TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01 - TRADOC - U.S. Army

TRADOC Pam 525-3-7-01Despite the numerous sources of stress they encounter, most Soldiers do not becomepsychological casualties. Stress is an integralpart of military service and leaders must assist You can reach into the well of courageSoldiers to develop mechanisms to cope with only so many times before the well runsstress in training and on operations. COSR dry.occur when intense or prolonged stressorsArdant du Picq, Battle Studies, 1870deplete the Soldier’s coping resources creating asense of helplessness, fear, and isolation. One of the greatest stressors is the fear of death orinjury, but the fear of letting fellow Soldiers down may be even greater. For leaders the merechance of sending subordinates to their deaths is an enormous stressor that may be more powerfulthan the fear of personal injury or death.Fear is a rational response to abnormal experiences and generates physiological reactions aswell as a psychological and emotional one. The immediate response to fear classified as “fight orflight” is instinctive and essential to survival. Normal stress reactions can have a positive impactand help Soldiers function better by increasing alertness, cognitive processing, strength, andendurance. In combat however, fear of death and serious injury is omnipresent and exhausting,constantly drawing on the Soldier’s ability to maintain the courage and the will to fight. Theeffects are cumulative and as Lord Moran asserts in his classic work, The Anatomy of Courage,on his experiences in World War I.Moran observed that psychological casualties occurred both from brief but intense combatand from prolonged exposure; findings confirmed by other armies and in subsequent conflicts.Adding even stronger emphasis, the Army’s report on combat exhaustion in World War IIconcluded:There is no such thing as “getting used to combat.” . . . Each moment of combatimposes a strain so great that men will break down in direct relation to theintensity and duration of their exposure . . . psychiatric casualties are as inevitableas gunshot and shrapnel wounds. Most men were ineffective after 180 or even140 days. The general consensus wasthat a man reached his peak ofeffectiveness in the first 90 days ofcombat, that after that his efficiencybegan to fall off, and that he becamesteadily less valuable after that until hewas completely useless . . . . 157Not all deployed Soldiers face the same riskof injury or death. Soldiers who spend asignificant amount of time in proximity to theenemy and populations are at the greatest risk.Being in mortal danger everyday, 10-12 hours aday for weeks and months on end is physicallyand mentally draining. Arguing that theintensity of combat in the current and future140