Military Tasks Research Articles

United States Army Physical Readiness Training: Rationale and Evaluation of the Physical Training Doctrine

This paper reviews the rationale and evaluations of Physical Readiness Training (PRT), the new U.S. Army physical training doctrine designed to improve soldiers' physical capability for military operations. The purposes of PRT are to improve physical fitness, prevent injuries, progressively train soldiers, and develop soldiers' self-confidence and discipline. The PRT follows the principles of progressive overload, regularity, specificity, precision, variety, and balance. Specificity was achieved by examining the standard list of military (warrior) tasks and determining 1) the physical requirements, 2) the fitness components involved, and 3) the training activities that most likely could improve the military tasks. Injury-prevention features include reduced running mileage, exercise variety (cross-training), and gradual, progressive training. In 3 military field studies, the overall adjusted risk of injury was 1.5-1.8 times higher in groups of soldiers performing traditional military physical training programs when compared with groups using a PRT program. Scores on the Army Physical Fitness Test were similar or higher in groups using PRT programs. In an 8-week laboratory study comparing PRT with a weightlifting/running program, both programs resulted in major improvements in militarily relevant tasks (e.g., 3.2-km walk/run with 32-kg load, 400-m run with 18-kg load, 5- to 30-second rushes to and from prone position, 80-kg casualty drag, obstacle course). When compared with traditional military physical training programs, PRT consistently resulted in fewer injuries and in equal or greater improvements in fitness and military task performance.

Association with physical fitness, serum hormones and sleep during a 15-day military field training

The present study aimed to investigate the association between physical fitness, sleep duration and hormonal responses during a 15-day military field training (MFT). The purpose of MFT was to practice offensive manoeuvres in a countryside area. Nine army officers volunteered to participate, and their daily working routine mainly consisted of tasks in the headquarters that required on-call-duty at all times. Physical fitness and body composition were measured just before MFT. Serum testosterone (TES) and cortisol (COR) concentrations and sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were measured before MFT, as well as 8 and 15 days after the beginning of MFT. Heart rate (HR) was recorded for approximately 24 h on days 8, 11 and 15 of MFT. Based on HR responses, there was no evidence of cardiorespiratory strain, hormonal responses or energy deficit during MFT. Although the changes in hormonal concentrations were insignificant, they were well correlated with physical fitness ( r = 0.67, p = 0.05). Furthermore, the TES/SHGB ratio decreased by 28% in subjects whose VO 2max was under 44 ml kg −1 min −1. On average, subjects slept for 6.20 h per day, but the sleeping rhythm was disturbed due to military tasks. This diurnal sleeping time was strongly associated with TES/COR ratio ( r = 0.78, p = 0.01). These results indicate that MFT causes very individual stress reactions, despite the low levels of physical strain and energy deficit. We therefore concluded that the observed hormonal responses were mainly due to sleep deprivation and low physical fitness.

A lightweight intrusion detection framework for wireless sensor networks

AbstractIn recent years, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have demonstrated successful applications for both civil and military tasks. However, sensor networks are susceptible to multiple types of attacks because they are randomly deployed in open and unprotected environments. It is necessary to utilize effective mechanisms to protect sensor networks against multiple types of attacks on routing protocols. In this paper, we propose a lightweight intrusion detection framework integrated for clustered sensor networks. Furthermore, we provide algorithms to minimize the triggered intrusion modules in clustered WSNs by using an over‐hearing mechanism to reduce the sending alert packets. Our scheme can prevent most routing attacks on sensor networks. In in‐depth simulation, the proposed scheme shows less energy consumption in intrusion detection than other schemes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An estimate of the magnitude of additive genetic variation of some mental characters in Alsatian dogs.

At the Army Dog Training Center - ADTC -, Sollefteå, Sweden, a test of mentality has been designed to judge eight “components of behaviour” in working dogs. The test is used to choose dogs suitable for training in different military and civil tasks. Furthermore the test results are also important in the breeding-planning at the ADTC as well as in the private Swedish breeding of working dogs. The mentality test results of 958 Alsatian dogs, born and tested at the ADTC, have been put at our disposal. The statistical analysis performed indicated the proportion of additive genetic variation to be small for all the mental characters tested. It was not possible to estimate the magnitude of non-additive genetic variation from the material available.

