MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Members Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune community and local installations can access a website to see real-time flag conditions to determine how to best conduct training and exercise.
Using the Automated Heat Stress System members of the Camp Lejeune community can learn about conditions in Camp Lejeune’s mainside, Stone Bay, Courthouse Bay, Camp Geiger and Camp Johnson through ahss.lejeune.usmc.mil. People accessing the information from a computer within the Marine Corps Worldwide network can access the information through ahss.mcieast.usmc.mil.
In 2012, about 110 service members aboard the base suffered from heat injuries. This year with only a few weeks in the hot weather season 10 service members have had heat injuries.
According to the Manual of Naval Preventative Medicine, physical training and other strenuous physical activity often cause heat injuries particularly when a person isn’t hydrated, acclimated to the weather, is exposed to extreme heat through direct sunlight or other heat producing equipment, is inside an enclosed place such as an armored vehicle. Wearing personal protective equipment, body armor, biological chemical protective uniform or other gear also adds to the risk.
“(The Automated Heat Stress System) is another element of training like any other safety feature,” said Molloy.
Heat injuries include heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
The Automated Heat Stress System Website provides real time flag conditions based on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index.
Not to be confused with the heat index, an index measuring “how it feels” based on air temperature and relative humidity, the temperature derived from the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index represents the heat stress on the human body, said Phil Molloy, a projects officer and systems manager with Marine Corps Installations East Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
The Marine Corps developed the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index in the 1950s as a preventative tool to minimize heat injuries in recruits at Parris Island. It has since spread throughout the Marine Corps and is used by other military branches throughout the world along with athletes and civilian industry.
The system collects, archives Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index information and displays it on a map. The map shows a circle over the areas it covers colored in its current flag condition.
The colors represent the severity of the heat, and give leaders guidelines for how much water a service member training in that area should drink and how many minutes they should rest per hour of work and physical training.
As the days heat up Marines can take proper precautions to ensure safety by visiting the
Automated Heat Stress System Website.
URL:
https://ahss.mcieast.usmc.mil/