Document Page: First | Prev | Next | All | Image | This Release | Search

16.  Plan operations to provide water points so that resupply is possible at a
minimum interval of every three hours. Water points and backups should be
prioritized.

17.  Hoard water in your body, not in your canteen. It is better to carry water in
your belly than on your belt. Train yourself to prehydrate and consume a quart of
water before prolonged activity. Check your own urine color.

18.  Never set out on foot or in a vehicle without adequate water and rations. As
a rule of thumb in a survival situation, a man should have access to 1 gallon of
water for every 20 miles he expects to walk at night and 2 gallons for every 20
miles walked in the daytime.

19.  Security of water supplies to prevent loss, sabotage, or contamination is an
essential concern. Do not allow swimming in water supplies; small amounts of
fecal materiel from infected individuals can contaminate a very large reservoir.

20.  The noon rest should last at least an hour for adequate food, water and salt
replacement.


FOOD INTAKE & NUTRITION

1.   Soldiers reduce voluntary food intake by 20-40% when deployed to a field
feeding situation. If this problem is not attended to, bodyweight losses can quickly
reach a level where they have a negative impact on physical and mental
performance.

2.   Hot environments, by themselves, do not have unique effects on nutritional
requirements or food intake (except for salt and water, topics covered elsewhere),
but exacerbate the general problems encountered when soldiers begin to eat field
rations.

3.   There is no single, easy fix to the problem of reduced food intake in the
field. Yet, the magnitude and negative side effects can be minimized, and kept to
an acceptable degree by using a few simple techniques. Important points for
maintaining soldier food intake in a hot field environment include:

    a. Food requirements do not go down in the heat. It is a common
misconception that the amount of food or energy needed decreases during hot
weather. Although the desire to eat goes down, the actual amount of calories
required increases in hot weather. This will be a bigger problem during the first
few days, and will gradually go away over the first 3-14 days. It is more serious in
troops not heat acclimatized.

    b.   Watch what the soldiers are eating. Small unit leaders must watch to
see what their soldiers are eating or failing to eat. Often, no one knows that a

                                                 6

Document Page: First | Prev | Next | All | Image | This Release | Search