Stress In The Military Essay

Armies have known for centuries about the positive effects of stress in preparing soldiers for combat. For example, in old-style basic training, the drill sergeant deliberately makes himself more fearsome than death itself so that the trainee would learn to respond automatically even in a state of terror. That technique is still used today but modern war requires smaller unit cohesion, trust between leaders and those led and initiative even on the part of the junior enlisted soldier. The result is a well-earned sense of confidence in self, comrades, and leaders. Tolerance to mental stressors is increased by successfully facing and mastering similar stressors (just as tolerance to physical stressors is). However, being overwhelmed by emotional

Both sides try to do this and at times accept severe stress themselves in order to inflict greater stress on the enemy. To win, combat stress must be controlled and the objectives of stress control are; to keep stress within acceptable limits for mission performance and to achieve the ideal (optimal) level of stress when feasible, to return stress to acceptable limits when it becomes temporarily disruptive and to progressively increase tolerance to stress so that soldiers can endure and function under the extreme stress which is unavoidable in combat.

Stress is controlled in the same ways other complex processes are controlled. This basic process which may be followed for better stress management includes:

a. Monitoring the signs of stress and recognize when and if they change. To be effective, this recognition should come well before the stress becomes disruptive and causes dysfunction.

b. Identify and monitor the causes of stress; that is, the stressors.

c. Classify the stressors into those which can be controlled (increased, decreased, avoided, or otherwise changed) versus those which cannot be controlled.

d. Control those stressors which can be changed by focusing the stress in the desired direction, either up or down.

e. Help soldiers adapt to the stressors which cannot be changed.

f. Learn (and teach) how to directly lower (or raise) the stress level within the individual soldier as needed, at specific times, in specific