The Pentagon recently commissioned a new type of camouflage make-up that could protects soldiers’ faces from intense thermal blasts of heat for upwards to 15 seconds.
This could make the difference between 2nd or 3rd degree burns in some cases, depending how close you are to the explosion at the time.
“Bomb burn”, as they call it is a serious and all too common injury of soldiers in combat situations.
According to the article:
“Bomb blasts send waves of highly compressed wind away from the explosion, followed by a two-second thermal blast. That blast heats anything in its way to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and people caught up in the explosion often suffer potentially deadly third-degree burns” (see article: New Camouflage Makeup Protects Soldiers From Bomb Burnshttp://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/09/new-camouflage-makeup-protects-soldiers-from-bomb-burns/ ).
One innovation of the new formula is the use of “a silicone base”, which isn’t “as flammable” as the fatty substances in traditional wax-based camouflage.
Soldiers wearing standard camouflage make-up face an additional risk because the wax-based make-up melts into their faces under the intense heat of fires caused from bomb explosions. In some cases the camouflage make up can make their skin melt faster.
Another challenge, according to the article was “finding a way to safely incorporate “DEET” a flammable insect repellent which must make up 35% of all camouflage makeup today, according to a mandate from the U.S. military.
It is intended to be applied to the skin or to clothing, and provides protection against tick bites, mosquito bites, chiggers, and other biting and blood sucking insects that can transmit fatal diseases and viruses.
Although not mentioned in the report itself this kind of “protection” from insects comes at a cost to the soldiers using it.
In my case when I served in the U.S. Army my skin used to always break out really bad after I used “camo paint” in the field. I now know the problem was probably the DEET toxin used in the paint itself.
DEET is known to be toxic to humans and animals, especially those who are exposed to the product over time – a fact the military never shared with me at the time.
N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, abbreviated DEET, is a slimy yellow oil.
DEET is the most common active ingredient in insect repellents used today. Popular among both soldiers and civilian hunters.
Deet is absorbed promptly through the skin and distributed to “all organs including the brain” and the fetus, in the case of a pregnant female.
The compound is excreted in the milk but primarily in the urine of human beings.
DEET can have very serious “toxicological effects” on the human body and cause a host of health problems later on. Again a fact the military doesn’t disclose to soldiers serving in the field.
The Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension Offices of Cornell University states that “Everglades National Park employees having extensive DEET exposure were more likely to have insomnia, mood disturbances and impaired cognitive function than were lesser exposed co-workers” (source: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/deet-ext.html ).
No known study exists of the long term exposure of DEET to servicemen and women in the Nation’s military.