Impact of Physical Fatigue State on Military Mission Oriented Obstacle Course Timing Performance

Abstract

Military oriented obstacle course timing has been used to evaluate different clothing and individual equipment designs and configurations. However, it is unclear if completing operationally relevant fatigue tasks prior to course completion will highlight differences in physical performance due to wearing different equipment configurations. Fifty-one experienced, active duty soldiers completed the course in a rested and fatigued state in three equipment configurations of varying weights and encumbrance. A controlled paced (3 mph) three mile foot march was used to induce fatigue. Time to complete the whole course and each of the 11 obstacle segments were measured. Fatigue state and configurations were found to be significantly different for total course time, where the fatigued moderate configuration was similar in performance to the fully loaded rested configuration. Similar results were also seen for the individual obstacle segment time measurements; however the walls and casualty drag obstacles may be slightly less sensitive.