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Combat Survival

How does one best prepare for combat? Is it just merely physical training? This thread has been started to discuss the psychological aspects of preparation as well as staying sane while within a combat zone.

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Sometimes doing something for the first time is easier. You don't quite know what to expect. Granted, you may be nervous, imagining the worst, worrying about how you'll act, but there is some safety in the unknown. I think that's true of combat. Before you go into war for the first time, all of those doubts, all of those fears, are almost overwhelming. Anyone who says they are not terrified in advance is most likely a liar. Once you get into it, it's not what you expected. And if you survive, you have crossed a line that divides you from most people. After that, you pick up experience, what to do, what not to do. Ideally you learn things that will keep you and the people with you safer. You increase your chances of survival. But you pick up something else as well. Dread. Now you know what it will be like. There is no safety in ignorance. You know exactly what will happen. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

Older, wiser, certainly more experienced. But they know what they are going to face, and that may be one of the hardest things they have to deal with. They know this is their business, they know they signed up for this. And they know what they will see, feel, hear, smell. And those are things that no one who has been through it once is ever eager to repeat. Unless of course, it's your job.
Ref. Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff - Nightline Offices

Survival Combat

Training, training and then more training. I think there is no way to deal with the emotions you will likely face in combat, but by training continually to the point that you can perform your job in your sleep helps you to do what needs to be done even in the midst of the great fear you will most likely experience. Then, once the fighting begins, after the first few shots, I imagine the instinct to live takes over and as long as your training is there to kick in, you do what you must to survive. I also imagine you must shut out everything around you. The enemy is not thought of as a person but simply some evil that must be stopped.

Having never been in combat, but having been in the military, this is my educated guess, but it is still nothing more than my thoughts. I am grateful I have never had to learn this first hand.

Combat Survival Sports & Fashion Music Movies

The modern body armor used by the U.S. military is actually pretty amazing. It is also really heavy. But the helmets, and the vests with protective plates, can save soldiers who, in past wars, would have died. As uncomfortable as the armor may be, it's sort of like a seatbelt, you have to wear it. To do otherwise is just too foolish. And modern medicine can save soldiers from wounds that would have been fatal not that long ago. Now I have written several times before that I don't think that we really appreciate both the number and the seriousness of the wounds soldiers over there are suffering. We tend to think that the wounded will all be fine after a little while. But war is not like the movies. The hero doesn't always get nicked in the arm, and grit his or her teeth and go on. Many of the wounded are scarred for life. Lost limbs. Disfigurement. Their lives changed forever. We cannot turn away from them.

Traumatic brain injury. The nature of the war in Iraq with the roadside bombs exposes soldiers to explosions and concussions in a way that is different than past conflicts. Granted, more soldiers are surviving. But many of them are suffering from symptoms that previously might be considered a form of combat fatigue. Loss of memory, irritability, lack of inhibition, anxiety, confusion, persistent headaches. More and more, doctors are realizing that these soldiers have suffered wounds to their brains. And they often are misdiagnosed, some sent back into combat. They may not even realize what happened to them. And others face tremendous hurdles, having to learn to speak and walk all over again.

Ref. Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
Nightline Offices ABCNEWS Washington D.C.

Survival Combat

Training is definitely a way of coping with stress (stress is what we really are talking about here). And training should also be very specific in order to be prepared for what could come. However, one should not underestimate the combat readiness lying in the fear of what is to be expected.

A high activation both mentally and physically is necessary in order to act quickly and respond to threats. Having said so, it is a very difficult balance between enough and too much stress. Too much stress can cause the individual to be paralyzed and not able to react, and too little stress can cause the individual to not react at all or falsely because it doesn't see the seriousness in the situation.

Learning about what is common reactions to combat threats is also important. In that way the individual doesn't have to worry about his mental and physical reactions as abnormal. It is also nice to know that the processes taking place in your mind and body is actually good for you. It is your body preparing to meet the threats. So being unprepared by not knowing what to expect isn't always best, speaking from a cadet's point of view with no combat experience.

As to body armor, I believe it to be very important. Body armor could be the thing that could cause one not to be too much stressed. But again, a soldier would have to take into account his mobility. I know the US army is working on developing even better body armor. The only disadvantage so far is the weight.