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>Does the military still hand out amphetamines and/or modafinil, or is caffeine really the alertness/wakefulness drug of choice? Actual stimulant use is restri

>Does the military still hand out amphetamines and/or modafinil, or is caffeine really the alertness/wakefulness drug of choice? Actual stimulant use is restricted to special forces and flight crews. But anecdotally, the energy drink consumption in the Army is out of control. I can remember people literally ordering pallets of Monster to show up on training exercises. Nicotine too. It's not uncommon to see someone with a dip of Skoal in both sides, smoking a Newport 100, and drinking a Monster all at the same time. It's just a necessary escape when you're living in an environment that has your fight-or-flight response engaged 24/7 causing total CNS overload, with zero access to alcohol or hard drugs and 4 hours of sleep a night.

Pharmakon 8y ago
I would say that as of 2018, the big energy drink is Rip It, and truly the volume and frequency of consumption across the forces cannot be overstated. As you say, when your life and the lives of your comrades is on the line, what else can you do? Most people require drugs to remain some semblance of alert for 18 hours a day, and of course it takes a toll. It’s almost as though a constant state of deployment and endless warfare is a damaging and undesireable condition.
chrisseaton 8y ago
> I can remember people literally ordering pallets of Monster to show up on training exercises. What like as a replen demand? Aren't they restricted to using issued rations on an exercise? And how are they getting them deployed?
- UncleEntity 8y ago
  > Aren't they restricted to using issued rations on an exercise? That and what you can manage to bring with you. Back when I was in the infantry you carried whatever you took to the field so we tended to pack light(ish). I used to take a little camp stove so I could have hot coffee in the morning and other people would pack stuff like ramen or whatever. Even when we were living in holes ~1km off the Iraqi border they managed to get us cigarettes though that's not one of the "issued rations"...also pretty sure that's when I got that camp stove so other things were possible. Before that, when we were staying is some dilapidated warehouse in Saudi, they had pallets of Pepsi get delivered on a regular basis for the chow hall. On my last trip to Iraq they had pretty much whatever you wanted at the PXs and we (civilian contractor types) used to smuggle a bunch of canned drinks out of the chow halls instead of buying them but don't really remember if they had energy drinks in the coolers since that's not my thing. Think I got a bit rambley there...
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - rdl 8y ago
    Red Bull cans fit in 37/40mm round ammo pouches/elastic loops, something I learned in Iraq (I never had a 40mm, but there are a lot of molle pouches for 40mm which were useful for other stuff). Also Amazon or reship-stuff-from-Amazon to APO/FPO addresses was great.
marktangotango 8y ago
And all I had was the tasters choice packet that sometimes came in an mre, pour in mouth drink water to wash it down. Where do soldiers today get this stuff you mention? Sure you could bring your own but you can only pack so much.
rdl 8y ago
If they didn't want you to order it by the pallet, it wouldn't have an NSN :) Ambien was also handed out for long-haul flights for a lot of people, which was pretty nice when crossing a bunch of time zones. I don't know at what level of authority that was authorized.

Pharmakon 8y ago

I would say that as of 2018, the big energy drink is Rip It, and truly the volume and frequency of consumption across the forces cannot be overstated. As you say, when your life and the lives of your comrades is on the line, what else can you do? Most people require drugs to remain some semblance of alert for 18 hours a day, and of course it takes a toll. It’s almost as though a constant state of deployment and endless warfare is a damaging and undesireable condition.

chrisseaton 8y ago

> I can remember people literally ordering pallets of Monster to show up on training exercises. What like as a replen demand? Aren't they restricted to using issued rations on an exercise? And how are they getting them deployed?

UncleEntity 8y ago
> Aren't they restricted to using issued rations on an exercise? That and what you can manage to bring with you. Back when I was in the infantry you carried whatever you took to the field so we tended to pack light(ish). I used to take a little camp stove so I could have hot coffee in the morning and other people would pack stuff like ramen or whatever. Even when we were living in holes ~1km off the Iraqi border they managed to get us cigarettes though that's not one of the "issued rations"...also pretty sure that's when I got that camp stove so other things were possible. Before that, when we were staying is some dilapidated warehouse in Saudi, they had pallets of Pepsi get delivered on a regular basis for the chow hall. On my last trip to Iraq they had pretty much whatever you wanted at the PXs and we (civilian contractor types) used to smuggle a bunch of canned drinks out of the chow halls instead of buying them but don't really remember if they had energy drinks in the coolers since that's not my thing. Think I got a bit rambley there...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- rdl 8y ago
  Red Bull cans fit in 37/40mm round ammo pouches/elastic loops, something I learned in Iraq (I never had a 40mm, but there are a lot of molle pouches for 40mm which were useful for other stuff). Also Amazon or reship-stuff-from-Amazon to APO/FPO addresses was great.

marktangotango 8y ago

And all I had was the tasters choice packet that sometimes came in an mre, pour in mouth drink water to wash it down. Where do soldiers today get this stuff you mention? Sure you could bring your own but you can only pack so much.

rdl 8y ago

If they didn't want you to order it by the pallet, it wouldn't have an NSN :) Ambien was also handed out for long-haul flights for a lot of people, which was pretty nice when crossing a bunch of time zones. I don't know at what level of authority that was authorized.