How the US military became world experts on the environment

Sand, Snow and Stardust: How US Military Engineers Conquered Extreme Environments Gretchen Heefner

University of Chicago Press, pp.400, 30

In 1941, as it entered the second world war, the US Army barely bested Bulgaria’s for size and combat readiness. Nor did US forces have very much idea of what conditions were like in their new theatres of operation. In the winter of 1942, hot-weather gear and lightweight machinery landed in the deserts of North Africa where hot and dry conditions were assumed to persist throughout the year.

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Taggeddesert, global environment, Greenland, overseas military bases, permafrost, Science, space exploration, the Cold War, the second world war, US military

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How the US military became world experts on the environment

In its bid to become a global superpower, the US vastly increased its number of overseas bases in the 1960s, giving it unparalleled knowledge of Earth’s most extreme habitats

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