Keeping That Soldier Alive and Well.

As special forces have to carry their supplies with them, no matter how they travel they are always confronted with their limited ability to sustain themselves at the required physical level. Careful training can enable military personnel to live off the land to a surprising extent and conditioning will enable some personnel to survive on only a limited food intake for extended periods, but humans cannot survive for long without a constant supply of that vital commodity, water.

Even in the most temperate of climates, military personnel require considerable and regular liquid intakes if they are to remain fit for military operations. As a general rule, the hotter the operational area the higher the liquid intake needed. The biggest problem always encountered, apart from a steady supply, is that the main liquid requirement, water, is heavy, bulky and cannot be compressed. Reliance on finding potable supplies in the field is never a wise policy, so somehow special forces have to rely on their own resources by carrying as much water as possible with them. But there is an alternative, namely water filtration and purification systems of a portable nature that can process water fit to drink from sources of uncertain quality, where and when they can be found. At times this may have to include water stiff with organic sludge or other sediments.

Water purification systems that can be easily carried are limited in their processing capacity for there will be few special forces missions where generators or other power sources will be readily available to supply large scale water processing needs. For special forces, manually-operated individual purification devices are the more usual, and there are several available. Most of them rely on passing untreated water, usually direct from a water source, through a series of filters to remove all but the most minute impurities and pollutants, in the process reducing the latter to a completely safe level. Commercial systems based on just adding chlorine-based purification tablets are rarely effective enough to remove contamination from anything other than water that is reasonably clean to start with.

One UK concern that specialises in providing small unit and individual water purification devices is Pre-Mac International of Sevenoaks, Kent. One of their main products is the model PWP personal water processor, consisting of a funnel-type device screwed onto the neck of a standard-pattern water bottle. Raw water is poured into the funnel to pass by gravity through a series of filter layers, the first of them removing the larger particulates. Another activated carbon layer removes remaining matter and organic contamination. The final stage is to pass small amounts of iodine into the cleaned water to act as a biocide and render it safe for consumption. It takes about eight minutes to process a litre of raw water through the PWP, including a two minute resting period to allow the iodine to work effectively. The resultant product may not taste particularly pleasant but it is potable and infinitely better than nothing. If required, an added filter can be added to the bottle outlet to remove the residual iodine.

Pre-Mac produce a further two individual processing systems based on small hand pumps that can draw raw water direct from a source and force it through the filters. They follow the same processing lines as the model PWP, the model SWP being able to process raw water at a rate of 200 millilitres/min while the larger model MWP processes 400 millilitres/min. The model SWP is a small unit able to process 50 litres of raw water while the model MWP can process 200 litres. The model MWP weighs only 180 grams while the smaller model SWP is a mere 60 grams. Should greater quantities of water be required, Pre-Mac can provide higher capacity systems that require an electrical or other power source, one of them, the Solarwater 8, being powered via silently-operating banks of solar panels.

A Swiss product, the Katadyn Pocket Filter, is another hand-operated pump unit that relies on ceramic-based filter elements to process raw water at a rate of one litre/min. The sturdy Pocket Filter has a useful life of about 10 000 litres as the filters can be cleaned at intervals to prolong their utility. It is in service with over 30 countries. Katadyn employs a similar filtration system to produce water in larger quantities with its Expedition Filter. Manually-operated in stirrup-pump style, this equipment can deliver purified water at a rate of 3.5 litres/min and it can process approximately 25 000 litres.

German special forces have ordered another Katadyn system to meet their requirements, the Katadyn Combi. This system retains the ceramic filters of the other Katadyn units but with the addition of a replaceable activated carbon filtration level that further cleans chemically contaminated water and makes the finished product more pleasant to drink.

French Army special forces and other units have access to the individual water treatment equipment produced by SRTI-Sodeteg of Le Plessis Robinson. This hand-operated device takes unprocessed water direct from a source and filters it through a disposable cartridge capable of processing 50 litres. Cleaned water is passed directly into the user's water bottle at the rate of about six litres/hour.

While the above systems rely on filtration for their processing, Recovery Engineering of Minneapolis uses hand-operation to force untreated water through a reverse osmosis process. Several capacity models are available, the smallest named the Explorer and the larger units the Survivor series. With reverse osmosis the raw water is pressurised and forced through a series of membranes punctured by minute holes of molecular dimensions. As they pass through, particulates and organic matter are physically separated from the water molecules. To operate the Survivor series the unit is held against the thigh and a pump handle actuated. Survivor units are widely deployed by many armed forces.

All the above are relatively high-tech solutions to water purification problems. One further method should not be forgotten, even if it has been around for decades. This is the Solar Still available from Airborne Industries Valentec of Gwent in the UK. A still can be carried in folded form until it is needed when it is inflated by mouth. Raw water, including seawater, is poured into the still and then left for the sun to warm the interior and cause evaporation. Evaporation leaves the vast bulk of impurities present in the raw water reservoir allowing condensed water to run from inside the roof of the still into a gutter and then into an external collecting bag. A single still may not always produce much water and the delivery rate may well be erratic due to weather conditions, but the Solar Still costs little and can be left to work without intervention for long periods. As a last resort it could be a life-saver.