Concurrent Performance of Military and Robotics Tasks and Effects of Cueing in a Simulated Multi-Tasking Environment

We simulated a military mounted crewstation environment and conducted two experiments to examine the workload and performance of the combined position of gunner and robotics operator. The robotics tasks involved managing a semi-autonomous ground robot or teleoperating a ground robot to conduct reconnaissance tasks. We also evaluated whether aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered either through tactile or tactile + visual cueing) for the gunnery task might benefit the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. Results showed that participants' gunnery task performance degraded significantly when they had to concurrently monitor, manage, or teleoperate an unmanned ground vehicle compared to the gunnery-single task condition. When there was AiTR to assist them with their gunnery task, operators' concurrent performance of robotics and communication tasks improved significantly. However, there was a tendency for participants to over-rely on automation when task load was heavy, and performance degradations were observed in instances where automation failed to be entirely reliable. Participants' spatial ability was found to be a reliable predictor of robotics task performance, although the performance gap between those with higher and lower spatial ability appeared to be narrower when the AiTR was available to assist the gunnery task. Participants' perceived workload increased consistently as the concurrent task conditions became more challenging and when their gunnery task was unassisted. Individual difference factors such as spatial ability and perceived attentional control were found to correlate significantly with some of the performance measures. Implications for military personnel selection were discussed.

Measuring Situation Awareness in complex systems: Comparison of measures study

Assessing operator situation awareness is a key component of sociotechnical system design and evaluation. This article describes a study that was undertaken in order to compare two different situation awareness measures (a freeze probe recall approach and a post trial subjective rating approach) when used to assess participant situation awareness during a military planning task. The results indicate that only the participant situation awareness scores derived via the freeze probe recall method produced a statistically significant correlation with performance on the planning task and also that there was no significant correlation between the two methods, which suggests that they were measuring different aspects of participant situation awareness during the trials. In conclusion, the findings, whilst raising doubts over the validity of the post trial subjective rating approach, offer validation evidence for the use of freeze probe recall approaches to measure situation awareness during simulated tasks. The findings are subsequently discussed with regard to their wider implications for the future measurement of situation awareness in complex collaborative systems. Relevance to industry Situation Awareness is a critical commodity for teams working in industrial systems. Accordingly, designers and analysts require reliable and valid methods for assessing the impact of new systems, interfaces, training programs and procedures on the level of situation awareness held by operators. This article presents a review and comparison of situation awareness measurement approaches for use in complex industrial systems and provides recommendations on the types of methods to use during future situation awareness assessments.

Modeling of Field Artillery Tasks with Live Sequence Charts

This article presents a formalized conceptual model for a portion of the Field Artillery (FA) domain. The structural part of the model identifies the entities in the FA domain along with their properties and associations. The behavioral part of the model describes the FA missions in the language of Live Sequence Charts (LSCs). The conceptual model is constructed as a metamodel by using the GME (Generic Modeling Environment) toolkit. Once the FA metamodel is loaded, GME automatically provides a customized environment to model particular FA missions. The intended application is to use the FA metamodel as the source for defining model transformations targeting FA federation architectures. This work is also intended to help evaluate the power and limitations of chart notations for describing military tasks visually yet precisely.

Individual Differences in Concurrent Performance of Military and Robotics Tasks with Tactile Cueing

We simulated a military tank environment and examined the performance of the combined position of gunner and robotics operator and how aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered either through tactile or tactile + visual cueing) for the gunnery task might benefit the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. Specifically, we investigated whether performance was affected by individual differences factors such as spatial ability and perceived attentional control. Results showed that participants' robotics and communication tasks both improved significantly when the AiTR was available to assist them with their gunnery task. The participants' spatial ability was found to be a good indicator of their gunnery and robotics task performance. However, when AiTR was available to assist their gunnery task, those participants of lower spatial ability were able to perform their robotics tasks as well as those of higher spatial ability. There was also evidence that operators' preference of cueing modality was related to their spatial ability and attentional control.

