Combat Stress

What is combat stress?

“Combat Stress is the mental, emotional of physical tension, strain, or distress resulting from exposure to combat and combat-related conditions”

From Army FM 6-22.5 Combat Stress

Combat Stress Reaction is what we are concerned with. It’s almost impossible to change your emotional response during a life or death confrontation. This is ok because our physical response to stress is what will affect our performance during combat.

A list of common physical responses to combat stress

Trembling
Jumpiness
Cold Sweats
Dry Mouth
Pounding Heart
Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea
“Tunnel Vision”
Temporary paralysis and indecision
Weakness caused by adrenal fatigue
Incontinence
Ostrich Syndrome (where your mind resorts to escapism and mind displacement in an attempt to “pretend that you aren’t there” instead of addressing the situation, like an ostrich that sticks its head in the dirt. The physical manifestation would be turning your head from an attacker as he throws a barrage of punches, or hyper focusing your vision on something small to divert your attention from the task at hand. For example when post shooting survivors report being able to recall nothing but seeing the notches on their front gun site)

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Ryan Wolfenbarger
www.EndTheFightNow.com