Combat and the use of performance enhancing substances

[Fuchs]

Some air forces enforce a 12-hour or similar break between long combat missions. That's supposedly enough to deal with go-pills' side effects..

[Uboat509]

Just out of curiosity... do armies that issue amphetamines for use in combat make any provision for the post-rush physical and mental crash? It does inevitably come, and the longer and higher you stay up, the harder you fall. The thought of a bunch of armed men in the throes of a major post-speed hard landing is... interesting, to say the least.

This is why the Army does not sanction the use of potent amphetamines. I do know guys who are prescribed Adderal for ADHD which is an amphetamine but the thereputic dose for Adderal is much lower than the doses you would use for performance enhancement.

[ganulv]

This is why the Army does not sanction the use of potent amphetamines. I do know guys who are prescribed Adderal for ADHD which is an amphetamine but the thereputic dose for Adderal is much lower than the doses you would use for performance enhancement.

but that sounds like a ridiculous amount of amphetamine to me. It’s a double shot of espresso vs. an extra-large shot in the dark made with three double shots of espresso. Judicious use of amphetamines can put someone at the fabled 110%, but if you try to dose to get to 150% you’re going to end up with someone who is less good than the guy who took none at all!

[davidbfpo]

A short (28 mins) BBC Radio Four podcast, available for a month and the precis says:

Laurie Taylor talks to Lukasz Kamienski, Lecturer in Political Science at at Jagiellonian University, Poland, and author of a book which examines how intoxicants have been put to the service of states, empires and their armies throughout history. They were prescribed by military authorities but there's also been widespread unauthorised use by soldiers from the American Civil War to the Vietnam War and the rebel militias of contemporary Africa. Whether to improve stamina, increase fighting spirit or deal with shattered nerves, drugs turn out to have been a 'secret weapon' in warfare.
Also, the writer, Norman Ohler discusses his study into the overwhelming role of drug-taking in the Third Reich. According to his research, Nazi Germany was permeated with cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, and crucial to troops' resilience.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n3wnk

Two books are mentioned: Norman Ohler wrote Blitzed (Penguin, UK 2016 and reissued since):https://www.amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs...s=Norman+Ohler

Lukasz Kamienski wrote Shooting Up (Hurst, UK 2016):https://www.amazon.com/Shooting-Up-S...kasz+Kamienski