Page 66 - Biobehavioral Resilence to Stress

The Stresses

of Modern War 3

GEORGE R. MASTROIANNI AND THOMAS R. MABRY

United States Air Force Academy

DAVID M. BENEDEK AND ROBERT J. URSANO
Uniformed Services University

Contents
Demands and Expectations of Military Service: A Modern
Historical Overview ............................................................................................. 45
Stresses of Modern Military Service in War .................................................... 48
Our Modern Military into the Future............................................................... 50
References .............................................................................................................. 53

Resilience has proven to be a useful construct in the study of human adaptation
to stress and adversity (Bonnano, 2004). However, because human beings
are complex creatures embedded in dynamic social and cultural environ-

ments, it is understandably diffi cult to define the concept of resilience in a
way that enables researchers to identify, measure, or manipulate its essential

features. Other behavioral scientific concepts such as stress (Cannon, 1953;
McCarty, 1989; Selye, 1980), situation awareness (Endsley, 1995), and mental
workload (Eggemeier, 1988) have posed similar diffi culties. Like resilience,
these constructs attempt to describe essential but empirically elusive human
characteristics and capacities. Such complex constructs can oft en produce
valuable insights and interventions in their respective areas of concern only

after many years of challenging research and confusing or contradictory
fi ndings.
Here, we take the position that resilience is neither simply a trait nor sim-
ply an outcome. Rather, resilience is described as the interaction between indi-
viduals and their environment that leads to the achievement and maintenance

of effective health and performance under stress. Currently available evi-
dence indicates that multiple factors conspire to aff ect resilience. Th ese factors

43
43

12/11/2007 12:07:41 PM
CRC_71777_Ch003.indd 43 12/11/2007 12:07:41 PM
CRC_71777_Ch003.indd 43