Performance enhancing drugs for the soldier?

[Bigmac]

      I stumbled upon an article from Britain which states that the Ministry of Defense there is experimenting with drugs to enhance soldier's performance in combat. Many of the drugs are banned substances used by professional atheletes to build muscle and cardio endurance. They also want to use sedatives to help relax the soldiers or aid them in getting proper sleep and stimulants to keep them awake when needed. The era of the "super soldier" may be coming soon to a combat area near you. Maybe we will even be able to go the route of "Universal Soldier" or "Robocop" where we can recycle dead soldiers into cyborg killing machines?!
    Personally I think it is a bad idea as it can lead to addictions and a myriad of health problems, not to mention safety concerns. Do you really want to be fighting beside a steroid enhanced soldier gorked out on sedatives or hopped up on speed? Read the article in the link below and tell me what your opinion is.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2509065,00.html

 

[reccecrewman]

I find this rather humourous........... Imagine a government giving soldiers various substances to keep them calm and/or stimulated in battle......  There are several historical instances in which cocaine was used for precisely that. (Stimulated.......... not so much the calm and sedated thing)  Booze was also another favorite prior to entering battle. But as the original poster said, I see and agree with his opinion it's going to lead to problems down the road for the soldiers involved.  Look at the problem we have now.

Cigarettes;

Given to the troops in both world wars for free (or sold for next to nothing)  The aim and purpose was to calm the men and steady the nerves.  Now there are thousands of vets who are hooked on nicotine and have no place to smoke.  Not even in their own Legions around the Province! For shame!  There was an article in the Ottawa Sun westerday in which a long term care facility in Ottawa has a group of 20+ war vets trying to raise $70,000 to turn over to the facility so they can have one room in the building converted to a smoke room that meets all Provincial & Federal guidelines so they don't have to go outside in the elements to satisfy an addiction the governemnt may well have helped nurture.  They had one elderly resident recently taken to hospital with a broken hip because of the rules of smoking 9m from an entrance and staff are not allowed to assist them.  This is one story from many most likely seen all over Canada.

Personally, I see nothing but bad news coming from the government handing out various stimulants/substances to enhance a soldiers performance.  I believe solid training and personal discipline and pride in being a soldier to be every bit as effective as some substance or stimulant.  My .02

Regards

 

[Spring_bok]

This really isn't much of a stretch.  We saw soldiers in Petawawa trialling a caffeine based chewing gum in very recent years. 

 

[Kilo_302]

The 82nd Airborne has used "stop" and "go" pills  (or red light, green light) for some time. My buddy who is currently in Baghdad with the US 2ID swears that they something in the Powerade during Basic and AIT that was supposed to calm everyone down and prevent fighting amongst the recruits. He said it was pretty much common knowledge.

 

[aesop081]

My buddy who is currently in Baghdad with the US 2ID swears that they something in the Powerade during Basic and AIT that was supposed to calm everyone down and prevent fighting amongst the recruits. He said it was pretty much common knowledge.

I taught AIT in the US......what you just said is pure BS

 

[Michael OLeary]

The 82nd Airborne has used "stop" and "go" pills  (or red light, green light) for some time. My buddy who is currently in Baghdad with the US 2ID swears that they something in the Powerade during Basic and AIT that was supposed to calm everyone down and prevent fighting amongst the recruits. He said it was pretty much common knowledge.

So was "saltpetre in the food" 50 years ago, but never substantiated.

http://www.snopes.com/military/saltpetr.htm

 

[Kilo_302]

I taught AIT in the US......what you just said is pure BS

I'm not saying its true, just what he said.

 

[Shamrock]

The 82nd Airborne has used "stop" and "go" pills  (or red light, green light) for some time. My buddy who is currently in Baghdad with the US 2ID swears that they something in the Powerade during Basic and AIT that was supposed to calm everyone down and prevent fighting amongst the recruits. He said it was pretty much common knowledge.

I'm not saying its true, just what he said.

Please tell me you're kidding.  I can see someone saying this, but I have a hard time believing anyone would believe it.  However, on my Snipercommandorangerninjapirate Course, we were all required to raise a puppy or kitten (personal choice) from day one and kill it with a spork on grad parade.

