Effects of Wearing Chemical Protective Clothing on Rifle Marksmanship and on Sensory and Psychomotor Tasks

Abstract

This article reviews and evaluates the findings of several studies on the effects of wearing chemical protective clothing (CPC) on rifle marksmanship and on selected sensory and psychomotor tasks. Task performance in the Battle Dress Uniform under thermoneutral conditions was used as a standard for comparison based on percent change to evaluate the separate and combined effects of wearing CPC, exposure to ambient heat, and test duration. The findings indicated that wearing CPC resulted in an early overall impairment of task performance but that the magnitudes of impairment did not increase progressively over time (up to 6 hr) beyond the initial impairment levels. Although wearing CPC under hot conditions caused heat stress and, thus, limited test time to less than 2 hr, it did not degrade sensory or psychomotor performance beyond that observed under thermoneutral conditions for the same time period. Wearing CPC during heat exposure did, however, degrade rifle firing accuracy during the 1st 2 hr. Tasks involved in simulated sentry duty showed that wearing CPC intensified vigilance decrements and degraded rifle marksmanship.