LCol collapses during BFT - 14 Aug 09

[dapaterson]

Not a lot of details, but a story in the Ottawa Sun today:

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/08/14/10468831.html

A 47-year-old senior army officer was rushed to hospital Friday after he collapsed during a training exercise in the west end.

Paramedics were called to the Connaught Range and Primary Training Centre just before 11 a.m. after a lieutenant colonel was found unconscious in a shallow ditch.

The Canadian forces confirmed late Friday night there was an emergency call at the range and a man was rushed to hospital.

The man remained in critical condition as of 9:30 p.m.

The man was participating in a 13km annual fitness test that had him carrying a heavy pack.

He was found by his comrades unconscious in the ditch about 200 metres short of the finish line. It’s believed he’d been there for 10-20 minutes.

Paramedics treated him heat stroke and severe dehydration. He was unconscious upon arrival at hospital.

Another article that does not mention the military aspect is at:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/found+unconscious+alerts+dangers+heat+wave/1896128/story.html

 

[meni0n]

Who in their right mind would do a 13km in that kind of heat?

 

[PuckChaser]

The better question is, who let him get that dehydrated? The buddy system is a lifesaver in hot days, you can do a BFT in any weather, as long as you bring the adequate water required and hydrate a lot beforehand. 200m short of the finish line and left for 10-20 minutes? I won't even get into how wrong that is.

 

[basrah]

Who in their right mind would do a 13km in that kind of heat?

Are you serious? So we should start moving training to allow it to be easier? No more winter ex if it is too cold out? Ive done BFTs when it is -20 and + 40, never have I seen a soldier pass out.

As for who let him get dehydrated, well, he did. He is a grown man, and just because he is a senior officer does not mean he should have someone watching his water intake. A buddy system is great, but if he is worrying about hydration while on the march, he is already in trouble. To properly hydrate he should have been saturating his body with water for a week before hand.

There may be unseen factors here of course. Was he sick? Physically unprepared?

 

[Roy Harding]

Are you serious? So we should start moving training to allow it to be easier? No more winter ex if it is too cold out? Ive done BFTs when it is -20 and + 40, never have I seen a soldier pass out.

As for who let him get dehydrated, well, he did. He is a grown man, and just because he is a senior officer does not mean he should have someone watching his water intake. A buddy system is great, but if he is worrying about hydration while on the march, he is already in trouble. To properly hydrate he should have been saturating his body with water for a week before hand.

There may be unseen factors here of course. Was he sick? Physically unprepared?

I agree with you, basrah.  Except for two things:

I HAVE seen a soldier pass out from heat exhaustion - granted he was a junior Private, and the CofC should have had a closer eye on him. 

And the part about hydrating for a week before the BFT.  In various units I was proud to serve with (Cdn AB Regt and 3 VP are two that jump immediately to mind) - it was a matter of pride that the CO just woke up in the morning and said to himself - let's do a BFT today.  When you arrived to work, you were told "Ruck up, draw your weapon - we're goin' for a walk".  No chance to hydrate for a week before - just get goin' and make sure you have water in your canteen.

As you said - it still remains to be seen if this particular fellow had pre-existing health concerns (known or undetected).

Roy

 

[medaid]

There may have been preexisting medical conditions known or unknown to the individual. Lets just hope that the member recovers quickly.

 

[Roy Harding]

... Lets just hope that the member recovers quickly.

Absolutely - and I should have voiced the same sentiment in my earlier post.

 

[basrah]

I agree with you, basrah.  Except for two things:

I HAVE seen a soldier pass out from heat exhaustion - granted he was a junior Private, and the CofC should have had a closer eye on him. 

And the part about hydrating for a week before the BFT.  In various units I was proud to serve with (Cdn AB Regt and 3 VP are two that jump immediately to mind) - it was a matter of pride that the CO just woke up in the morning and said to himself - let's do a BFT today.  When you arrived to work, you were told "Ruck up, draw your weapon - we're goin' for a walk".  No chance to hydrate for a week before - just get goin' and make sure you have water in your canteen.

