JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-CAMP BULLIS, Texas –
Students attending the Basic Officer Leadership Course are staying cool while training at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis by inserting their arms in an Arm Immersion Cooling Station, or AICS, on Aug. 20.
AICS works to cool the body through the process of convection and conduction. Heat transfers from the hot arms and the circulating blood to the cooler water. The cooled blood flows back to the core to extract additional body heat and reaches the arms again to continue the same cycle.
Under direct supervision, soldiers immerse their hands and forearms into cool water (below 80 degrees Fahrenheit). The soldier is timed with a stopwatch by the cadre utilizing the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command immersion chart. Soldiers pump their legs to increase blood flow while dunking to increase circulation. Once the time has elapsed, the Soldier will raise their hands up in the air and walk away.
This is one of the preventative safety measures along with hydration, misting fans, ice sheets, and rest periods measures that the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence is taking to students and cadre mitigate against the heat during field training exercises.