Stress and Operational Stress Management

At Royal Roads Military College I was fortunate to have Major(Ret'd) Gerry Resch as an instructor. He served in Korea and knew first hand how stress could affect soldiers. In 1992 I put this training into practice when I presented a proposal for an Operational Stress Management Program to the Commander of the Western Army Area. The proposal combined Army doctrine (QSTAG 909) with a new civilian technique called Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD). This was approved and I trained over 2,500 soldiers prior to UN deployment. I also went to Croatia to help debrief over 700 soldiers and prepare them to reintegrate with their families. I presented a paper on this program at the Canadian Psychological Association Convention. My major concern is that we will not know the lasting effect of these UN deployments for many years. It is heartening to note that the Canadian Army has embraced the concept of Combat Stress prevention and management and the program that I developed five years ago is still being used as a model(See Lessions Learned - Operational Stress).

One of the areas that I emphasis in my presentations is leadership. You cannot just focus on the individual. In many cases, it is the leaders that are causing the stress and can do the most to reduce it. This is why I produced three aide memoirs. Notes for the Commanding Officer, Leaders Actions and one for the soldiers. The aid memoirs were adapted from US Army publications developed by the

528th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control-Fort Bragg, NC)

Proper leadership and organization can influence the outcomes of entire conflicts as demonstrated during the Falklands war(essay on leadership))Falklands war(slide show).

Intro to Combat Stress Slide Show

Stressed Out in Iraq

1 in 8 Iraq veterans showing signs of PTSD

Proposal to Commander Land Forces Western Area

QSTAG 909 - Army doctrine on Combat Stress

Stress Team in Croatia

CPA Paper on Combat Stress Program

CISD Briefing Aide Memoire

Lesions Learned - Operational Stress

US 528th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control-Fort Bragg, NC) usa