RX for Disaster - Sleepless in Iraq

[donsu]

http://counterpunch.com/levy08222007.html


RAMADI, Iraq: Troops swallow diet pills and slurp can after can of Red Bull, fighting to stay awake as they peer from armored Humvees into the pre-dawn darkness. Twangy country music pours from some vehicle sound systems, angry rap from others.

Associated Press, December 8, 2006

Exhaustion and combat stress are besieging US troops in Iraq as they battle with a new type of warfare.

The Observer, August 12, 2007

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Thanks to an impressive PR campaign, energy drinks are doing exceptionally well in the United States and throughout the world. Demand is especially high in poor, bombed out, bullet ridden, kidnap addled, socially disintegrating and otherwise despoiled Iraq. And Afghanistan. The customers: the American army.

Mark Brinkley, a staff writer for Army Times, put it this way, "They're certainly getting enough of the amber energy cocktail, buying more than 138,000 cans each month from the 54 military exchanges supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. All told, four of the top eight sellers in combat exchanges are human rocket fuels. Either snazzy energy drinks or super-sweet shots of cold, condensed coffee. Not since Popeye put back the spinach has such a big boost been promised from such a tiny package." High demand has led Bawls Guarana, a high-caffeine soft drink that packs twice the punch of Pepsi or Coke, to develop The Bawls Military Gift Pack. Regarding the muster for Red Bull, Monster Energy Drink, Bawls et al, Brinkley posits, "Maybe it's sleep deprivation."

Indeed, a stunning report by Peter Beaumont (The Observer, August 12, 2007) paints a bleak portrait of US troops, pushed to their physical limits and exhausted. A desperate low tech way to prop the eyelids open until the day's tense patrol, the night's careening convoy, or the checkpoint guard shift ends, is to chug can after can of Red Bull, Rip It, or Bawl's, and cat nap when possible. Only after the worn out, sleep-deprived soldier is back at base is there a chance for undisturbed slumber. But the cumulative effect of multiple and extended tours, extreme over-work and sleep deprivation appears to be a growing army of none, with no end in sight.

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In 1998 Wrigley's launched "Stay Alert Gum." The product fizzled but it caught Kamimori's eye. In 2000 Congress funded the initial research, which showed quick absorption rates of the stimulant, which lead to testing the gum as an antidote for sleep deprivation in combat. The results were encouraging: "Alertness, marksmanship (both simulated and live fire), vigilance on observation and reconnaissance tasks, and physical performance during simulated operations was either maintained or improved as compared to those soldiers receiving a placebo chewing gum."

Stay Alert could be optimally dosed: at 200mg every two hours, for up to eight hours straight, though after 68 hours the caffeine lost its effect.

The gum was recently approved for use in First Strike Rations, an experimental meal for Special Operation Forces (Army News Service, January 17, 2006). In the meantime Jolt Gum (which sold 64,000 packs in war zones in one year) is sold in US military exchanges and combat outposts. By comparison, approximately 30,000 cans of Red Bull are sold in Iraq and Afghanistan each week. Kamimori notes that until Stay Alert is officially available, combat commanders can purchase it by contacting the company at [phone] or by visiting www.stayalertgum.com. "It's been like gold for them," said Kamimori, about the units that have field-tested Stay Alert in the Middle East. "This is something that's going to help the average soldier." Perhaps. Perhaps not.

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Drag an ill-equipped Army into a chosen war. Disregard all signs that speedy triumph equals rose-petal fantasy. Over and over inform the weary civilians that war is hell but we're almost done. And what does the Pentagon propose to uplift the sagging brows and soul dead spirits of overworked, brain shaken, caffeinated and RPG'd troops in times of arid slaughter? After much time, financial expense and young blood spilt, what bold curative, what magic bullet is thus pronounced? Coffee. Combat coffee. Good god, what next? Kevlar donuts? Girl Scout Cookies?

Say A Prayer

Have pity for the broken and quartered army whose commander in chief lies asleep at the wheel. Bring them home. Bring them home. And compel our Lord High Executioner to view at length the horrid morgues of Baghdad, to walk its bloody streets. Then demote and promote him to Chief of Ground Crew, Arlington National Cemetery. Make him see what he has wrought.
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sigh

[donsu]

1. if we really cared about our 'troops', they would be home

nt