What is the risk associated with being a qualified military parachutist?

Abstract

Military parachuting has been recognized as a hazardous activity since it was first introduced in World War II. Other risks associated with military service include actual war-fighting, training with weapons and explosives, operating with armoured vehicles or deployment to climatic extremes. These other hazards should be considered in any assessment of the additional risk associated with military parachuting. The aim of this study was to identify the risk attributable to parachuting amongst US Army enlisted soldiers. This study identified a cohort of infantry soldiers who served between 1990-94. They were separated by receipt of parachute hazardous duty pay. There was a total of 329,794 person-years (PY) available for study of which 18% were in the exposed group. The rate of hospitalization was very similar in both groups [123.9 per 1000 PYs for the exposed group, 127 in the non-exposed group: relative risk (RR) = 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.96-1.00). The exposed group was 1.49 times (CI = 1.42-1.57) more likely to be admitted as a result of an injury as compared with the non-exposed group. Military parachuting was 20 times (CI = 16.6-24.3) more likely to be the cause of an injury. This study has shown that receipt of hazardous duty pay for military parachuting can be used as a marker in identifying significant additional risks to the health of infantry soldiers associated with military parachuting. This was reflected in an increased incidence of admission for acute injury and musculoskeletal trauma (particularly a trauma pattern associated with parachuting) as a result of military parachuting. Other risks, which are associated with parachute pay, are admission for the effects of heat, battle injury and helicopter accidents.