thedrifter
10-17-06, 12:32 PM
October 23, 2006
Blood test could predict combat fitness
Program may yield methods to help troops cope with stress
By Kelly Kennedy
Staff writer
A syringe full of blood may answer a question that has plagued military leaders since the dawn of war: Which soldiers are fit for combat?
Basic trainees at Fort Benning, Ga., donated blood so scientists can look for markers to try to predict whether soldiers are physically and mentally fit.
“We can get a snapshot of how much stress you have loaded up in you,” said Maj. Roger Bannon, project manager for the study. “If you have high levels of stress, you break down in physical or psychological ways.”
By looking for stress markers in the blood such as hormones, immune responses or proteins released in response to stress, scientists say they can judge troops’ levels of stress. If they catch those markers early, the scientists say, they can prevent stress fractures, post-traumatic stress disorder, ulcers and even the common cold.
Or they can catch service members who shouldn’t be in the military in the first place.
“Stress is the central risk factor,” Bannon said. “Ultimately, it’s going to save lives because we’ll be able to deploy a healthier force.”
To test that theory, scientists and doctors took blood and urine samples from 350 soldiers entering two basic training companies at Fort Benning in September. Doctors also measured troops’ body mass index, had them take the Harvard Step Test to check cardiovascular fitness and asked them questions about past events that could have been stressful, such as child abuse, sexual assault or broken bones.
As the soldiers make their way through basic training and advanced individual training, the scientists will be there to watch how they manage stress and to repeat the battery of tests at the end of the 12-week cycle.
They’re also there to see who washes out.
After the scientists have gathered all of the data, Bannon said, they’ll “crunch the numbers” to see if there are correlations between the test results and the success of each soldier.
In the spring, the researchers will start the process with female trainees at Fort Jackson, S.C.; the Benning soldiers are all men.
Next fall, the scientists will start the next phase of the study: One new flock of basic trainees will go through the battery of tests and then continue with training as normal. That’s the control group. At the same time, a second group of soldiers will go through the same tests, but scientists will change their training to try to address potential problems defined by the tests.
For example, if a soldier has an immune response — or is producing enzymes in response to bacteria, toxins or viruses — he might be kept away from other soldiers for a week because he’s more susceptible to colds and flus. Or, if soldiers show signs of fatigue, Bannon said, the scientists might load them up with zinc and magnesium tablets.
Everyone in the second group will learn stress-coping skills.
Bannon compared fixing the stress fractures, ulcers and mental breakdowns to dealing with a disease.
‘You have to identify the virus’
“It’s like AIDS,” Bannon said. “You have to identify the virus, and then you come up with the vaccine.”
But no one knew there was a “virus” until Col. Robert Gonzalez arrived at Fort Benning in 2005 after spending more than a year in Afghanistan with the 25th Infantry Division. The conditions in the basic training units differed significantly from what his soldiers faced in Afghanistan, but the results did not.
“I’m completely engaged with the new recruits, and we’re seeing the same thing: high injuries and stress,” Gonzalez said.
“I realized something was going wrong,” he said. “If soldiers can’t make it through basic training without injuries or fatigue, how are they going to make it through combat?”
He said 30 percent of soldiers returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan exhibit symptoms of PTSD — and that’s with the best food, lodging and exercise facilities available for the circumstances. And that figure doesn’t include those sent home because of stress fractures, heart attacks or illness — all stress-related problems.
Then, he read an article that reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had isolated a marker — the protein complement C4A — in the blood of Operation Desert Storm veterans experiencing PTSD.
“That is the most important marker,” he said. “It shows when someone is actually undergoing physical exertion.”
He also learned another fact: Humans stow C4A in the blood, and scientists can see how much stress a person has had throughout his life.
“It’s all stored in our brains and expressed through our bodies as we go through life,” Bannon said.
Within a year of his arrival, Gonzalez had the Army, CDC, Emory University, Augusta State University and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research onboard for the study — along with 350 soldiers who volunteered to take part.
“It blew me away — 99 percent of the soldiers we asked volunteered. It’s the Millennium Generation,” Gonzalez said. “They are not embarrassed about talking about who they are.”
The researchers have already had some inadvertent successes. One soldier arrived with a skin graft over 40 percent of his body after a bad burn.
“He made it through his first medical exam, but there’s no way he could make it through Iraq without overheating,” Gonzalez said.
While taking the questionnaire several weeks ago, three soldiers broke down emotionally when confronted with questions about experiences they’d had.
“These three kids couldn’t even handle the test,” Bannon said. “How can you go into combat if you can’t do an entry exam?”
Two of the soldiers were reprocessed to help with coping skills, and the third was let go for a pre-existing mental disorder. In the first three weeks of training, three more soldiers dropped out.
“This morning, we had a guy say, ‘I want to quit. I can’t take it,’” Bannon said. “He has poor coping skills. He should never be here in the first place.”
Another soldier “blew up and threw his mattress into a light fixture,” Bannon said. “He just lost it. What we’re saying is, maybe we can predict that kind of behavior and help him with coping mechanisms.”
The idea isn’t to keep people who have dealt with a lot of stress out of the Army. The point is to find out which soldiers handle that stress well and why, and which soldiers handle it poorly and what they need to handle it better. And the questionnaire will help commanders understand their troops and prepare them for combat stress.
“They need to understand what today’s recruit is like — from their extracurricular activities to their childhood traumas,” Bannon said. “If you can understand who your population is, then you can serve them better.”