Effectiveness of Concurrent Performance of Military and Robotics Tasks and Effects of Cueing in a Simulated Multi-Tasking Environment

We simulated a military mounted crewstation environment and conducted two experiments to examine the workload and performance of the combined position of gunner and robotics operator. The robotics tasks involved managing a semi-autonomous ground robot or teleoperating a ground robot to conduct reconnaissance tasks. We also evaluated whether aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered either through tactile or tactile + visual cueing) for the gunnery task might benefit the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. Results showed that participants' gunnery task performance degraded significantly when s/he had to concurrently monitor, manage, or teleoperate a robot compared to the gunnery-single task condition. When there was AiTR to assist them with their gunnery task, operators' concurrent performance of robotics and communication tasks improved significantly. However, there was a tendency for participants to over-rely on automation when taskload was heavy, and performance degradations were observed in instances where automation failed to be entirely reliable. Participants' spatial ability was found to be a reliable predictor of robotics task performance. Participants' perceived workload increased consistently as the concurrent task conditions became more challenging and when their gunnery task was unassisted.

The Effect of Task Based Automation for the Control of Unmanned Systems on Operator Performance

Robotic technology will be a vital component of future combat. However, the combination of robotic operational tasks with other traditional military tasks will create high workload peaks during military operations. The objective of this research is to develop and evaluate flexible automation strategies to aid the operator in this complex military environment. In this experiment we evaluated the effect of an automation that was invoked based on task load. Participants conducted a military reconnaissance mission using a simulation that required them to: use an unmanned air vehicle sensor for target detection, monitor an unmanned ground vehicle, and respond to multi-level communications. Participants completed sixteen missions in the environment, during which task load and automation were manipulated. The results of this experiment showed that operator performance did improve when the automation, an aided target recognition for the unmanned air vehicle, was invoked relative to when it was not invoked. Further, when automation was appropriately applied (high task load conditions) workload decreased significantly. This data along with the results of other experiments discussed in this paper indicate that adaptive automation may be a useful mitigation strategy to help offset the potential deleterious effects of high cognitive load on Army robotic operators in a multitasking environment.

Impact of Advanced Display Features on Situation Awareness, Workload, and Performance of Complex Military Tasks

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of advanced interface features on an operator's ability to perform the duties and responsibilities associated with the role of Platoon Leader (PL); maintain and monitor vehicles in a formation, respond to communications, and maintain security around his vehicle. Participants conducted a military convoy mission using a basic interface (representative of the current force technology) and an interface with advanced warnings, cautions, and alerts (WCAs). Participants completed two missions with each interface configuration. Results showed that the advanced interface significantly improved the PL's ability to respond correctly and quickly to vehicles deviating from the formation. Further, participants reported better situation awareness and lower workload with the advanced interface than the baseline interface. Appropriately applied advanced formation tools such as vehicle status information and WCAs do improve military effectiveness and are important for military operations.

Soldiers With Musculoskeletal Injuries

To describe Soldiers' (e.g., U.S. Army personnel) perspectives of the effect of musculoskeletal injuries. Data were collected in the summer of 2003 using a prospective survey design. The survey was mailed to active duty Soldiers on modified work plans because of musculoskeletal injuries. These Soldiers were assigned to one Army installation in the US. Responses to the survey questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The numerous handwritten comments were evaluated qualitatively. Injuries most often involved the back and knees (18% each). At least 47% of the injuries were work related. Injuries interfered with Soldiers' abilities to perform military tasks such as road marching (80%) and organized physical training (69%). Although many respondents indicated they were not experiencing pain, at least some Soldiers reported mild pain for each of 19 anatomic locations. Severe pain was reported most often for the lower back (21%). In their written comments, Soldiers expressed a sense of frustration with their injuries, the healthcare system and providers, and their unit leaders. Healthcare personnel are challenged to better manage Soldiers with musculoskeletal injuries and expedite their return to full duty. Unit leaders are challenged to create work environments that focus on injury prevention and allow injured Soldiers time to heal. The Soldiers in this study were often engaged in physically challenging work or sports activities when injured. Because people outside the Army engage in similar activities (e.g., construction workers, endurance athletes), the findings from this study might be applicable to nonmilitary communities. Additionally, with the number of Reserve and National Guard Soldiers currently on active duty, civilian nurses might be caring for Soldiers with musculoskeletal injuries.

