DARPA Project: Pentagon Wants "Warfighters" To Go 5 Days Without Eating

[Oilwellian]

This is some scary stuff. Be sure and check out the links in this article that lead to the actual DARPA sites.

<snip>
Soldiers' moms will no doubt be horrified. But the Pentagon is looking into ways for GIs to fight for up to five days -- without eating a single meal.

During a mission, soldiers in the field typically don't have the time, or the inclination, to chow down. That lack of food can affect their battlefield performance. So Darpa, the U.S. military's far-out research arm, wants scientists to figure out if soldiers can operate at top levels -- without lunch breaks.

"The question is: 'Are there temporary biochemical approaches we can use to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of soldiers when they're already worked to exhaustion?'" said a Darpa life sciences consultant, who asked not to be named.

The agency has a couple of ideas on how this might be done: A cocktail of nutrients or so-called "nutraceuticals" could help build endurance. Lowering soldiers' core body temperature might keep them from overheating. Or, perhaps, the change could be made at the microscopic level, by turbo-charging mitochondria -- the cell's energy suppliers.

The Darpa project, called "Metabolic Dominance" or "peak soldier performance," is part of a wider, future-facing Pentagon research push to develop grunts who are pretty much immune to normal human demands. The agency has sunk millions into programs to reduce the need for sleep and is investigating ways to keep injured GIs pulling the trigger for days on end -- without help from a medic.

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,62297,00.html

[roguevalley]

1. Mengele lives on and on and on.

[anarchy1999]

2. All I can say is, Oh My God!

This can't possibly be real, but if it is DARPA, well, put nothing past them. Evil to the nth degree.

Damn.

People, we're in trouble.

[Silverhair]

34. Not evil. It is efficiency. Remember, the only purpose of a military

is to be able to win wars. Everything else is secondary to that.

[enki23]

3. i wouldn't count on much on the "meal in pill form" front for a while

.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. They never saw a speed freak?

[david_vincent]

5. "Pulling the trigger for days on end"

and killing Canadians and whoever else they happen to mistake
for an enemy.

[Andy_Stephenson]

6. ZING!

ZING....ZING

[TexasMexican]

7. OH NOES!!!

science is evil. :eyes:

[Spentastic]

8. This science is

This is about allowing people to kill people more efficiently.

What do you think is evil then?

[opihimoimoi]

9. Who the hell put these guys in power? Clearly over the top.

[TexasMexican]

10. actually...

I thought this science was about making them in a sense perform better athetlically.

So if someone doesnt overheat as much or has to eat less often, thats evil?

Yes obviously the military is hoping this will make them more efficient killers and whatnot, but I dont see how that makes this specific science evil.

I'm also not a pacifist, I believe that sometimes we do have to kill people.

As such I espeically dont see how the science of having people skip a meal every now and then is evil.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Why don't you give it a try for 5 days

and then let us know how you feel? Of course, it won't be an accurate test since you're not in a combat zone, carrying a 100 pounds of gear, in a desert with temps over 100 degrees. But heck, in the interest of science I think you would still learn something.

[TexasMexican]

13. I would be willing...

if the money was right and I was informed on what the risks were.

[morningglory]

19. Takin' a pill to get your mitochondria whirring like propeller

blades. That has to be good for you.

[Spentastic]

12. No I'm sure you don't

Then again I guess you can justify testing things on the mentally ill. After all it only advances science.

The point of this science is purely to gain an advantage over an "enemy" It's not about safeguarding the welfare of soldiers, it's about ensuring that the good little soldier drones are ready to kill when commanded to.

Previous attempts to improve "warfighters" performance led to some very dead canadians after the hyped up pilot bombed the shit out of them.

The human body has limits for a reason. Overiding them is stupid.

"I believe that sometimes we do have to kill people."

Other people feel the same. That's how you can motivate yourself to fly planes into buildings.

[TexasMexican]

14. Where do you get that from?

I never stated that I support advancing science at all costs, nor do I believe that the ends justify the means (atleast not in all situations).

So why do you assume that I think we should experiment on the mentally ill? You know what they say about assumptions and I certainly think yours has made you one of them.

As for it not being to safeguard the soliders, and that its all about making them kill on command. I believe thats false, its definatly a bit of both though.

As for the limits of the human body, well I guess if god wanted us to fly he would have given us wings right?

[Spentastic]

18. Well I apologise then

It's just this kind of science pisses me off. It seems to me that rather than improving the human condition some scientists are busy trying to make it worse.

I'll be clear. I see no benefit other than military and commercial in skipping meals.

As for the wings crack, it's interesting that we may be reaching the limit for human manned combat aircraft. No doubt science will soon "improve" our pilots to cope.

[Silverhair]

35. Gaining an advantage over an enemy IS safeguarding your troops.

The faster you win the war, the fewer people you lose.

[HereSince1628]

21. Well they'll piss like race horses, did project include "Depends?"

Oxygen serves as the sink for the hydrogen and the electrons involved in the oxidative phosphorylation pathway. The end result is the production of metabolic water. Boosting mitochondrial activity is going to lead to more "pee" breaks.

