Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Soldier Self-Reported Reductions In Task Performance Associated With Operational Load Carriage, Rob Orr, Rodney Pope, Venerina Johnston, Julia Coyle

Rodney P Pope

Australian Army soldiers are required to carry heavy loads of around 48kg while deployed on military operations. Research has associated decrements in soldiers’ ability to perform key tasks with carriage of these loads. To determine whether soldiers are aware of the negative impact of load carriage on their performance of operational tasks, soldier responses relating to perceptions of load carriage impacts on performance of five key tasks while on operations were collected. Data, captured via an online survey tool, were analysed to determine relationships between soldier perceptions and loads carried. In addition, responses were drawn from a 5-point Likert Scale …