The need to rest in most operation is a necessity but in case of the desert operation it is a must. Desert geography. The desert geographical characteristics are: 1. The nature of the desert areas a. The flat areas. Large wide flat areas with hard surfaces and covered with a small percentage of sand. This type of area is good for transportation. b. Large sand hills. Wind and storms cause the (formation) presence of the large sand hills. Its height reaches hundreds of feet. Transportation through these hills are very limited and depend on the degree of its slope and the skill of the drivers. c. Small sand hills. The wind covers some times a large areas with a few inches of sand and transportation through these areas is very difficult and to open the roads there sand hills must be removed. d. Volcanic area. A wide area full of volcanic stones. Transportation through these areas is very limited because of the damages to the vehicles. e. Muddy areas. These kinds of areas are found in several parts of the deserts and transportation through these areas when it is wet is very difficult but when it is dry transportation is very easy. f. Roads and channels. This is very rare to exist in the desert and it is usually connecting between villages and oasis. All vehicles can move in all directions in most of the desert without sticking to the roads. 2. The weather. a. Heat. The deserts are characterized by a hot day and a cold night and a very hot summer and very cold winter reaching about 50oC during the summer and 0oC during the winter. This change in the temperature affects to a high degree all military. b. Wind. The direction of the wind is changable, can delete and when it increases it carries with it sand forming the large and small sand hills. c. Rain. The percentage of rain in the desert is less than 10 inches yearly and the rain storms come without any warning where within a few minutes all the dry valleys will be full with water. 3. Water. The water wells in the desert are very rare and only if there is an oasis. And even then the water should be distilled before used. So the problem of water is one of the main problems in the desert wars. 4. Plants. Very rare to find in the desert only in the oasis where grass and palm trees exist and spiny small trees in some other areas. 5. Mimicry. One of the main problems for personnel is finding ways of cover. This needs a lot of intelligence and an imaginative mind to overcome it. The lack of the available cover in the desert, wide vision and the light color of the land in the desert are all factors which force a special importance in the following points: a. Good concentration b. Well spread c. Well prepared for the imaginative prepara- tion so it can achieve the purpose of surprise. 6. Residency in the desert. In the desert there are no populated areas except some groups of bedouins near the oasis and valleys. Training on desert operation. Operating in desert is very difficult task to achieve. But, when there is an available chance to train in the desert this will be the best prepa- ration for operating in this climate. Besides the ability to train, still, before arriving at the operation area there should be careful study of the tactics of training and a plan of single and group training. Soldiers must be well prepared both physically and mentally, so it will be easier for him to get used to the desert climate quickly. Fitness for all the soldiers is very important and any soldiers not well prepared is very dangerous not for himself only but for all his group. In spite of being fit soldier still need at least 10 to 12 days to get used to the desert climate so he can be ready to carry on the operation well. With the body and the brain getting used to the heat the dust and the hard condition of the desert also the body needs to become immune to intestinal irritation, sun stroke and other desert diseases that he might become infected with. In these events a medical consultation is needed when the habitulation period is extended, but, when the period of training is short the amount of physical activities must be restricted so they can avoid casualties caused by the hot weather. The desert is a new climate for most of the soldiers, who never lived in it, but if they can live in it, their confidence in themselves and their morale will increase tremendously. Even though this training is done in the camp it is better if this training is combined with other kinds of training in the desert. The main points that should be included in the training: 1. Self discipline and the responsibility for young officers to make sure of sticking to the simple protection precautions. 2. The effect of heat, wind, light and changing con- ditions during day and night. 3. Control water usage, and the awareness of how to distill the water and to get underground water. 4. The problems needed to be overcome during the daily routine to stay fit and prevent disease wear clean clothes and stay clean. 5. First aid. 6. Treatment of cases caused by heat. Navigation. Each unit needs a number of well trained navi- gators able to use the special equipment to know the way and positions in the desert. Military personnel should be trained to navigate so they can be able to find their way to their unit when they lose their way. Arms. Training to use arms in the desert conditions is very important especially to be able to predict the distances which is difficult, and also to correct the firing and the fall of the bullets because any fault in the firing will expose the position for the enemy. The open land character- istic of the desert permits the long distance attach. Night operation. The abilities of mimicry provided by the darkness, allows a lot of night operations. The availability of equipment for the night vision with both sides has an effect on tactics, so soldiers must have full confidence in his ability to work at night. Air defence. The nature of the desert being exposed and the difficulty in hiding exposes all the groups to an air attack. Also it is easy to expose the moving vehicles by planes though these must be an air defence and good training of quick attack and self defence against the air attack. Conclusions 1. The presence of water is one of the most important items that exists, where life in desert will not continue without it. So it is important to know the places where water exists and also how to distill it. 2. Maneuvering in the desert requires the knowledge of desert navigation. 3. To insure the survival, the soldiers should carry water, his own weapon, navigation equipment, protective clothes and head and face masks. 4. The difficulties of maneuvering in the desert and its effect on the operations require the awareness of all personnel to concentrate on their movement, how to use the land and to know navigation. 5. It is important for driving in the desert to know the different ways to be able to face up to problems and also have some knowledge of mimicry and how to maintain their cars.
