Results 1 to 20 of 24

Thread: Combat and the use of performance enhancing substances

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    13,366

    Default Combat and the use of performance enhancing substances

    SWC have a number of medical-related threads scattered in various arenas and to my knowledge nothing like this subject.

    Thread created at ganulv's suggestion, hence his post and Kaur's appearing before this.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-01-2018 at 04:59 PM.
    davidbfpo

  2. #2
    Council Member ganulv's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Berkshire County, Mass.
    Posts
    896

    Default A couple of resources related to amphetamine use.

    The work of Nicolas Rasmussen, a professor at the University of New South Wales, seems to be a good place to start on the subject of amphetamine use. Here’s a link to a video of Rasmussen responding to some questions regarding amphetamine use during World War Two.

    The USAF has issued stimulants to its pilots over the years and afaik continues to do so. I would be interested in knowing whether any of the other branches authorize use (recon units and reactor engineers, perhaps?). In the case of the Air Force the official “why” seems to be as an anti-fatigue measure on longer missions, but I do wonder whether they also see off-label use to improve reaction time and heighten awareness.

    I am also curious as to the extent of use of Red Bull/Five Hour Energy time drinks by deployed personnel. Does anyone care to share their observations?
    If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)

  3. #3
    Council Member Uboat509's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    CO
    Posts
    681

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ganulv View Post
    The work of Nicolas Rasmussen, a professor at the University of New South Wales, seems to be a good place to start on the subject of amphetamine use. Here’s a link to a video of Rasmussen responding to some questions regarding amphetamine use during World War Two.

    The USAF has issued stimulants to its pilots over the years and afaik continues to do so. I would be interested in knowing whether any of the other branches authorize use (recon units and reactor engineers, perhaps?). In the case of the Air Force the official “why” seems to be as an anti-fatigue measure on longer missions, but I do wonder whether they also see off-label use to improve reaction time and heighten awareness.

    I am also curious as to the extent of use of Red Bull/Five Hour Energy time drinks by deployed personnel. Does anyone care to share their observations?
    I have yet to see any form of amphetamine or other prescription stimulants being authorized for use by the Army. That said, ordinary stimulants like caffeine and energy drinks are everywhere. When I was in Iraq Rip Its were available at every chow hall though in smaller cans than the industrial sized kegs that one routinely sees on the shelf here in the US.
    “Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”

    Terry Pratchett

  4. #4
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    8,060

    Default asdf

    The Army used to issue 100 tablet bottles of 5mg of Dextro Amphetamine Sulfate to every Medic in his aid kit. They were authorized to issue 'em to the Troops they supported in combat and even on training exercises. They did that latter bit very rarely (but almost always claimed they'd issued them after every big exercise -- we had happy Medics back then... ). There were few to no problems with that in the 50s and early 60s and both Troops and the Medics acted sensibly and I'm unaware of any major abuse scandals in that period.

    Unfortunately -- or fortunately, view point dependent -- that issue and usage was halted during Viet Nam when abuse became the norm instead of the exception. Contrary to UBoat 509s statement, I'm told there still some units that have access to newer, less side effect-prone stimulants. Don't know...

  5. #5
    Council Member wm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    On the Lunatic Fringe
    Posts
    1,237

    Default No More Heroes: Madness and Psychiatry In War

    That's the title of a book Richard A. Gabriel wrote in 1988. Chapter 5 (I believe) is called The Chemical Soldier, where, if memory serves, he discusses efforts to reduce psychological casualties through the use of drugs.
    Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit
    The greatest educational dogma is also its greatest fallacy: the belief that what must be learned can necessarily be taught. — Sydney J. Harris

  6. #6
    Council Member ganulv's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Berkshire County, Mass.
    Posts
    896

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
    Unfortunately -- or fortunately, view point dependent -- that issue and usage was halted during Viet Nam when abuse became the norm instead of the exception. Contrary to UBoat 509s statement, I'm told there still some units that have access to newer, less side effect-prone stimulants. Don't know...
    And even D-amphetamine sulfate doesn’t have that bad of a side-effects profile for an otherwise healthy user. Extended-release forms of several substituted amphetamines are now widely available. They wouldn’t be the choice if rapid onset was vital, but they would work well to keep sleep at bay.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
    The Army used to issue 100 tablet bottles of 5mg of Dextro Amphetamine Sulfate to every Medic in his aid kit. They were authorized to issue 'em to the Troops they supported in combat and even on training exercises. They did that latter bit very rarely (but almost always claimed they'd issued them after every big exercise -- we had happy Medics back then... ).
    If you don’t mind a little bit of the restaurant’s food ending up at the cooks’ places at the end of the night things are going to go a lot smoother in the kitchen the next day.
    If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)

  7. #7
    Council Member bourbon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Posts
    903

    Default Wwii

    The Nazi's loved methamphetamine - dosed their chocolates with the stuff. Hitler took multiple amphetamine shots a day. The Japanese distributed the stuff pretty widely too.
    “[S]omething in his tone now reminded her of his explanations of asymmetric warfare, a topic in which he had a keen and abiding interest. She remembered him telling her how terrorism was almost exclusively about branding, but only slightly less so about the psychology of lotteries…” - Zero History, William Gibson

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •