I__. - International Military Testing Association

. Our research into battlefield conduct has led to techniques now being
introduced, which can reduce the effects of battle stress.
The techniques are applied at individual level in activities which are
by their very nature stressful, such as parachuting, rock climbing or
diving.
Furthermore, commanders are thoroughly prepared for the effects of
stress and battle stress, and they are taught how to recognise stress
symptoms and how to act when faced with them.
C. We have conducted intensive research into the effects of lack of sleep
over a long period.
Just one of the things this has revealed is how lack of sleep influen-
ces leadership.
After 48 hours' sleep deprivation the effectiveness of decisions taken
declines dramatically. The factor causing the most concern is that
commanders often do not realise, or realise only vaguely, that they are
no longer capable of making responsible decisions.
Symptoms of this kind have given rise to a great deal of attention
being paid to the aspect of sleep management. A remarkable fact is that
many commanders reject the
implementation of sleep management, as they deem it
un-military.
However, we shall persevere.
d. The RNLA has paid too little attention to Psychological Operations
(Psycops) for too long. In fact, until recently the subject was not
open to discussion on a political level, even in today’s free society.
Psychological defence (preparing oneself for the adversary’s psychological
operations) was all that was politically acceptable at that time.
Recently however, the subject of Psycops has been attracting more
attention, something which has been partly influenced by the attention
we have paid to the effects of battle stress.
For us this constitutes an interesting topic for research; one about
which we think we can learn a lot from others.
e. The attention given to battlefield behaviour, which I have already
mentioned, has led to an entirely different structure of the treatment
of combat stress victims in actual wartime conditions. Based on the
well-known principles for treating combat stress victims,
proximity (treatment at the front)
- immediacy (treatment as soon as the symptoms occur and as quickly as
possible)
- expectancy (treatment to return the victims to active service). we
formed a system of combat stress recovery units for our 1 (NL) Army
Corps.
The combat stress recovery units are located in the rear areas of the
brigades and must be able to operate as mobile units.
The battalion aid post could serve as a collection point for battle
stress victims; this is where triage takes place.
After triage the battle stress victims are treated in the battle stress
recovery unit. The head of the battle stress recovery unit will be an
officer from our psychological and social service, one of our trained
psychotherapists in fact.
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