Climate security

How rising temps could cause even more heat casualties at military bases

About 2,800 troops suffered illnesses from dehydration to heat stroke last year. That number is 50 percent higher than it was five years earlier, according to a study published Monday, and will only get worse as global temperatures continue to rise.

The military’s hottest bases clock in at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, and they could be staring down four months a year where the heat index tops 100 degrees.

“The growing number of dangerously hot days could pose a challenge to the military’s efforts to protect service members’ health while also ensuring mission readiness,” Kristy Daul, the study’s lead author, said in a Monday news release.