[Arjuna]

Coffee, and its associated caffeine effects, has an interesting history in the battle theater. These comments regarding coffee are from the American Civil War:

"Perhaps the North's access to caffeine gave its soldiers a strategic advantage. At least that's what one Union officer, Gen. Benjamin Butler, thought. He ordered his men to carry coffee in their canteens and planned attacks based on when his men would be most wired. His advice to other generals was: 'If your men get their coffee early in the morning, you can hold.'" [1]

"In 1859 Sharps Rifle Co. began to manufacture a carbine with a hand-cranked grinder built into the butt stock — or handle — of the rifle. Union soldiers would fill the stock with beans, grind them up, dump them out and use the grounds to cook the coffee. As the morning began, one Civil War diarist described a scene of 'little campfires rapidly increasing to hundreds in numbers that would shoot up along the hills and plains.' The encampment would buzz with the sound of thousands of grinders simultaneously crushing beans. Soon, tens of thousands of muckets (coffee pots) gurgled with fresh brew." [2]

[1][2] https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/25/485227943/if...

[sandworm101]

Same is true of amphetamines. US Fighter pilots were taking them as recently as 2002. I heard an interesting story about Elvis on NPR. He took two things from his time in the military: Karate, which colored his dance moves, and drugs. He got fat after coming back from the military, after he stopped the amphetamines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_and_culture_of_substit...

[miketery]

They still do. Some of these sorties / missions are 10 hours long. You bet the military will give them dexedrine to keep them alert, and not hungry.

[toomanybeersies]

They use modafinil now, since it has less side effects and potential for abuse.

[kiliantics]

ISIS was using Captagon. Getting people addicted is part of the benefit to using drugs in war, I believe

[sandworm101]

"it has less side effects and potential for abuse"

... which was the exact wording used to sell Oxycontin.

[asdff]

Peeked the modafinil wikipedia and found this interesting quote:

"Monkeys will self-administer modafinil if they have previously been trained to self-administer cocaine.[28] As such, modafinil is classified by the United States FDA as a schedule IV controlled substance, a category for drugs with valid medical uses and low but significant addiction potential.[1][29]"

Never new it was a monkey that determined US drug policy, but I guess I'm not surprised!

[Ghjklov]

Just wait until you find out what other things monkeys determine in our country.

[TheAdamAndChe]

Without looking into the pharmacology of modafinil, this is a baseless comment. Seriously, look at the pharmacology of modafinil[1] and compare it to methylphenidate[2]. Modafinil may have some dopamine reuptake inhibition, but its affect on histamine receptors counters a lot of the hedonistic response that comes with methylphenidate.

Speaking as someone with a modafinil prescription and that has taken Vyvanse, the experience is extremely different. I don't feel an urge to take more modafinil, and I don't feel extreme fatigue when taking a break from it. I'm taking a break from it now in fact.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylphenidate

[toomanybeersies]

I'm not saying that there's no potential for abuse, but less.

On the same basis, Oxycontin is a more appropriate painkiller than heroin in most cases due to its lessened potential for abuse.

[piyh]

We've moved on from amphetamines to modafinil

[Scipio_Afri]

First time amphetamines were used was by Nazi troops in WWII. The show I was watching that mentioned it was invented in Germany and used for the push into France by the Nazis also mentioned an interesting side effect of it also reducing empathy.

[CptFribble]

Amphetamine was discovered in Germany in the late 19th century, but no one knew it was a stimulant until the 1930s. And both Allies and Axis used it in WWII as a combat stim.

[empath75]

Germans also discovered MDMA. What a different world we could have lived in.

[BurningFrog]

Yeah, as I heard it told, the Germans could fight, and fight well, 24/7 on amphetamine, while the French just couldn't.

[derwiki]

You might enjoy the book _Blitzed_.

[aaron-lebo]

If you really want to get into this, Nazi Germany and Hitler were more or less fueled by meth.

https://www.amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs-Germany-Norman-Ohler/dp...