Enhancing Performance Under Stress

USAF pararescue and combat controllers routinely recover downed or injured military personnel and direct military aircraft in hostile or denied regions. Consequently, to be effective in these careers requires the ability to cope with severe stress. The USAF uses many strategies to ensure that battlefield airmen perform well under stress but one strategy, termed stress inoculation training (SIT), has not been fully incorporated as a training element. Current Air Force strategies include screening out individuals unable to tolerate stress during initial selection and in training, exposing candidates to a variety of stressors during training, and providing airmen with education and support, both predeployment and postdeployment. Although some of these strategies are consistent with SIT principles, additional training should focus on the cognitive and behavioral skills (e.g., goal-setting, energy/arousal control) to help airmen perform effectively under stress. The authors conducted an extensive literature review to better understand modern stress theories, and they interviewed Air Force instructors from the Air Education and Training Command and formed small focus groups with combat controllers and pararescuemen. The goal of the focus groups was to identify what preparation, if any, battlefield airmen had to optimize their performance under stress. The authors also reviewed key official training documents, training plans, and instruction plans.