Page 71 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2016

Figure 1 Tomahawk MC Red-Green light with Molle blue flashlights. The participants were timed to correct
Tactical Retention System (TRS). completion of the task.

Results
A total of 14 volunteers took the FM test; however, only
seven were tested with the blue light (Figure 3). The TES
for white light was 49.714 (n = 14); for red-green light,
272.923 (n = 14); and for blue light, 531.4 (n = 7).

A second set of 21 medical-student volunteers com-
pleted a timed color-matching exercise in which subjects
matched colors in a blackout viewing box under the red-
green light versus the blue light (Figure 4). The matching
exercise was performed significantly more quickly with
the red-green tactical light compared with the blue tacti-
cal light (p = .0038).

Figure 4 Whisker plot of time taken to complete color
arrangement under Red-Green Tomahawk MC or Blue
of color-vision deficit and as a measure of the severity. Tomahawk NV flashlight. Analysis was performed using
The FM test is scored by the total error score (TES; Fig- two-tailed paired Student’s t test. **p = .0038.
ure 2).

Figure 2 Farnsworth-Munsell software scorecard.

A timed color-matching exercise was performed by a
new set of 20 medical students with normal color vi-
sion and a group of volunteers at Strategic Operations
who self-identified as red-green colorblind. As quickly Last, a small group of the same medical-student volunteers
as possible, the subjects matched colors similar to those at Strategic Operations performed a simulated abdomi-
seen in traumatic situations, such as oil, blood, and nal wound surgery in a blackout situation, using cut suits
camouflage, to a template of colors in a blackout box in (Strategic Operations, http://www.strategic-operations
which the only illumination came from the red-green or .com/). Simulated blackout surgery was performed

Figure 3 Color discernment with normal-vision subjects under different lighting conditions. (A) White flashlight; (B) Red-
Green Tomahawk MC light; and (C) Blue Tomahawk NV light. (D) Whisker plot of represented TES, using. one-way analysis
of variance with Tukey post hoc test. ***p < .001.

Comparison of Red-Green Versus Blue Tactical Light 55