Load Carriage across tactical personnel: Green, Blue and Red

From 800 BC to the modern day, tactical personnel have been required to carry load. This session will explore the differences in loads carried across the tactical spectrum from the heavy intermittent requirements of various military forces to the lighter continuous loading for law enforcement officers and the altered environments for fire and rescue personnel. Dedicated tactical sub groups (like sex and employment status) will be discussed in regards to differences in current and future requirements and injury patterns. The contexts which influence load carriage performance (like speed of march and terrain) will be explored as will means of employing these contexts to optimize the load carriage conditioning and post-injury reconditioning of tactical personnel. Finally, the latest evidence on means to optimize load carriage conditioning as well as the ability to predict future load carriage performance risk through current fitness levels will be presented.
Learning Objectives/Outcomes
• Develop an understanding of the differences in load carriage requirements and contexts between different tactical forces
• Understand the means of optimizing the physical conditioning and reconditioning of tactical personnel for tasks that require loads to be carried
• Employ fitness assessments to determine future load carriage requirements