Adapting immersive training environments to develop squad resilience skills

Abstract

The United States Army defines readiness and resilience as tactically proficient Soldiers and highly adaptive problem solvers capable of overcoming challenges and making decisions with strategic consequences in ambiguous situations. To address the resilience training gap, the Squad Overmatch study produced recommendations for employing immersive and live training strategies within the Stress Exposure Training (SET) framework. SET is a three-phase training method designed to provide information, skills training, and practice; with the goal of learning how to cope and perform while exposed to combat stressors. The potential for a wide range of Soldier experience levels in the pre-deployment training phase requires structuring and facilitating immersive and live training to develop resilience skills. In this paper we provide recommendations for adapting immersive environments to focus on assessing unit “readiness to train,” and employing methods and tools that improve training effectiveness.