Coping With COVID: Does Prior Military Service Play a Role for Vietnam Veterans?

We investigated the impact of earlier military combat on ability to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic in 379 male Vietnam veterans who responded to surveys in 1984, 1998, and 2020. Combat exposure was scored with a validated scale, contrasting lowest tertile (8-15) vs. medium/high (16-40). About one-fourth of veterans (26%) reported that their military experience made it easier to cope with the pandemic, while over half (59%) said it had no effect. Medium/high-combat veterans were more likely to report that their military experience made coping easier (OR = 1.8, p = 0.03), but were less likely to report no effect of service on their coping than low-combat veterans (OR = 0.40, p<0.001). All 19 respondents (5%) who said military experience made coping more difficult were medium/high combat veterans. Military experience, and combat particularly, affected many of these veterans’ ability to cope with the pandemic decades after their service.

Suggestions for the order of military exoskeletons classification

The article defines the role and place of exoskeletal structures for military purposes in the military equipment of military personnel, and provides a brief analysis of the functional tasks assigned to them. Based on the results of the analysis, a new formulation of the concept of «military exoskeletons» is proposed, and the order of their classification is recommended. Based on the practical experience of creating and using exoskeletons for military purposes, a general description of all the proposed classification groups and their features is given. Key words Military exoskeleton, military combat equipment, classification groups, active assault-type exoskeleton, passive exoskeleton, explosive exoskeleton, rigging exoskeleton, medical exoskeleton.

Contribution of mutual perceived support to the marital satisfaction of combat commander couples

LAY SUMMARY Military combat commander couples face many difficulties, and support, especially perceived support, can be an important source for coping with them. This study examined how perceived support contributes to marital satisfaction among 248 male combat commanders in the Israel Defense Forces and their female spouses. The study found that the level of perceived support among combat commanders was significantly higher than that among their spouses, whereas there was no significant difference in their marital satisfaction.

Comparing the medical coverage provided by four contemporary military combat helmets against penetrating traumatic brain injury

IntroductionModern military combat helmets vary in their shapes and features, but all are designed to protect the head from traumatic brain injury. Recent recommendations for protection against energised projectiles that are characteristic of secondary blast injury is to ensure coverage of both the brain and brainstem.MethodGraphical representations of essential coverage of the head (cerebral hemispheres, cerebellum and brainstem) within an anthropometrically sized model were superimposed over two standard coverage helmets (VIRTUS helmet, Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH)) and two ‘high-cut’ helmets (a Dismounted Combat Helmet (DCH)) and Combat Vehicle Crewman (CVC) helmet), both of which are designed to be worn with communications devices. Objective shotline coverage from representative directions of projectile travel (−30 to +30 degrees) was determined using the Coverage of Armour Tool (COAT).ResultsVIRTUS and ACH demonstrated similar overall coverage (68.7% and 69.5%, respectively), reflecting their similar shell shapes. ACH has improved coverage from below compared with VIRTUS (23.3% vs 21.7%) due to its decreased standoff from the scalp. The ‘high-cut’ helmets (DCH and CVC) had reduced overall coverage (57.9% and 52.1%), which was most pronounced from the side.ConclusionsBoth the VIRTUS and ACH helmets provide excellent overall coverage of the brain and brainstem against ballistic threats. Coverage of both would be improved at the rear by using a nape protector and the front using a visor. This is demonstrated with the analysis of the addition of the nape protector in the VIRTUS system. High-cut helmets provide significantly reduced coverage from the side of the head, as the communication devices they are worn with are not designed to provide protection from ballistic threats. Unless absolutely necessary, it is therefore recommended that high-cut helmets be worn only by those users with defined specific requirements, or where the risk of injury from secondary blast is low.

Devising a procedure for justifying the choice of reconnaissance-firing systems

This paper reports a study into the special features of military (combat) activities at the present stage of military art development. The purpose was to subsequently define the basic requirements for reconnaissance-firing systems. The features under consideration are a rapid change in the situation, competition with an enemy for winning in time, accuracy, maneuverability, secrecy. They also involve a large amount of data that must be operated when deciding on combat use (hostilities). Other attributes of modern military (combat) activities are the consistency of operations and a clear structure of subordination; independence in maintenance and positioning. These data are useful and important because they make it possible to reasonably define the requirements for reconnaissance-firing systems. This paper has defined those requirements for reconnaissance-firing systems and such criteria for their selection that are predetermined by the specificity of military (combat) activities. The most important selection criteria include efficiency, accuracy, secrecy, robustness. Several actual reconnaissance-firing systems have been analyzed in order to demonstrate the use of the methodology. Specifically, «Kropyva» (Ukraine), «ArtOS» (Ukraine), «Obolon-A» (Ukraine), «Sokil» (Poland, Ukraine). A procedure for justifying the choice of reconnaissance-firing systems has been devised, taking into consideration the conditions of military (combat) activities, based on the method involving an analytic hierarchy process. A given procedure substantiates those selection criteria that were determined on the basis of patterns in modern military activities. From a practical point of view, the proposed methodology makes it possible to significantly reduce the time for planning an operation and considerably improve the validity of decisions by a commander (chief) regarding the choice of a reconnaissance-firing system and its further use in combat activities.

Frontier Governance: Contested and plural authorities in a Karen village after the ceasefire

This article applies the concept of frontier to analytically understand the forms of border governance that are developing in a former combat zone after the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and the Karen National Union (KNU). In particular, it explores border governance through the lens of judicial interventions, moral ordering, and control of crime. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in 2016–2018, it shows how a Karen-populated area changed from being a military combat zone to an area that is the target of civilian state-making efforts by both the KNU and the Myanmar state. These efforts intermingle and compete, and yet each form of state-making remains incomplete and contested. This has resulted in pluralized authorities and partly overlapping forms of what I conceptualize as ‘frontier border governance’. With its focus on two competing state-making actors, the article adds new insights to the burgeoning literature on frontiers, which predominantly focuses on a single expansionary state.