Questions

1. The impact of combat on the psyche of a serviceman

2. Formation of a warrior's psychological readiness for battle

The course and final outcome of a modern war will largely depend on the moral and psychological state of the personnel, their ability to endure the many times more complicated military hardships, overcome fear in battle and, despite everything, maintain the will to win.

The main features of modern combat, along with maneuverability, tension and dynamism, are rapid and sharp changes in the situation, the widespread use of various means of armed struggle, including nuclear missiles, uneven development of combat operations along the front and in depth, a variety of methods of warfare, a huge return on the moral, psychological and physical strength of personnel, increasing losses in manpower and equipment. Modern combat requires high resilience, initiative, discipline from all personnel, and from commanders, in addition, skilful organization and clear management of troops.

The life-threatening environment of combat strongly affects a person.

Among the most important factors of moral, psychological and psychogenic properties that determine the behavior of a soldier on the battlefield, the following are distinguished::

- the degree of mental and physical fatigue;

- impact of stress;

- having a sense of fear;

- level of motivation;

- fighting spirit.

The state of overwork is characterized by general malaise, disorders of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, memory lapses, depression, disorderly actions or inability to complete the assigned task. In the course of conducting combat operations, military personnel will be subjected to extreme psychological and physical stress and will directly feel severe fatigue, which can worsen and develop into overwork due to extreme climatic conditions, time (hourly) shifts after long flights, sleep interruptions, irregular meals, etc.

A strong influence on the psyche of a serviceman in combat will be exerted by "combat stress", which applies to all military personnel even during tactical exercises. It can be experienced by a person due to an awareness of the complexity or danger of the tasks assigned to them, as well as during the process of completing them. In many ways, this condition depends on the level of mental and physical fatigue (overwork). Preparation for active, high-risk and difficult activities requires the normal functioning of the central nervous system, hormonal and circulatory systems, often accompanied by palpitations, dry mouth, and increased bowel and kidney activity. Domestic and foreign psychologists refer to the causes of psychological stress as::

rapid transfer of troops; separation from family, homesickness; threat to life; the burden of responsibility for completing the task; insufficient and uncertain incoming information; lack of time to make decisions and conduct combat operations; inconsistency of the level of military professional skills of a serviceman with the requirements of combat conditions; psychological unpreparedness for a specific task; isolation factors (when separated from the main forces, being in isolated shelters); lack of confidence in the reliability of weapons; lack of confidence in the command, etc.

Foreign experts working on the problem of "military stresses "distinguish psychological disorders (reactions of military personnel in a combat situation)as" normal": fear, physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion, "hyper-vigilance", poor sleep, "survival effect", anxiety, emotional indifference; and long-term stresses: depression, withdrawal, anger, indifference, alienation, "guilt" complex for being alive, anxiety, sleep disorders, nightmares, obsessive thoughts.

The dynamics of the occurrence and development of combat stress, according to the experience of wars, shows that the percentage of psychogenic losses during combat operations is sometimes very high.

Reference

According to British psychologists, during the fighting during the Second World War, 70 percent of military personnel were in a state of such severe stress that they could not not only conduct targeted fire, but also generally control their actions. The same behavior was observed in almost 80 percent of American soldiers in Vietnam.

A negative psychological state of a person is fear and panic. A careful analysis of their manifestation in a combat situation has shown that the state of fear is an innate human need for protection from danger. Fear is connected to the subconscious sphere of his psyche and can affect the mind and emotions with such force that it can even paralyze the will. It is very difficult to completely overcome fear, everyone is subject to it. Discipline, conscientious performance of duty, and a sense of camaraderie remain the most effective means of dealing with it.

The most important factor determining a soldier's behavior in combat is the level of motivation of military personnel, which is understood as their devotion to certain ideals and social values and confidence in the fairness of their activities. Patriotism, a sense of military duty, loyalty to the oath are the main components that determine the level of motivation.

Based on the above, it follows that special attention in the psychological training of military personnel should be directed at overcoming moral and physical fatigue, prolonged stress, fear and panic in battle, strengthening interpersonal relations in the military team and its cohesion, increasing the role of personnel management. Solving these tasks is the main condition for achieving the required psychological stability of the troops.

2

The formation of psychological readiness of a serviceman for combat is achieved in the process of purposeful and deliberate psychological training carried out during training and upbringing of the entire military service.

Psychological training is a complex of measures for the formation of psychological stability, emotional and volitional qualities in military personnel necessary for performing combat tasks, allowing them to strengthen the psyche, harden the will, learn to deal with fear, endure physical and psychological stress, learn to act selflessly, actively, proactively, skillfully using military equipment and weapons, skills survive in the extreme conditions of modern combat, maximize the chance of encountering the unknown in a combat environment.

In the course of psychological training, the tasks of formation of a personality are solved.:

1. Psychological readiness and resilience of warriors.

2. Functional reliability of their psyche.

There are two types of psychological readiness:

- general (long-term) psychological readiness as a set of personality qualities, as well as its readiness;

- situational (temporary) psychological readiness.

Situational readiness is a special psychological state of a warrior that allows him to actively and efficiently perform the nearest combat tasks.

Situational readiness has a complex dynamic structure, is an expression of the totality of intellectual, emotional, motivational and volitional aspects of a person in their relationship with external conditions and upcoming tasks.

Studies have shown that the dynamic structure of the state of psychological readiness for complex activities consists of the following interrelated elements::

1. Awareness of goals, the implementation of which will lead to the satisfaction of needs or the fulfillment of the task.

2. Awareness of your own needs, the requirements of society, the team and the task at hand.

3. Understanding and evaluating the conditions in which upcoming actions will take place, updating the experience associated with past problem solving.

4. Determine, based on experience and assessment of upcoming business conditions, the most likely and auxiliary ways to solve problems or meet requirements.

5. Mobilization of forces in accordance with the conditions and task, autosuggestion in achieving the goal.

As a result, the warrior adjusts to combat behavior, to perform actions to achieve the goal: prepares weapons and military equipment for tasks, replenishes the lack of information, conducts exercises, trainings, mentally draws diagrams of possible deployment of events; with the beginning of hostilities, carefully monitors changes in the situation, consciously manages himself.

In contrast to the state of situational readiness, which reflects the characteristics and requirements of the upcoming situation, long-term (general) readiness is a stable system of personal qualities (positive attitude to activities, organization, attentiveness, self-control, etc.), experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for successful activity in many situations.

Long-term readiness is always active, and you don't need to create it every time in connection with the task at hand. Being formed in advance, this readiness is an essential prerequisite for successful performance.

In general, long-term readiness is a structure that includes::

- positive attitude to a particular type of activity, specialty;

- relevant requirements of the activity, profession, character traits, abilities, temperament, motivation;

- necessary knowledge, skills and abilities;

- stable professionally important features of perception, attention, thinking, emotional and volitional processes.

Consequently, the overall (long-term) psychological readiness depends on the degree of development of the mental properties of the individual, since they influence the stable manifestation of mental processes, preserve and increase the reliability of actions in difficult combat conditions.

The most important mental property of a person that determines the features of his behavior, including combat behavior, is the orientation and system of motives that motivate a person to certain actions. Especially important are socially significant motives that make a person's behavior less dependent on the situation.

The lack of high motives (a sense of duty, honor, etc.), as a rule, leads to the fact that the warrior can not cope with the task assigned to him, he is overcome by doubts: "why?", " is it worth it?", " for what?", etc. Therefore, psychological training is aimed at forming and developing high motives, ideological orientation of the individual-the basis of stability in battle.

Issues of psychological training of troops are successfully solved during service, in combat training classes, as well as during sports training and competitions. At the same time, early and direct psychological training is distinguished.

Early psychological training is aimed at developing: psychological resistance to the factors and difficulties of combat; knowledge and ideas about the physical and psychological difficulties of war, combat; skills of self-management of behavior, emotions, feelings; tempering the psyche under the influence of danger, surprise, uncertainty, lack of time, and other factors of combat.

Direct psychological training includes psychological preparation of soldiers to perform a combat task; formation of psychological readiness (mobilization of military personnel, their mood to perform a combat task); psychological support; psychological rehabilitation of military personnel.

Practically, the psychological readiness of soldiers for battle is formed in the process of repeating the necessary actions, training, practicing exercises, during the training and upbringing of personnel.

The experience of the Second World War and local armed conflicts shows that classes associated with real danger contribute to increasing the psychological stability of soldiers: moving in the immediate vicinity behind the bursts of artillery shells when shooting over the heads of attackers, running infantry with tanks, underwater forcing small rivers and lakes on tanks, swimming with personal weapons and equipment through water obstacles skydiving, overcoming "fire" zones, as well as modeling a battle with an" enemy "ambush, a sudden collision on the march with an "enemy", overcoming complex obstacles and obstacles, actions in isolation from units, etc.

The responsibility for forming the psychological readiness of military personnel for combat is borne by commanders of all degrees and corresponding staffs. In this activity, they rely on the recommendations of military psychologists and are called upon to:

- exercise firm leadership and control over the activities of subordinates, ensure the unity of the unit;

- prevent and, if necessary, control stressful situations;

- to bear moral responsibility to subordinates, to prepare them for combat operations in moral and psychological terms;

- to bring up high military discipline, to set a personal example in the performance of official duties.

Thus, in modern conditions, the role and importance of psychological training increases immeasurably. Therefore, it is necessary that each commander knows the requirements that are imposed on the psychological readiness of soldiers for battle, cares about its stability and skillfully applies the knowledge gained in practice.

Colonel Vladimir DANILOV, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Lecturer of the Department of Humanities and Socio-Economic Disciplines of the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

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