Construct of job performance: Evidence from Chinese military soldiers

The construct of job performance has been one of the important topics in job performance research. The present study investigated the construct of job performance among Chinese military soldiers using both qualitative and quantitative methods. First, after interviewing 95 officers and soldiers, we categorized and conceptualized eight sets of typical behavioural incidents related to soldiers' job performance, and designed a questionnaire measuring job performance. Then, using a sample of 1402 Chinese soldiers, questionnaire reliability and validity were tested, and then the questionnaire was revised. The construct of job performance was further refined using confirmatory factor analyses and regression analyses using another sample of 1068 soldiers. The results showed that Chinese military soldiers' job performance consisted of two dimensions of task performance and contextual performance. Furthermore, task performance had three subfactors: military training, task accomplishment and work capability, whereas contextual performance encompassed four factors: helping others, love of learning, promoting organizational benefit and self‐discipline. Task performance and contextual performance contributed independently to overall job performance.

Occupational Relevance and Body Mass Bias in Military Physical Fitness Tests

Recent evidence makes a compelling case that US Army, Navy, and Air Force health-related physical fitness tests penalize larger, not just fatter, service members. As a result, they tend to receive lower scores than their lighter counterparts, the magnitude of which can be explained by biologic scaling laws. Larger personnel, on the other hand, tend to be better performers of work-related fitness tasks such as load carriage, heavy lifting, and materiel handling. This has been explained by empirical evidence that lean body mass and lean body mass to dead mass ratio (dead mass = fat mass and external load to be carried/lifted) are more potent determinants of performance of these military tasks than the fitness test events such as push-ups, sit-ups, or 2-mile-distance run time. Because promotions are based, in part, on fitness test performance, lighter personnel have an advancement advantage, although they tend to be poorer performers on many tests of work-related fitness. Several strategies have been proposed to rectify this incongruence including balanced tests, scaled scores, and correction factors--yet most need large-scale validation. Because nearly all subjects in such research have been men, future investigations should focus on women and elucidate the feasibility of universal physical fitness tests for all that include measures of health- and work-related fitness while imposing no systematic body mass bias.

Effects of tactile cueing on concurrent performance of military and robotics tasks in a simulated multitasking environment

This study examined the concurrent performance of military gunnery, robotics control and communication tasks in a simulated environment. More specifically, the study investigated how aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered either through tactile or tactile + visual cueing) for the gunnery task might benefit overall performance. Results showed that AiTR benefited not only the gunnery task, but also the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. The participants' spatial ability was found to be a good indicator of their gunnery and robotics task performance. However, when AiTR was available to assist their gunnery task, those participants of lower spatial ability were able to perform their robotics tasks as well as those of higher spatial ability. Finally, participants' workload assessment was significantly higher when they teleoperated (i.e. remotely operated) a robot and when their gunnery task was unassisted. These results will further understanding of multitasking performance in military tasking environments. These results will also facilitate the implementation of robots in military settings and will provide useful data to military system designs.

Private military contracting in weak states: Permeation or transgression of the new public management of security?

