Marine Corps Systems Command studies effects of protective equipment on Marines in Afghanistan

Photo By Sgt. Dwight Henderson | Carl Desantis, a member of a three-man team from Program Management Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad, Marine Corps Systems Command, measures the chest depth, while wearing a plate carrier of Sgt. Zebulon L. Enright, a section leader for Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, in Combat Outpost Sharp, Garmsir District, Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 20. The team from PMMERS visited the Marines at Combat Outpost Sharp to conduct tests on how the Marines' gear is affecting them in a deployed environment.  

AFGHANISTAN

03.18.2010

Story by Lance Cpl. Dwight Henderson 

I Marine Expeditionary Force

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan — A three-man team from the Program Management Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad, Marine Corps Systems Command, visited the Marines of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, at Combat Outpost Sharp, Garmsir District, Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 18.

The purpose of their visit was to test the effects of Marines' personal protective equipment on their bodies to see how Marines are wearing their equipment and to get anthropometrics, which are body measurements, both with and without gear.

This is the first time the tests have been done on Marines in Afghanistan.

They took pictures of all the gear the Marines where wearing and how they were wearing it. They kept track of what gear was issued and which was purchased by the Marine.

Using tools from an anthropometric measurement kit, the team measured such things as chest size, waist size, and arm length with and without gear on.

"It was weird being measured with your gear on, but it goes back to helping future Marines," said Lance Cpl. Bruce M. Roberts, a rifleman with Fox Company, 2/2. "Making their gear better through mistakes they made with previous gear."

Along with taking pictures, they use that information to build a Marine Corps data base of the anthropometrics.

"Then we can give it to the guy who builds trucks and say, don't build it for a guy not wearing gear, build it for a guy who's this size," said Lt. Col. Jeff J. Stower, the deputy program manager for PMMERS.

They conducted a thermal heat-strain study. Marines volunteered to wear a vital signs monitor underneath their clothing and swallow a thermometer pill to track their skin temperature, respiratory rate, heart rate and core temperature.

This allowed the team to gather a better understanding of what is going on inside Marines in a deployed environment.

"I volunteered to help refine some of the gear and hopefully make a difference, if any, in the gear selection that systems command puts out," said Sgt. Zebulon L. Enright, a section leader with Weapons Company, 2/2, currently attached to Fox Company.

Those who volunteered to wear the vital signs monitors went on patrol with them underneath their gear.

"It wasn't really uncomfortable," said Roberts. "It was more awkward underneath my flak. How uncomfortable it was didn't matter because it's going to help future Marines."

The information the team gathered will aid in developing lighter, more breathable and over all better equipment along with techniques to ensure Marines are not at a greater risk of heat injury or illness.

• Date Taken: 03.18.2010
• Date Posted: 03.25.2010 08:53
• Story ID: 47194
• Location: AF