Hydration status of Air Force military basic trainees after implementation of the back-mounted hydration system.

The Air Force makes an extraordinary effort to prevent heat-related illnesses associated with basic military training (BMT) in south Texas. However, inadequate hydration can still contribute to lost training time and qualified trainees leaving military service without completing BMT. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether equipping BMTs with back-mounted hydration systems (BM) is better than the standard-issue (SI) canteens with respect to hydration status.