New Public Management (NPM) models the emerging public administration orthodoxy. With the aim of raising the efficiency of government, the theory and practice of NPM favour the participation of private firms in public service provision. Out go bureaucracies and traditional public administration; in come flexible management and private sector input into the affairs of government. From welfare services to defence, this paradigmatic strategy has proven to be applicable to any aspect of the public sector and its influence is global in scope. The trend towards NPM reform has been gaining momentum since the 1990s and it has unfolded alongside the proliferation of private military companies (PMCs). The shift of the global political economy towards neo-liberalism has contributed considerably to this transformation. Against this background, key structural changes in the relationship between the public and private sectors that have contributed to the emergence of new modalities for the management of state security are discussed in this article. The notional underpinnings of NPM are discussed first. Second, through a focus on the robust outsourcing and contracting out dynamic of Western states, there is an overview of the operational logic of the NPM of security. In this regard it should be noted that many PMCs originating in these countries operate in weak states, where government and the market economy are embryonic structures. Third, noting that the handling of military and security tasks by PMCs to some extent can be extrapolated in such cases, it is argued that there appears to be three emerging modalities for the privatisation of security characteristic to weak states, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. The identification of variants of the NPM of security allows the author to propose that the efficiency assumed to be inherent in NPM will remain elusive unless both countries that supply PMCs and those that are predominantly receptors of their services synchronise NPM reform.

Experts' Circumvention of Processing Limitations: An Example From the Sport of Orienteering

This article provides a discussion of how experts in the sport of orienteering are able to circumvent natural limits on information processing during performance and thus acquire a performance advantage. Orienteering requires navigation in outdoor environments and thus research on skill acquisition in orienteering is of relevance to an understanding of military tasks involving navigation and their training. It is also argued that insight into how experts in general circumvent natural limits on processing is of relevance to an understanding of performance on high-tempo, high-workload tasks common in military settings. Findings from a series of studies of orienteering show how expert orienteers develop various strategies that change the way task-relevant information is mentally processed or displayed in the environment prior to being processed in order to circumvent processing limitations. Implications of this research for training in navigation-based military tasks and other military-related tasks are discussed.

Accuracy Assessment of Digital Elevation Models Using GPS

Accuracy Assessment of Digital Elevation Models Using GPSA Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a digital representation of ground surface topography or terrain with different accuracies for different application fields. DEM have been applied to a wide range of civil engineering and military planning tasks. DEM is obtained using a number of techniques such as photogrammetry, digitizing, laser scanning, radar interferometry, classical survey and GPS techniques. This paper presents an assessment study of DEM using GPS (Stop&Go) and kinematic techniques comparing with classical survey. The results show that a DEM generated from (Stop&Go) GPS technique has the highest accuracy with a RMS error of 9.70 cm. The RMS error of DEM derived by kinematic GPS is 12.00 cm.

The emergence, development and demilitarization of the military border of the Austrian Monarchy

Military border of the Austrian Monarchy was formed gradually in border areas for the purpose of defending the border from Turkish invasions. In time, as the international political circumstances have changed, the Border itself also modified its primary function. From the beginning of the 18th century soldiers of the Military Border together with the regular troops of Austrian army participate in all wars in which Austria took part. Thanks to those soldiers the military force of the Austrian Empire was significantly strengthened. Except for military tasks, the Military Border served to a great extent as a defensive corridor that stopped spreading infections diseases, invasions of robberies, smuggling goods from Turkey, as well as deserting and emigration to Turkish territory. Because of great importance that Military Border has had for the Austrian Monarchy, the author in this paper gives a summary review of its development in the military, territorial and administrative-political sense. Special attention was given to the administrative system that was introduced in Border in the second half of the 19th century.

Investigation of physiological suitability of filtrosorption protective clothing under laboratory conditions

One of the most important devices for chemical protection in a highly toxic environment is chemical protective overgarment (CPO). This suit is designated for protection against highly toxic materials. The suit construction offers better physiological suitability than protective equipment based on insulation materials. This work explains methods and results of experimental validity of physiological suitability of a few different protective clothing models that should be used to equip the Army of Serbia and Civil Protection units. The investigation of tolerance to uncompensated stress of volunteers during wearing four different CPO models was carried out. The investigation simulated performance of main military tasks under high temperatures - at a climatic chamber and in all-terrain conditions (based on telemetry observing). The parameters of heat stress were compared and the conclusions about the CPO effects on heat stress intensity and neurophysiological functions were drawn. .