Environmental Health for Ground Forces

Introduction

Food service sanitation

Medical Intelligence

Environmental health

Waste management

References

Potable water supply

Heat and cold injuries

Introduction

Medical officers must understand the interplay between environmental conditions and the status of a population’s health if they are to preserve their unit’s combat effectiveness. In every war for which statistics have been recorded, military forces have lost more personnel to infectious/communicable disease and nonbattle injury (DNBI) than to direct combat with opposing forces.

Environmental health

Environmental health safeguards are the instruments to preserve combat effectiveness by limiting DNBIs. Critical elements to a unit’s health include: assurance of potable water and safe food; proper management of wastes and human excreta; and prevention of heat and cold injuries. Preventive medicine personnel (environmental health officers, preventive medicine technicians, or senior medical department representatives) assigned to the support element of the Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) are responsible to ensure these safeguards are in place. However, medical officers are often called on to brief operational commanders on these and other preventive medicine topics. The following are general responsibilities that the medical department has for field sanitation:

Potable water supply

Medical department representatives (MDRs) shall advise their commanding officer on water quality issues, assist engineers in selecting water sources, identify potential health hazards within the potable water system, conduct routine halogen and bacteriological examinations of water supplies, and recommend water treatment methods.

Food service sanitation

In the field, all factors which normally contribute to foodborne illness outbreaks such as improper storage and holding temperatures, inadequate protection of food from contamination, and poor food handler personal hygiene, are exacerbated. The MDR has the following responsibilities:

  • inspect food service facilities routinely

  • inspect food to ensure it's fit for human consumption and received from an approved source

  • maintain sanitary surveillance of storage, preparation, and serving of food, and the disposal of food wastes

  • ensure food service spaces, equipment, and utensils are cleaned and sanitized properly

  • examine military food service personnel for disease or unclean habits that could result in foodborne illness

  • provide food service sanitation training

Waste management

All types of waste are generated each day in the field. If they are not disposed of properly, the camp will quickly become an ideal breeding area for flies, rats, and other vermin. Diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, cholera, dengue, and plague could compromise the integrity of the unit. To combat this problem, MDRs provide technical assistance in the fabrication, location, and maintenance of field waste-disposal facilities. They also inspect these facilities before their initial use to ensure their proper construction and location, and then reinspect on a daily basis.

Heat and cold injuries

Heat and cold injuries are a major threat to field operations, but are preventable through sound leadership and planning. Refer to the Cold Injury / Heat Injury chapter of this manual.

SOURCES OF MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS

Navy Environmental Health Center
2510 Walmer Ave
Norfolk, VA 23513-2617
COM (757) 462-5500
After Hours: (757) 621-1967
prevmed@med.navy.mil

Officer in Charge
Navy Environmental and Preventive
Medicine Unit 2
1887 Powhatan St
Norfolk, VA 23511-3394
DSN 564-7671
COM (757) 444-7671
FAX (757) 444-1191
PMU@SALTS.aso.navy.mil

Officer in Charge
Navy Environmental and Preventive
Medicine Unit 5
Naval Station BOX 368143
3235 Albacore Alley
San Diego, CA 92136-5199
DSN 526-7070
COM (619) 556-7070
FAX (619) 556-7071
nepmu5@nepmu5.med.navy.mil

Officer in Charge
Navy Environmental and Preventive
Medicine Unit 6
1215 NORTH RD
Pearl Harbor, HI 96860-4477
DSN 471-9505
COM (808) 473-0555
FAX (808) 473-2754
nepmu6@nepmu6.med.navy.mil

Officer-in-Charge, Navy Disease Vector Ecology and Control Center
19950 Seventh Ave NE
Poulsbo, WA 98370-5000
DSN 322-4450
COM (360) 315-4450
FAX (360) 315-4455
postmaster@ndvecc.navy.mil

Officer-in-Charge
Navy Environmental and Preventive
Medicine Unit 7 (Sigonella, Italy)
PSC 824 BOX 2760
FPO AE 09627-2760
DSN 624-4101/3986
COM 39-95-56-4099/4101
FAX 39-95-56-4100
sig1pmu@sig10.med.navy.mil

Officer-in-Charge, Navy Disease Vector Ecology and Control Center
Naval Air Station, BOX 43, Bldg. 937
Jacksonville, FL 32212-0043
DSN 942-2424
COM (904) 542-2424
FAX (904) 542-4324
dvj0ccj@jax10.med.navy.mil

Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center
Fort Detrick, Bldg. 1607
Frederick, MD 21702-5004
DSN 343-7574
COM (301) 619-7574
FAX (301) 619-2409

 

References

  1. NAVMED P-5010, Manual of Naval Preventive Medicine Chapter 9 ,"Preventive Medicine for Ground Forces, " for detailed guidance regarding environmental health issues in the field.

  2. US Army Field Manual FM 21-10, "Field Hygiene and Sanitation." Your preventive medicine representatives should have these in their library.

Submitted by LTJG Allen Wright, MSC, USNR,. Reviewed by CDR K. Ockermann, MSC, USN, Head, Environmental Health Department, NEPMU-6 Pearl

Preface  ·  Administrative Section  ·  Clinical Section

The General Medical Officer Manual , NAVMEDPUB 5134, January 1, 2000
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Department of the Navy, 2300 E Street NW, Washington, D.C., 20372-5300

This web version of The General Medical Officer Manual, NAVMEDPUB 5134 is provided by The Brookside Associates Medical Education Division.  It contains original contents from the official US Navy version, but has been reformatted for web access and includes advertising and links that were not present in the original version. This web version has not been approved by the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense. The presence of any advertising on these pages does not constitute an endorsement of that product or service by either the Department of Defense or the Brookside Associates. The Brookside Associates is a private organization, not affiliated with the United States Department of Defense. All material in this version is unclassified. This formatting © 2006 Medical Education Division, Brookside Associates, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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