It's 1918.

More than a million Americans return home from WWI, "The War to end all Wars." But they give the folks back home more than "war stories" from the rotting trenches -- Spanish influenza -- a disease that kills literally millions of Americans before itself "dying out." How important is field hygiene? More men have died throughout history from disease than war wounds. Yet, we presently force our Soldiers to buy their own hygiene items for field use as if there's a "PX" in the middle of the desert. Rommel's Africa Corps lost a third of his men to sickness as did many of the 1958 U.S. marines deployed to Lebanon. Our haphazard approach is going to result in a national epidemic and thousands of lives lost and/or a battlefield defeat from biological weapons attacks, if we don't fix the problem now.

1989. Panama. Operation Just Cause

"...Soldiers took their shaving kit but didn't have time to replace their toothpaste and shaving cream. Most Soldiers ran out of certain toilet articles by the end of the first week. Units gave the hungry people in the villages their MREs because they thought they had plenty of rations in the CDS bundles.

Commanders took care of Soldiers by insisting that the system provide sundry packs."

Studies have concluded that the biggest infection risks is the mouth/gums from using the same toothbrush each day that is a moist breeding ground for germs as it sits in your bathroom or muddy rucksack. [Editor's note: just this week, a major study has linked tooth/gum germs with circulation harmful clots that can cause heart attacks, and the risk from anti-biotic resistant diseases are rising--see the reports on the bottom of this page]

While at home we should dip toothbrushes in mouthwash before brushing to kill germs; the field Soldier to too overburdened supplying himself in a makeshift manner -- shampoo, soap, shaving cream, razors, toothbrush, toothpaste that robs him of mobility. This results in death or wounds from enemy fire as we move like turtles.

Want Pvt Murphy in your pocket?

We agree with U.S. Army CALL, that caring Commanders (like a Gavin, Ridgway, Chamberlain) should insist that their men get hygiene supplies but not by "Sundry Packs" and like institutional non-sense. They should instead insist that Natick mold a few grams of plastic to the end of the Meal-Ready-To-Eat (MRE) spoon to form a disposable toothbrush. Completely sealed from germs, after eating, the spoon handle end with toothbrush bristles is used to clean teeth/gum and is disposed of with the empty MRE wrappers.

The Soldier need only supply a small pack of razors to the field. One pack of razors could last for days in the field via the self-cleaning feature and they can even be used without shaving cream via the lubricating strip/water.

To offset the minuscule grams of plastic added to the MRE spoon, plastic removed from the spoon itself makes "tines" so it's part fork and spoon to better retrieve MRE food from their pouches.

"Sporks" are common utensils if you eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The MRE "spork" toothbrush/razor would add no weight to the Paratrooper but greatly simplify and reduce his load for almost zero cost to the U.S. Army. The toothbrush feature can be used to help clean weapons/equipment to insure they can fire at and kill the enemy.

The MRE itself should come with a small packette of multi-use soap like Amway's Liquid Organic Cleaner (LOC) or IGA cosmetic's waterless "Apply & dry" that can be used as toothpaste, shampoo, shaving cream, hand/body soap -- a little packette and a few grams of plastic can solve the Soldier's field hygiene needs -- but so far U.S. Army Natick Labs has given us excuses: the "spork" tines will puncture the MRE food pouches if an armored personnel carrier runs over MREs (This is for real! I've the the letter citing some obscure military specification) and hygiene "isn't our job, man" until after 30 days of hostilities when "combat sundry packs" will be delivered to front-line Soldiers.

Yeah, right. Panama was over in two days, Desert Storm in 100 hours. The war will be over before the "sundry packs" arrive. Soldiers need a micro-hygiene capability built into the MRE so they can fight mobile war at 4-7 mph and not get shot like "clay pigeons" because they're moving like slugs with half of Wal-Mart's health/hygiene stuffed into their rucksacks.

All it takes is one Soldier to come home with a biological attack/delivered "super virus" during the few hours he was in combat, and we could have hundreds, thousands and even millions of dead Americans. The bureaucratic excuses are intolerable. If the U.S. Army says the Soldier is a "system" then it needs to start treating him as a holistic "system" -- field hygiene included---not "blown off" as yet another Soldier-fend-for-himself, too-bad-if-he-dies-"write-off". If some entrepreneur wants to mass-product "spork toothbrush/razors" and mini-packets of Amway Loc, be my guest. Smart Soldiers would buy them, though they should be force-wide via MREs.