As you said - it still remains to be seen if this particular fellow had pre-existing health concerns (known or undetected).

Roy

Very true. A lot of the younger soldiers really do not know how to prepare for a BFT. Some think that a set of good socks and a bit of stretching will do it. As leaders, snr troops should be looking after the greenhorns.

Also, you are very correct in the lack of preparation. I am sure anyone who did the old 2x10 can attest that there wasnt always time to properly prepare for hydration, and often it was a fastball.

That being said though, in this day, we are all given fair warning about a BFT (95% of the time), and it ultimately does lay in the hands of the soldier to prepare. Of course the soldier must be taught properly as well.

Remember all, if you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

Best wishes for a fast recovery.

 

[PMedMoe]

I won't say much because I am privy to some information regarding this.

I will say, this officer was in extremely good shape for a man his age and no stranger to BFTs and preparing for them.

It's one thing to train in extreme heat or cold when it needs to be done, quite another when it's unnecessary.  That being said, at Connaught, they do a BFT every month, so I'm quite sure they could have canceled this one.

Also, there is a such thing as over hydrating.  A person consumes too much water and their heart and lungs have to struggle to work against waterlogged muscles.

Yes, here's hoping for a speedy recovery for this fine gentleman (yes, I've met him).

Edit to add:  The reason no one knew where he was is because he was well ahead (about 0.5 km) of the main body and took a different turn to the finish point.  (Either the route was not marked or had not been explained).  It was only noted that he was missing when everyone else finished.  He was actually off the road in high grass.

 

[Roy Harding]

In the interest of not hijacking this thread - I'd invite those interested to discuss Fitness Standards over in this old thread:  http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/23380.0.html  Go to the last page for the latest additions.

I'll copy a couple of posts from here that I'd like to discuss further.


Roy

 

[COBRA-6]

I won't say much because I am privy to some information regarding this.

I will say, this officer was in extremely good shape for a man his age and no stranger to BFTs and preparing for them.

It's one thing to train in extreme heat or cold when it needs to be done, quite another when it's unnecessary.  That being said, at Connaught, they do a BFT every month, so I'm quite sure they could have canceled this one.

Also, there is a such thing as over hydrating.  A person consumes too much water and their heart and lungs have to struggle to work against waterlogged muscles.

Yes, here's hoping for a speedy recovery for this fine gentleman (yes, I've met him).

Edit to add:  The reason no one knew where he was is because he was well ahead (about 0.5 km) of the main body and took a different turn to the finish point.  (Either the route was not marked or had not been explained).  It was only noted that he was missing when everyone else finished.  He was actually off the road in high grass.

Thanks for the extra info, put the situation in context the news articles lacked.

Speedy recovery to the LCol.

 

[mariomike]

Best wishes to the Officer for a speedy recovery. 

 

[1feral1]

Firstly I hope this man recovers fully and soon.

Living in Australia where it is generally hot during most of the time, when an Aussie BFT is on (called a CFA Combat Fitness Assessment - 15km w/pack webbing, rifle in 2h20min followed by an obstical course which is usually done first  :nod: ), we run them usually on a Friday, starting at 0530h, and men are encouraged to down a water bottle before they go, and have 5 litres on them to consume on the way.

After the CFA, we thow a BBQ of snags and dampers, with Cokes or sometimes beer if authorised, and people are cut loose by 1100 for the wknd to recover for Monday.

The use of safety vehicles, and sentries comes in handy, and assists in the potential recovery of injured pers should anyone come into strife during the hell-walk.

Perhaps in warm weather, the organisers of these BFTs could start much earlier than doing this during the heat buidling time of the day. even in Canada the sun is a killer.

That being said, the supervision of those participating should ensure that water is taken as a group before the trek starts.

This sounds like heads should roll on certain organisers.



Just my view.

OWDU

Ya, edited for spelling....

 

[fire_guy686]

Best wishes for a quick recovery.

 

[1feral1]

Thought I'd add this in too....

We have a well advanced notice of a CFA, usually several months.

