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Bioenviornmental prepares for summer

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Emily F. Alley
  • 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Hot summer days on most Air Force Bases are occasionally interrupted when a colored flag, or simply an announcement, brings sweaty workers indoors. Flags dictate work/rest cycles and also recommend more water intake during more severely hot conditions.

Ignoring these suggestions, said Maj. David Olhdam, flight surgeon of the 451st AEW in Kandahar Airfield Afghanistan, can result in heat stroke, kidney failure, or heat exhaustion.

"And you'd be fairly miserable," he added. "Dehydration is a very serious condition."

As the temperature continues to warm in Afghanistan, Airmen at KAF will be informed of the summer flag conditions by Tech. Sgt. Chad Brock, a bioenvironmental engineering technician, who then passes that information on to the command post.

He takes outdoor temperature readings with a machine slightly more complicated than a household thermometer; it is a computer designed to find the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, which measures not just temperature, but overall physical stress created by weather conditions. A computer takes into account things like humidity, wind speed and radiant heat exposure.

"It measures how your body reacts to temperature," Brock explained.

There is a mathematical formula that calculates all those elements, after the readings are taken. Sergeant Brock pulled out a metal case with several gauges that was stored near his desk- it was the old gauge that the Air Force used before computers. He keeps it as a backup to the new equipment. Using a pencil and quick arithmetic, he can still keep Airmen aware of their working conditions.

Compared to many of their counterparts on the other side of the planet, Airmen at KAF won't necessarily have a harsher summer. It is less humid in Afghanistan than in several parts of the United States. However, a WBGT index rises when it takes into account things like body armor.

A few other countries at KAF also have offices to measure severe weather. Sergeant Brock cited the French and Canadians as examples. His job also includes record keeping, noting unique hazards of a deployed environment. If an Airman developed medical problems several years after returning home, Sergeant Brock's records could help determine if the condition was caused by the deployment.

His office is categorized as preventative care. He suggests things, like asking crew chiefs to wear gloves when they handle hydraulic fluid, to help create a safer environment. However, he stresses that he can only inform and cannot personally enforce those rules.

"It goes back to the supervisor, training their folks," Brock described.

The next time Sergeant Brock announces a heat index, that supervisor will know to put his Airmen in the shade and hand them a bottle of water before they go back to work.