Lastly, the MRE has toilet paper -- so the excuse that "it isn't for hygiene" is more hypocrisy. Whatever the MRE dirties, it should clean. MREs with micro-hygiene capability would greatly assist starving, disease-ridden people in Third World Countries -- more lives saved from a little plastic.

The 1st Tactical Studies Group (Airborne) has already built and field-tested a prototype spork toothbrush/razor depicted in the drawing above.

If you'd like to see the spork toothbrush/razor and multi-use
soap minipacket in MREs write to:

U.S. Army Soldier System
Command (Provisional), U.S. Army Natick RD&E Center,
1600 Kansas Street, Natick, MA 01760.
e-mail THEM! (Natick Labs)

Dirty teeth may lead to heart attacks, U.S. study says

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Worried about a heart attack? You should exercise, eat right and keep your teeth clean, researchers said Monday.

The bacteria found in plaque can cause blood platelets to clump up -- the first stage toward a blood clot that could cause a heart attack or stroke, University of Minnesota researchers said.

Gum disease offers a good route for these bacteria to get into the blood, and several researchers have reported recently finding bacteria in the atherosclerotic plaque that clogs diseased arteries.

"We know a great deal about risk factors for atherosclerosis and heart attacks, but not the actual causes,'' Dr. Mark Herzberg, a professor of preventive sciences at the University of Minnesota, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

His team took the germs found in dirty and diseased gums, including strains of Streptococcus and Porphyromonas bacteria, and infused them into rabbits. The blood platelets in the rabbits started to clump.

The rabbits also had abnormal electrocardiograms and faster heart and breathing rates. Using a different bacterium did not have these effects.

What is different about some of the bacteria found in plaque and gum disease is a protein they produce called platelet aggregation associated protein or PAAP. This could be the key to the problem, Herzberg said.

It has not been proved that the same thing happens in humans. Herzberg said he wants to test the unfortunate rabbits more to see if they suffer heart attacks when the bacteria are infused.

Health official warns of 'panic' over resurgence of diseases

February 18, 1998

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) -- The world faces panic amid the resurgence of diseases thought long-eradicated and the appearance of terrifying new ones, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO)said Tuesday.

"The whole world was living in the euphoria of thinking we had dominated all the infectious diseases and wouldn't have to deal with them any more," said WHO vice president Mirna Rose.

"Now we are experiencing panic over what may lie ahead," Rose told reporters during a visit to the Central American country of Honduras.

The health official said malaria and dengue fever were back with a vengeance while the Hanta virus and Ebola had caused hundreds of deaths, primarily on the African continent.

"Man's relation to the environment, migration and urbanization mean that infectious diseases arise every day, and not just ones we know," she said.

An Army Scout Sergeant writes:

"Since completing a field sanitation training course in Bosnia (I was starved for entertainment, alright?), I began to pay more attention to the subject of unit hygiene. Mostly what I noticed was that non-special operations units didn't seem to have any. My suggestion mirrored part of yours: place waterless antibacterial cleaner in every MRE. The wet wipes don't cut it, and the cleaner could be used for wound treatment as well. After hearing choruses of agreement from every senior NCO and officer I met (no one, NO ONE, ever said the idea was anything less than sensible), nothing.

I didn't know much about the system then, but does a Soldier need to be a political mastermind to get an idea anywhere?"

OUR REPLY: Yes, you have to be a political mastermind to get things done in DoD because what is best for victory in combat and helps the troops is NOT first priority to the milicrat. Look at the rucksacks our troops are toiling under in Afghanistan, problem can be solved today but we are not willing to pay-attention-to-detail, weigh our gear, get rid of what we dont need, find ways to do things lighter (like SPORKs) and get more transportation means. We haven't been shot at in awhile so its going to take some more casualties before we realize we must have better mobility, armor protection and firepower.

But we are learning!

The 1st TSG (A) Staff

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