An Analysis of U.S. Army Fratricide

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA517325&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf


An Analysis of U.S. Army Fratricide Incidents during the Global War on Terror (11 September 2001 to 31 March 2008)


By Catherine M. Webb and Kate J. Hewett


Fratricide is a harsh reality during combat operations. Over the course of 2004-2007, the number of fratricide incidents per year increased, and experts speculate this is due to the high operational tempo and the reliance on technology during the current war. The objective of the present study was to classify the causes of U.S. Army fratricide incidents using the well known Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) and the recently developed Fratricide Causal Analysis Schema (FCAS) to determine the leading causes of U.S. Army fratricide incidents and to provide recommendations for potential countermeasures. The FCAS and HFACS analysis revealed that many of the causal factors of U. S. fratricide incidents were related to human error (e.g., leadership, judgment and decision making, and emotional states). In addition to a need for more objective risk assessments, improved supervision and leadership may have the greatest potential to reduce U.S. Army fratricide incidents.

Identifying Blood Biomarkers and Physiological

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Identifying Blood Biomarkers and Physiological Processes That Distinguish Humans with SuperiorPerformance under Psychological Stress


Abstract
Background: Attrition of students from aviation training is a serious financial and operational concern for the U.S. Navy. Each late stage navy aviator training failure costs the taxpayer over $1,000,000 and ultimately results in decreased operational readiness of the fleet. Currently, potential aviators are selected based on the Aviation Selection Test Battery (ASTB), which is a series of multiple-choice tests that evaluate basic and aviation-related knowledge and ability. However, the ASTB does not evaluate a person’s response to stress. This is important because operating sophisticated aircraft demands exceptional performance and causes high psychological stress. Some people are more resistant to this type of stress, and consequently better able to cope with the demands of naval aviation, than others.
Methodology/Principal Findings: Although many psychological studies have examined psychological stress resistance none have taken advantage of the human genome sequence. Here we use high-throughput -omic biology methods and a novel statistical data normalization method to identify plasma proteins associated with human performance under psychological stress. We identified proteins involved in four basic physiological processes: innate immunity, cardiac
function, coagulation and plasma lipid physiology.
Conclusions/Significance: The proteins identified here further elucidate the physiological response to psychological stress and suggest a hypothesis that stress-susceptible pilots may be more prone to shock. This work also provides potential biomarkers for screening humans for capability of superior performance under stress.