Moreover, the catabolism of biomolecules is going to lead to "pollutants" such as the infamous ketones of the Atkin's Diet. Those things must be flushed from the body...which will require drinking more water.

Are our supersoldiers going to be caught wagging the dribbles off their willies?

The next subproject might include a military grade diaper, or perhaps an environmental suit that allows them to reprocess their pee like the indiginous residents of Dune?

[Oilwellian]

23. Oh my

Your post is hysterical. Thanks for the laugh. :D

[HereSince1628]

30. Well, reality can be funny, you just can't make this stuff up.

but there is the serious side,

I suspect that the catabolic pathways can be accelerated pharamceutically (think phen/fen, ephedrine, etc.).

I am concerned about the possibility of permanent liver and kidney damage to veterans subjected that regime as well as acute deaths in serving troops due to heart-attacks, etc.

[Silverhair]

37. The troops don't stay on that regime permenantly.

You would feed your troops normally, and then when needed, you would shift over to the regime for short durations of a few days only. After that the troops would have to recuperate.

Heart attacks? Hey - you aren't talking about old overweight farts like me. Combat troops are pretty much young and physically fit. Heart attacks would be rare.

[Silverhair]

36. Taking a leak in a combat operation is almost NEVER a problem.

You don't have to find a proprer restroom. You just go. You don't give a care who may or may not see you, or anything else. Nature's call is answered quickly.

[oneighty]

26. What's this WE stuff?

Mon.

180

[Gin]

29. Mr. Boosh...you should not be posting on this forum...stay on the ranch,

gin


"I'm also not a pacifist, I believe that sometimes we do have to kill people."

[salin]

25. My cynical self has to wonder

if some of the motivation of this research is about how to keep fighting endless wars without having to do a draft... ala - get the fighters to need less backup by easing the need of 'relief'...

I have to admit that my mind didn't always start seeing cynical angles all over the place... but with this current administration there seems to be a whole lot of secondary hidden agendas that it just gets too easy to look for them whether or not they really exist.

[LibInternationalist]

15. There was this Star Trek episode...

can't recall the name of it right now -- involved soldiers that had been chemically and genetically messed with and then sent to a prison colony because they couldn't interact successfully in normal society -- I think James Cromwell was in it...

[TexasMexican]

16. TNG or TOS

I remember the one where Khan first shows up.

[Postman]

17. (sarcasm) no eating because supply train has been privatized?

I remember reading a story about how the army was getting sub-standard food-stuffs from a subsidiary of Haliburton - Kellogg, Brown & Root - I think it was...

[Malva Zebrina]

20. How on earth did we win wars without this?

I got it--we lost in Vietnam and the skirmish in Somalia because our soldiers ate too much!! or stopped to eat!!

The irony of not stopping to think this outis

We won in the other wars and stopped to eat--did not have this new "science". Why is it now , we think we can "win better" by this science?

I don't buy the changing of the meaning of words very much or the invention of new ones to describe an old one. Because science is mentioned people think it has an aura of respectability.

It is just plain striving, on the part of people in the government hoping to make a name and reputation, and on the part of the government to reassure bright eyed, bushy tailed, naive nineteen year old, hormone injected youths, all enthused and infused with romantic notions of defending our "freedom" and "willing to die for our freedoms" by those who would manipulate their naivete, that they will never die in combat.

[loudnclear]

22. So they can commit war crimes without a conscience?

A starved man with a gun has little conscience.

[Kinkistyle]

28. There was a Village Voice article about "Anti-moral" drug.

It was a drug that would hamper the soldier's power of judgement between "Right and Wrong".

[loudnclear]

31. Never forget, these madmen will come home one day.

I remember Dick Gregory said in the late 60's that we train our young men to become killers without a conscience and then become alarmed when they come home and kill.

[oneighty]

24. Give them a bag of rice

and some "Good stuff". Worked great for the Chinese soldiers in N. Korea years ago.

Give the same diet to the idiots running this country and to those that desire to dominate the world.

180

[Kinkistyle]

27. Isn't there a similar plan with "Go Pills"?

More than food, SLEEP is a major problem and there was a initiative to try and create a drug that would let soldiers function for several days on end without sleep. I believe there were deemed "Go Pills".

[Columbia]

32. Hey, why not?

Anything so we don't have to keep eating those dang awful MRE's everyday.

Except for the spaghetti and meat patty meals... mmm mmm good.

[Silverhair]

33. From a soldier's view.

Your are a combat soldier. The reality of combat is pretty brutal. It isn't a 9 to 5 job, weekends and all holidays off. Now an operation is about to kick off and you will have to carry your supplies on your back, and resupply will be limited for the next few days.

Would you rather carry several days worth of food - or instead would you rather have some extra ammo. It is the third day of the op and the fighting has been heavy. Some resupply trucks will be able to get through. Would you rather see then full of food - or ammo?

In combat, resupply is often limited due to the realities of the situation. You can do without beans for a few days, but being without bullets can be real serious in a real hurry. Run out of bullets, and the beans won't matter.

This has been done before - in a fashion. In WWII, the Red Army of the USSR would not resupply an attacking force with food for three days. Ammo only.