#Medical

Canadian technology company Mawashi has formally introduced their flagship product: A passive exoskeleton designed to help the soldier carry his heavy load. The exoskeleton is reportedly based on research into how the human body distributes weight, studying obese individuals like the rikishi wrestlers in sumo, to create a solution for the infantryman to carry heavy loads without injury. The company’s name – Mawashi – even comes from the stiff mawashi wrestling belts used in sumo.

The US Army is currently testing a new full body orthopedic “exosuit” designed to reduce soldier fatigue and injury, according to a press release made by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) last week.

In his testimony before Congress on Thursday, Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley put forth a concerning picture of the readiness of the United States Army: Soldier readiness is below half that of the Army’s goal, and tens of thousands of soldiers are reportedly non-deployable, many of them permanently. The reason for this state of affairs is medical – Milley testified that 90% of non-deployable soldiers were out for medical reasons, with most of those being orthopedic. According to Milley, 20,000 non-deployables (over 2% of the total personnel in the Army) have been assigned permanent non-deployable status and are being processed through the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). A portion of Chief Milley’s conversation with Senator Jack Reed is transcribed below:

Snowflakes In Hell has the word that the Palm Pistol will be classified as a medical device by the FDA. It is designed with people in mind who could not use a regular firearm, such as invalids or the elderly.