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Air Warrior Microclimatic Cooling Garments Tested By Army
Cooling vests called Air Warrior Microclimatic Cooling Garments (MCGs) are being tested by Humvee crews in Iraq and Kuwait. The vests are worn under body armor; a hose is plugged into the Humvee's cooling system. Fungicide-treated iquid from the vehicle AC system circulates in the vest, keeping soldiers cool.
(US Army Cooling Vest)
Humvees with add-on armor kits (and the doors and windows closed) are almost unbearably hot - vehicle interior temperatures can exceed 130 degrees. The Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the Natick Soldier Center were tasked with finding a solution for the troops. About 13,000 Humvees have been retrofitted with AC cooling; systems for more than 21,000 units are on order.
Philip K. Dick had a similar problem in mind when he wrote about Commuter Cooling Units in his 1964 novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch:
Looking out the window he saw with aversion that already it had become too hot for human endurance.. he went to the hall closet to get his pith helmet and his mandatory cooling-unit; by law one had to be strapped to every commuter's back until nightfall...He opened the door and stepped out into the hall, feeling the cool wind of the portable unit as it chugged from behind him...
(Read more about Philip K. Dick's Commuter Cooling Units)
Read more details about Soldiers testing cooling vests in Iraq; found this one on /.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/21/2005)
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