 

[gaspasser]

Please tell me you're kidding.  I can see someone saying this, but I have a hard time believing anyone would believe it.  However, on my Snipercommandorangerninjapirate Course, we were all required to raise a puppy or kitten (personal choice) from day one and kill it with a spork on grad parade.

And the reason for killing a puppy or kitten for course grad was....?
That sound a tad inhumane and the animal rights people would be all over that in seconds.
However, I do agree that the military has used soldiers, etc, to test a myriad of drugs in the past and probably will continue in order to find that perfect balance between killer and "puppy lover".  In other words, the perfect soldier.
My 0.02$

 

[Trinity]

Did BYT just miss the sarcasm?

or did he forget to add the smileys in his post?!

 

[gaspasser]

Umm, maybe the snowbirds went over my head on that one.
Puppies and kittens were a loke, right? Oh, and I didn't see any smilies.  Was I supposed to add on?



Member of the Gullible Fools Club.

 

[Kilo_302]

Maybe he thought "Snipercommandorangerninjapirate Course" was a course offered by the German Army.  ;D

 

[a_majoor]

The ancient Greeks usually had a final drink of wine before forming the Phalanx and marching into battle, so the use of mood altering substances is a very old tradition.

I have argued that modern sports medicine makes this very possible and even potentially benificial. Indeed, it may be easier and safer to use performance enhancing drugs, blood doping and other techniques on soldiers since this is done under control and in the the open, without the need for masking substances like Olympic atheletes need to use. Making PT resemble modern pentathelon training, and teaching memory enhancing techniques would also be very useful.

Every edge is needed, especially given the small numbers of soldiers available in the Western world.

 

[Michael OLeary]

N.B. Modern era performance-enhancing substances not to be confused with the Great War era apprehension-reducing substance Demerara.

 

[Welshy]

I remember reading somwhere that the German army during WW2 gave there soldiers methamphetamines  during the use of blitzkrieg. Also pilots in the US are given "go" and "stop" pills. Everyone remembers the Friendly Fire incident back during the first bit of A-stan, those guys where on "go" pills at the time.

 

[JesseWZ]

I remember reading somwhere that the German army during WW2 gave there soldiers methamphetamines  during the use of blitzkrieg. Also pilots in the US are given "go" and "stop" pills. Everyone remembers the Friendly Fire incident back during the first bit of A-stan, those guys where on "go" pills at the time.

I have never heard this before. Source please?

 

[Shamrock]

Pervitin, the wonder drug.  Key ingredient in tanker's chocolate.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Interesting that this comes up.  I was in Pet for a week at the beginning of the month.  I was in the shacks and I think I was the only military person there.  There were, however, many civilians.  I ended up talking to one of them, and he was telling me that he was  from a vitamin company R&D division and they were there for some "work".  He was kind of vague about what he was there for, but he did tell me about a device they had that used a laser applied to the skin surface to do an analysis of the level of various vitamins in your system.  Technology was based around the spectrometer concept. 
It would be nice if the CF turned to naturalpathic concepts to provide energy/alert boosts for it's people. 

 

[Michael OLeary]

Pervitin, the wonder drug.  Key ingredient in tanker's chocolate.

http://www.erowid.org/ask/ask.cgi?ID=2952

"Pervitin" is the name used for methamphetamine in the Czech Republic and other parts of Eastern Europe. The name "Pervitin" has been in use since 1938 when Temmler pharmaceutical in Berlin began producing methamphetamine and marketing it under that name. It quickly gained popularity among both the general population and the German military during World War II. Pervitin sales were restricted in 1941, but not before tens of millions of tablets were sold. Methamphetamine is still sold under the name "Pervitin" in Eastern Europe, including in liquid form (vials) for IM and IV use. It is also one of the slang names used for street methamphetamine (generally produced from ephedrine). There is some evidence that Pervitin/methamphetamine is being exported from the Czech Republic to other parts of Europe and Canada.

 

[Welshy]

I have never heard this before. Source please?

The investigation done by the Canadian Board of Inquiry. It is not unusual for them to take "go" pills on the long missions. I read about it in the book call Friendly Fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarnak_Farm_incident

As with the German army thing, I cannot remember. It was so long ago.