NBC 

Although international treaties might indicate otherwise, the threat of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare is with us still. Special forces, in common with all others, therefore have to take NBC protective precautions, including carrying an NBC respirator, one of the more personal items of individual equipment.

There are few instances of NBC protective equipment being developed specifically for special forces. Perhaps the only one is the UK Avon Technical Products SF10, a variant of the widely used S10 respirator. The SF10 differs in having the usual S10 drinking device removed and replaced by provision for a small microphone to connect to a radio or loud hailer. An extra filter position is also provided on the facepiece, either to connect an extra oxygen supply in an emergency or to accommodate an extra NBC filter canister. In addition, tinted outsert lenses can be added to the eyepieces to protect against nuclear flash; they also provide additional protection for the eyes against fragments.

Several other respirator types seem eminently suitable for special forces as they provide excellent vision qualities. One of these is the French Giat Arfa, with its large, one-piece polyurethane visor. Another is the Swedish Forsheda Type F2, while the Huber + Suhner SM90/SM3 has won widespread acceptance due to the wide range of accessories available. These include clip-on laser protection spectacles as well as sight correction lenses, a microphone housing and numerous methods of connecting the facepiece to either a central oxygen supply or extra filter canisters. The latest models of this respirator are the simpler PM31 and PM33.

No matter what type of respirator is selected, the passing of air through an NBC facepiece filter system will restrict the user's breathing rate. This becomes important when hard work has to be carried out while wearing the respirator and special forces are no strangers to exertion. A device known as the Micronel C420 compact air supply unit (Casu), one of a series of similar Micronel units, acts as an air blower that maintains a constant supply of filtered air at a slight overpressure inside the mask, making breathing that much easier when working. The battery-powered C420 carries two NBC filter canisters, can be worn on a belt and is connected to an NBC respirator via a flexible hose.

The NBC respirator forms only a part of NBC individual protective equipment (IPE). For the soldier, the largest item involved is the NBC suit. Here again, special forces are not singled out for special attentions when it comes to NBC suit design. They have to take their pick from what is available and there are plenty of NBC suits on offer from several countries.

Although it is impossible to make a hard and fast selection, among the suits that will almost certainly find favour with special forces will probably be the German Karcher Safeguard 3002 series. These suits can take the place of normal combat uniforms (complete with camouflage finish) as they are light and may be worn for prolonged periods without discomfort; they can even be worn directly against the skin. In addition they can be washed or decontaminated several times. The Safeguard 3002A1 provides extra protection by adding a fire retardant property, while the Safeguard 2002 has the same protective properties as the Safeguard 3002 but can be worn over existing uniforms if required.

Several other manufacturers produce NBC suits that would seem to meet special forces requirements, especially Paul Boy6 of France with its range of lightweight suits, some of which were designed for wear in hot climates, and the numerous Saratoga products, available from several sources, with their excellent protective qualities.

One thing is for certain, special forces are unlikely to favour the all-enveloping and uncomfortable impermeable rubber fabric suits that were at one time issued to the old Warsaw Pact nations. This form of suit is still likely to be retained for heavy duty tasks such as large scale decontamination, but special forces are not likely to carry out such duties under normal circumstances.

Armour

Body armour is making a definite comeback on the battlefield. Its resurgence has been acknowledged by the appearance of numerous forms of rifle calibre armour-piercing rounds intended to defeat the layers of Kevlar and similar composite materials that now cover the vital head and trunk areas of many combat soldiers. Special forces, especially in the UK, were leaders in the adoption of body armour back in the 1970s when terrorists started to employ hostage taking to attract media attention. In addition to their protective capabilities against fragments, nearly all body armours also have fire retardant properties.

Body armours fall into `hard' and `soft' categories. The soft types are favoured by most combat troops as they are relatively flexible and easy to wear in vest or waistcoat style. The most usual material employed is Du Pont's Kevlar, available in woven form, along with Azko's Twaron and Teijin's Technora. These woven aramid or nylon fibres can provide protection against artillery projectile fragments although recent developments in the field of ultra-light fibres have resulted in materials that can be very closely woven to the point where their density will act as a barrier to high velocity projectiles. However, for many body armour wearers, true protection against high velocity small arms bullets has to involve the `hard' materials. Once again, Kevlar can be introduced when manufacturing moulded items, such as combat helmets, but increasing use is being made of the so-called ceramics in place of metals.

Special forces still favour the flexible `soft' materials, but now combine this approach by the insertion of hard plates into soft armour garment pockets covering vital body areas. These plates can vary from titanium to boron carbide. There are limits to what these plates can achieve. If they are made thick enough to keep out every armour-piercing bullet likely to be encountered they become excessively heavy to the point where they can restrict activity. At all times there remains the problem that if such a plate is struck at close range or by an exceptionally heavy bullet, the resulting trauma shock and bruising inflicted on the wearer can still be lethal or, at best, severely disabling.

The Swiss armed forces already have a `triple protection' vest manufactured by Tissu Rothrist. Americans have a wide choice, including Gentex, US Armor and Silent Partner, while British forces have Courtaulds, RBR International, and Speciality Plastic Products. Israeli armed forces can select from IMI or Rabinex, not forgetting that the Israelis were pioneers in the development of the high collars now widely adopted on many vest designs to protect the neck.