So we become prepared over a time frame, doing battle PT, along with normal PT usually most days in the week, plus sportie Thursday arvos. As time progresses, mini CFAs, first with webbing, then with webbing & rifle, then with webbing, rifle and pack.

This helps out anyone from getting the shock of a CFA thrown at them, and also covers the Unit for duty of care, etc.

With this lead up trg, along with early morning CFA starts, proper supervison, and proper hydration, usually there is a good outcome, with only visits to the RAP (MIR) for blisters and related injuries from the walk.

I think that is all common sense, and maybe there should be more of it used WRT the injury of this Officer.

OWDU

 

[FormerHorseGuard]

I am very old now almsot hitting the 40 mark soon, I remember back in 1993 when the LFCA HQ put out the CRS ( Combat Readiness Standard). I worked at the Headquarters a cpl at the time and we had to do the fitness run at base Toronto near the Base Hospital down to the enlisted married quarters and back. 3.2 KM run. We had a CPL who ran marathons for a hobby  and he was the front  guy  for the run. He took off at a high rate of speed and a Captain decided he would try and keep up to the CPL,  never took the warning from other officers and some us nicer enlisted men not to even try and keep up to the CPL. The Captain did not keep up and ended up takign a ride to a hospital by ambulance. Another Major from the same section who was running at her pace also hit the ground and needed a ride to the hospital for medical support .

Both officers trained for this run/test for weeks as a group and on own time.
Poor planning or trying to do something your body  is not properly  conditioned to do  can cause many  problems.  Some younger soldiers also had issues on this run and did not finish it under own power.

Just because you  know the running is coming up does not mean Murphy  does not come for the ride and does his best to screw you  up.

The Cpl in this story  he did manage  to be the first across the line and was there at the end point reading out everyones timing.  His time was under 13 minutes if memory serves me, my  time was just over 17 minutes. well under the 22 minutes allowed.

I hope the LCol recovers and soem other soldiers learn from his mistake or learns from his accident.  But I guess he was leading from the front.

 

[meni0n]

Are you serious? So we should start moving training to allow it to be easier? No more winter ex if it is too cold out? Ive done BFTs when it is -20 and + 40, never have I seen a soldier pass out.

As for who let him get dehydrated, well, he did. He is a grown man, and just because he is a senior officer does not mean he should have someone watching his water intake. A buddy system is great, but if he is worrying about hydration while on the march, he is already in trouble. To properly hydrate he should have been saturating his body with water for a week before hand.

There may be unseen factors here of course. Was he sick? Physically unprepared?

No I am not kidding. Usually a BFT is done either in the fall or spring to avoid this kind of thing. I remember when being in Pet they actually had emails sent out from the base as to the ratio of work vs rest to do be done in the heat during a particular day.

 

[PMedMoe]

Until we find out more about this man's condition, the reason behind the collapse is just speculation.  There may have been another medical reason for it (possible exacerbated by the heat).

Also to stipulate, he wasn't doing a BFT on his own, he was with a group, just somewhat ahead of them.

On a side note, IIRC, the only unit in Ottawa receiving LDA is 2 MP Det and anyone from CANSOFCOM (with the exception of HQ pers).

 

[Petard]

I did the BFT at Connaught this year

The route at Connaught is clearly marked, with distance on the signs, and there are safety vehicles and safety pers.

There are parts of the route where someone might get out of sight if they were well out in front, who knows if this was a factor or not in this case, as PMedMoe pointed out, its only speculation as to why the LCol ended up where he did.

My point being I would say it is a well organized regular event at Connaught.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I did this route this year

It is a clearly marked route, with distance on signs, and there are safety vehicles and safety pers.

There are parts of the route where someone might get out of sight if they were well out in front, who knows if this was a factor or not in this case, as PMedMoe pointed out, its only speculation as to why the LCol ended up where he did.

My point being I would say it is a well organized regular event at Connaught.

He likely ended up where he did, off the prescribed course, because of the effects of his condition. One of which would be disorientation.