Health and Safety

By way of introduction, I am not a doctor. I am a physician assistant working in the ER of a metro Atlanta hospital system. I have done this for about 5 years, minus one overseas with the Army. Prior to and concurrent to that I was a Special Forces Medical Sergeant. SF Medics are arguably the most highly trained medics in the world. We have a wide scope of practice from battle trauma to surgery to general medicine, pharmacology, nursing and more. I was an SF medic for 13 years active duty and national guard. ...

First of all, thank you all for your valuable input. I have put many of your suggestions into the article. Things I totally forgot about. Here is the second draft:
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Summer is almost upon us, and with it increased heat, even on the “long dark tunnel” that is the AT in many sections. There is of course always the possibility of water shortage, even in winter. Which brings up the issue of dehydration.

What is dehydration?
Basically ...

Food choice is personal, and the personal is often political. Telling someone how to eat comes across with the same arrogance of someone telling you how to live. For this reason the following article is intended to supplement your current long distance trail diet (vegetarian or meat based), not force you to completely rethink it. The idea is to share food concerns and solutions that other trail hikers have used to help maintain their body while on the trail, in other words, how to eat healthy on the trail. Unlike other guides available on the internet (linked to at the end of this article), this primer specifically focuses on eating healthy food during a long distance hike like the Appalachian Trail.
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Ok, ok. The Official word on what it is and what to do. Just in the interest of not killing people that can't tell when we're joking:
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1) DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION
Hypothermia: From “Hypo” meaning: Low, lowered, lowering or below. And “Thermia” meaning temperature, so: Lowered (body ) Temperature.
Hypothermia Is a state of low body temperature, specifically low body core temperature. When the core temperature of the body drops below 97º (36º C) an individual is considered to be in a hypothermic state. Hypothermia can be attributed to either: a decrease in heat production (perhaps due to illness or injury, dehydration, or lack of food); or an increase in heat loss (perhaps due to; lack of adequate clothing for the temperature, wet, windy conditions.); or a combination of both.

2) HYPOTHERMIA vs FROSTBITE
Years ago you ...