2014 US RAND RR750 Enhancing performance under stress - stress innocuation training in battlefield airmen
Current Efforts to Minimize Effects of Stress Several strategies are used by the Air Force to maximize the performance of battlefield airmen and ensure high performance under stress. Although most of these strategies are not components of SIT, we present these strategies to give context for how the Air Force strives to ensure that airmen are capable of performing well under stress. These strategies include screening out individuals unable to tolerate stress during initial selection and in training, exposing candidates to a variety of stressors during training (see Figure 3.1), and providing airmen with education and support, both predeployment and postdeployment. We will review how the Air Force currently uses each of these strategies to enhance battlefield airmen’s performance. The Air Force is currently investigating different personality measures, such as the Emotional Quotient Inventory or EQ-I (Bar-On et al., 2000) and the Tailored Adaptive Personality Assessment System (TAPAS) to screen pararescue and combat control recruits before entry into initial skills training. Although these instruments could possibly serve two functions—identifying those who will perform well under stress or identifying those with a predisposition to respond successfully to SIT—additional data collection is needed to verify these propositions. Current screening standards for pararescue and combat control include meeting the minimum standards on the Physical Ability Stamina Test (PAST. The PAST requirements for PJs are slightly more rigorous than for CCTs (see Table 3.1).
how Do the Services Approach Stress Inoculation Training 17
