2014 US RAND RR750 Enhancing performance under stress - stress innocuation training in battlefield airmen
Navy SEALs 4 The Navy has introduced formal curricula for stress inoculation to support the training and development of Navy SEALs. This training is initially provided early in the training cycle and is subsequently reinforced and expanded throughout the training cycle. Despite the recent success in reducing attrition from the training pipeline and commitment to SIT, instructors were not always receptive to the integration of training elements designed by those outside the SEAL community (i.e., psychologists. Consequently, implementation required considerable time and effort to reach its current status. Methodology To determine the methods used by the Navy for stress inoculation, we conducted semistruc- tured interviews with psychologists assigned to the training school or with Navy SEAL graduates. The interviews provided the opportunity to discuss optimal points of integration into the training cycle as well as potential barriers to implementation. We also interviewed the former director of education for the Navy SEALs and reviewed concept papers he wrote to better understand early attempts to integrate cognitive skills into training.
