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US troops are increasingly falling to heatstroke during training as the military braces for rising temperatures
The military has a climate change problem.
As global temperatures rise, the number of heat-related illness diagnoses of active-duty service members is rising as well, according to military data.
Statistics show a 60% increase of heatstroke or heat exhaustion cases between 2008 and 2018, from 1,766 to 2,792. Over that same stretch of time, at least 17 troops have died from heat-related complications during training exercises on bases in the U.S.
Wright-Patterson is the third critical Air Force base walloped by extreme weather in just 8 months
Editor's Note: This article by Oriana Pawlyk Harkins originally appeared onMilitary.com, a leading source of news for the military and veteran community.
Officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, are working to determine the extent of the damage done by a major storm system, including several suspected tornadoes, that hit the Dayton area Monday night.
Officials have so far determined that approximately 150 houses in an off-base, privatized housing area were damaged, as well as numerous vehicles, according to base spokeswoman Marie Vanover.
"A handful of the homes were significantly damaged" in the Prairies at Wright Field housing area, Vanover said Tuesday in an email. "Work crews are on site to help clear the area and continue their damage assessment."
Marine Commandant: Border deployments aren't hurting readiness, even though I said they would
Deploying troops to the U.S.-Mexico hasn't hurt Marine Corps readiness as much as previously reported, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller told lawmakers on Tuesday, directly contradicting the "unacceptable risk" to readiness the Corps' top officer had explicitly detailed in a pair of internal memos that leaked last month.
The White House will keep challenging the Pentagon on the threat of climate change until it gets an answer it likes
The definition of insanity, the old saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result — a definition that applies perfectly to the Trump administration's response to the looming national security threat of global climate change.
The Navy Is Building A Wall To Prepare For A Major National Security Threat
WASHINGTON — The Navy is considering building a 14-foot flood wall around the Washington Navy Yard to protect the historic complex along the Anacostia River from rising sea levels, internal Department of Defense documents show.
During his confirmation hearing in January, Secretary of Defense James Mattis vowed that the Department of Defense would take the national security challenges posed by climate change seriously, despite the President Donald Trump’s well-documented skepticism on the matter. But a new government report suggests the Pentagon isn’t taking all the necessary steps to address climate’s impact on readiness worldwide — and the delay may be rooted in a delicate dance by DoD officials to reconcile its security concerns with the White House’s firm opposition to mainstream climate research.
