OBJECTIVE Although women in the military are exposed to combat and its aftermath, little is known about whether combat as well as pre-deployment risk/protective factors differentially predict post-deployment PTSD symptoms among women compared to men. The current study assesses the influence of combat-related stressors and pre-deployment risk/protective factors on women's risk of developing PTSD...

BACKGROUND Improvised explosive devices have become the characteristic weapon of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. While little can be done to mitigate against the effects of blast in free-field explosions, scaled blast simulations have shown that the combat boot can attenuate the effects on the vehicle occupants of anti-vehicular mine blasts. Although the combat boot offers some protection to...

BACKGROUND Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a common injury among military personnel serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. The impact of repeated episodes of combat mTBI is unknown. OBJECTIVE To evaluate relationships among mTBI, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and neurological deficits (NDs) in US veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. METHODS This was a case-control study. From ...

Lanchester’s Equations are one of the most misunderstood and misused models of combat, yet they remain in widespread use as the combat mechanism behind many simulation systems. Previous work by the author examined the impact of a fractal distribution of forces on Lanchester’s theory of combat. The present work extends that examination to conceptual issues regarding interpretation of Lanchester'...

We observed ritual combat and other agonistic behavior between male blacksnakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus) in a field population in central New South Wales. Combat bouts vary greatly in duration (2 to 30 minutes), and apparently function as male "strategies" to displace rival courting males. Direct attack and biting may serve to displace rival males in copulo. We briefly review published literat...

This paper briefs the architecture, characteristics, key technology of distributed interactive simulation, and the research and application of distributed interactive simulation in US armed forces. In combination with the practice of combat simulation of PLA army forces, it has explored the application of distributed interactive simulation technology in army combat simulation, and brought forwa...

This study used a sentence completion task to assess semantic choice in combat veterans. Twenty-eight combat veterans with (n=14) and without (n=14) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) filled in the final word for 33 incomplete sentences after receiving a combat prime. The veterans with PTSD completed sentences with significantly more trauma-relevant final words than those without PTSD. Findin...

Offensive urban combat is one of the most difficult tasks soldiers are called upon to perform (USMC 1998). Urban combat is characterized by building-to-building and room-to-room fighting, and even a vastly outnumbered defensive force can inflict significant casualties on attacking forces. Effective, frequent training is an essential element in reducing casualties in urban combat. However, train...

The Prehospital Fluid Conference was sponsored by the US Army Institute of Surgical Research and Combat Casualty Care Research, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. Some 65 conferees were invited in January 2010 to review the contemporary guidelines on the use of fluid resuscitation in treating combat casualties, discuss the state of the art of fluid resuscitation for combat casualtie...