Kelly Kennedy covers the Army.
Ellie
Blood test could predict combat fitness
Program may yield methods to help troops cope with stress
By Kelly Kennedy
Staff writer
A syringe full of blood may answer a question that has plagued military leaders since the dawn of war: Which soldiers are fit for combat?
Basic trainees at Fort Benning, Ga., donated blood so scientists can look for markers to try to predict whether soldiers are physically and mentally fit.
“We can get a snapshot of how much stress you have loaded up in you,” said Maj. Roger Bannon, project manager for the study. “If you have high levels of stress, you break down in physical or psychological ways.”
By looking for stress markers in the blood such as hormones, immune responses or proteins released in response to stress, scientists say they can judge troops’ levels of stress. If they catch those markers early, the scientists say, they can prevent stress fractures, post-traumatic stress disorder, ulcers and even the common cold.
Or they can catch service members who shouldn’t be in the military in the first place.
“Stress is the central risk factor,” Bannon said. “Ultimately, it’s going to save lives because we’ll be able to deploy a healthier force.”
To test that theory, scientists and doctors took blood and urine samples from 350 soldiers entering two basic training companies at Fort Benning in September. Doctors also measured troops’ body mass index, had them take the Harvard Step Test to check cardiovascular fitness and asked them questions about past events that could have been stressful, such as child abuse, sexual assault or broken bones.
As the soldiers make their way through basic training and advanced individual training, the scientists will be there to watch how they manage stress and to repeat the battery of tests at the end of the 12-week cycle.
They’re also there to see who washes out.
After the scientists have gathered all of the data, Bannon said, they’ll “crunch the numbers” to see if there are correlations between the test results and the success of each soldier.
In the spring, the researchers will start the process with female trainees at Fort Jackson, S.C.; the Benning soldiers are all men.
Next fall, the scientists will start the next phase of the study: One new flock of basic trainees will go through the battery of tests and then continue with training as normal. That’s the control group. At the same time, a second group of soldiers will go through the same tests, but scientists will change their training to try to address potential problems defined by the tests.
For example, if a soldier has an immune response — or is producing enzymes in response to bacteria, toxins or viruses — he might be kept away from other soldiers for a week because he’s more susceptible to colds and flus. Or, if soldiers show signs of fatigue, Bannon said, the scientists might load them up with zinc and magnesium tablets.
Everyone in the second group will learn stress-coping skills.
Bannon compared fixing the stress fractures, ulcers and mental breakdowns to dealing with a disease.
‘You have to identify the virus’
“It’s like AIDS,” Bannon said. “You have to identify the virus, and then you come up with the vaccine.”
But no one knew there was a “virus” until Col. Robert Gonzalez arrived at Fort Benning in 2005 after spending more than a year in Afghanistan with the 25th Infantry Division. The conditions in the basic training units differed significantly from what his soldiers faced in Afghanistan, but the results did not.
“I’m completely engaged with the new recruits, and we’re seeing the same thing: high injuries and stress,” Gonzalez said.
“I realized something was going wrong,” he said. “If soldiers can’t make it through basic training without injuries or fatigue, how are they going to make it through combat?”
He said 30 percent of soldiers returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan exhibit symptoms of PTSD — and that’s with the best food, lodging and exercise facilities available for the circumstances. And that figure doesn’t include those sent home because of stress fractures, heart attacks or illness — all stress-related problems.
Then, he read an article that reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had isolated a marker — the protein complement C4A — in the blood of Operation Desert Storm veterans experiencing PTSD.
“That is the most important marker,” he said. “It shows when someone is actually undergoing physical exertion.”
He also learned another fact: Humans stow C4A in the blood, and scientists can see how much stress a person has had throughout his life.
“It’s all stored in our brains and expressed through our bodies as we go through life,” Bannon said.
Within a year of his arrival, Gonzalez had the Army, CDC, Emory University, Augusta State University and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research onboard for the study — along with 350 soldiers who volunteered to take part.
“It blew me away — 99 percent of the soldiers we asked volunteered. It’s the Millennium Generation,” Gonzalez said. “They are not embarrassed about talking about who they are.”
The researchers have already had some inadvertent successes. One soldier arrived with a skin graft over 40 percent of his body after a bad burn.
“He made it through his first medical exam, but there’s no way he could make it through Iraq without overheating,” Gonzalez said.
While taking the questionnaire several weeks ago, three soldiers broke down emotionally when confronted with questions about experiences they’d had.
“These three kids couldn’t even handle the test,” Bannon said. “How can you go into combat if you can’t do an entry exam?”
Two of the soldiers were reprocessed to help with coping skills, and the third was let go for a pre-existing mental disorder. In the first three weeks of training, three more soldiers dropped out.
“This morning, we had a guy say, ‘I want to quit. I can’t take it,’” Bannon said. “He has poor coping skills. He should never be here in the first place.”
Another soldier “blew up and threw his mattress into a light fixture,” Bannon said. “He just lost it. What we’re saying is, maybe we can predict that kind of behavior and help him with coping mechanisms.”
The idea isn’t to keep people who have dealt with a lot of stress out of the Army. The point is to find out which soldiers handle that stress well and why, and which soldiers handle it poorly and what they need to handle it better. And the questionnaire will help commanders understand their troops and prepare them for combat stress.
“They need to understand what today’s recruit is like — from their extracurricular activities to their childhood traumas,” Bannon said. “If you can understand who your population is, then you can serve them better.”
Kelly Kennedy covers the Army.
Ellie