2014 US RAND RR750 Enhancing performance under stress - stress innocuation training in battlefield airmen
water Confidence. According to the plan of instruction for PJ indoctrination, water confidence training is designed to build the student’s strength and endurance ability to follow critical instructions with emphasis on attention to details and situational awareness ability to work through crisis and high levels of stress in the water It further states that events are used to ensure they can recognize their reactions to stress in a controlled environment and enable them to better control these reactions when similar stressors are experienced later in their careers Although several events constitute water confidence training, two characteristic events are drown-proofing and buddy-breathing. In drown-proofing, trainees hands and feet are bound and they must bobby sinking to the bottom of the pool, pushing off with their feet, exhaling until they reach the surface, inhale, and repeat. During buddy-breathing, pairs of trainees alternate breathing through a shared snorkel, while being splashed, rolled, and dunked by instructors. This pool harassment is designed to simulate rough ocean surf or helicopter rotor wash that maybe experienced during an operation Some recent programs such as BATTLE and Battlefield Airman Camp have been implemented to prepare trainees for the physical and psychological demands of battlefield airmen training. The programs target the preparation of trainees following recruitment in basic military training or as part of the Delayed Entry Program, in which airmen have committed to a job in special operations.
