RE-WIND: Defense Authorization Bill Negotiations Proceed, Officials Predict Climate Impact

Originally written December 9, 2019 (an editorial exercise for a job interview)

Published on BlogSpot.com

As promises of a realized Space Force and a funded border wall continue to be President Trump's most pronounced proposals to the highly contested national defense authorization bill, defense experts are indicating the hazard climate change may pose to our military personnel.

While the House is set to vote on the bill later this week, and the risk assessment of climate change by the defense community, this is only the second year funds have been allocated by Congress to combat the issue since declaring it a national security threat in 2017.

It has been almost a year since the Department of Defense submitted a report to Congress of January of this year on the future status of military bases and personnel quarters. Bloomberg reported that "...two-thirds of the 79 mission-essential military installations in the U.S. ...are vulnerable now or in the future to flooding...more than half at at risk from drought...wildfires...mudslides...and erosion from rains after the blazes."

The structural well-being of military bases are not the only things at risk. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), servicemen may face sweltering heats exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit on base for months at a time, if carbon emissions are not reduced. The UCS cites the Armed Forces Health Services study of basic training participants being more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. The likelihood of days that can be lethally hot for basic trainees "quadruple" under these circumstances.

Forbes' graph of increasing heat posing threat to servicemen, especially basic trainees.

Forbes listed Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Camp Lejune/Cherry Point, Fort Campbell and Fort Polk as the bases showing where 40 percent of heat-related on-base illnesses come from. Unless climate change is prioritized and carbon emissions reduced, the amount of cases of lethal or life threatening heat-related illness is only going to increase.

The NDAA bill calls for the Defense Department to work alongside the EPA and internally to produce a climate-change combative protocol within six months, if approved. The House Armed Services committee is set to talk to defense officials on Wednesday, Dec. 11, to discuss climate change's effect on military operations