This article is thought provoking about human response when facing the "gravest extreme"

[Lennie]

Can You Really Function Under Stress? - American Cop

Use the facts here, to see what can or can’t be done under stress.

americancop.com

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[Caveman Jim]

It really is, stress can screw up many dire situations, not only weapon confrontations. A lot of marriages have fallen victim to stress.

Serious question to those that train with forced entry (stacks entering a building/residence), do members draw straws (or other methods) to determine who is on point or is it always the same order?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Stress affects everyone differently.
The stress involved when shooting at or actually shooting someone , will affect you...and the affect may be different over time.

Something important to consider when in a stressful situation is :
Often the mind will see , hear and smell what it expects to see , hear or smell and not what is actually there.

I can not speak for a law enforcement situation , as I have never been in law enforcement.
I can only speak from my combat experiences.
Which are very personal and intimate.

I use the word intimate on purpose...as killing is the most intimate thing you can do to another person.
Killing is far more intimate than even love making.
I say this because with love making , you can give the promise of life....with killing , you are giving both the promise of life
( yours / your team mates ) and death ( your opponent ).

In any event...no two people will have the same experiences , even from the same situation.
I would suggest that one :
Does what is needed to survive and make sure the people you care about live.
Do so with the understanding that if you don't , those people or yourself may die.
Andy

 

[Astoria9mm]

Stress affects everyone differently.
The stress involved when shooting at or actually shooting someone , will affect you...and the affect may be different over time.

Something important to consider when in a stressful situation is :
Often the mind will see , hear and smell what it expects to see , hear or smell and not what is actually there.

I can not speak for a law enforcement situation , as I have never been in law enforcement.
I can only speak from my combat experiences.
Which are very personal and intimate.

I use the word intimate on purpose...as killing is the most intimate thing you can do to another person.
Killing is far more intimate than even love making.
I say this because with love making , you can give the promise of life....with killing , you are giving both the promise of life
( yours / your team mates ) and death ( your opponent ).

In any event...no two people will have the same experiences , even from the same situation.
I would suggest that one :
Does what is needed to survive and make sure the people you care about live.
Do so with the understanding that if you don't , those people or yourself may die.
Andy

This is very well put.

 

[Capn Jack]

I love it Andy. So much wisdom and I don't even have to climb a mountain.

 

[WillametteWill]

It's nice to see an article that discusses actual stress. Running sprints and doing push ups before shooting is not stress, it just raises your heart rate but is not a simulation for what stress does to your body or your thought process. It can have value, but not as simulating stress.

Of course, @Andy54Hawken provides clarity on this topic that few can. Thank you as always for your insight.

 

[No_Regerts]

I saw an interesting study that suggested the people that are best at dealing with stress during life and death situations are combat experienced pilots.

 

[P7M13]

I've been on flights where the plane has done sudden drops where drinks hit the ceiling. Of course, there's the obligatory screaming too.
What becomes apparent in that instance is those who can handle stress of the unknown, vs those who cannot.

 

[LDmax]

I saw an interesting study that suggested the people that are best at dealing with stress during life and death situations are combat experienced pilots.

I believe it, for professional pilots in general there's a lot of focus on situational awareness, task management, risk management, decision-making, briefing, memorizing emergency procedures—and that's without anyone getting shot at

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Stress affects everyone differently.
The stress involved when shooting at or actually shooting someone , will affect you...and the affect may be different over time.

Something important to consider when in a stressful situation is :
Often the mind will see , hear and smell what it expects to see , hear or smell and not what is actually there.

I can not speak for a law enforcement situation , as I have never been in law enforcement.
I can only speak from my combat experiences.
Which are very personal and intimate.

I use the word intimate on purpose...as killing is the most intimate thing you can do to another person.
Killing is far more intimate than even love making.
I say this because with love making , you can give the promise of life....with killing , you are giving both the promise of life
( yours / your team mates ) and death ( your opponent ).

In any event...no two people will have the same experiences , even from the same situation.
I would suggest that one :
Does what is needed to survive and make sure the people you care about live.
Do so with the understanding that if you don't , those people or yourself may die.
Andy

I understand perfectly. That's a very eloquent way to speak about it.

As for myself, I have always responded to stressful situations the same way. Time slows down and I do what needs to be done without much emotion. Later I will experience emotion and nerves. In the moment I'm detached. I don't know if it will always be this way in all stressful situations, but it always has been this way. I've had a few situations where I've had to render aid in horrific injury situations, or where I've had to act immediately to otherwise save a life (once with my own child).

 

[pharmseller]

Is excitement similar to stress?

How many of us don't hear the gun go off when we're shooting at a deer or elk?

I cannot even imagine what a life and death situation would be like.



P

 

[Flopsweat]

Is excitement similar to stress?

How many of us don't hear the gun go off when we're shooting at a deer or elk?

I cannot even imagine what a life and death situation would be like.



P

A little maybe. Personally, fear and excitement affect me differently. From my limited experience I believe that fear takes a lot more focus for me to overcome. On the upside, if it's intense enough fear and there is a task that demands my immediate attention, that task gets more focus than I would normally expect I was capable of. There will be people here who can speak a lot more eloquently on that aspect, and with far more insight. I'd love to hear from them. Good topic.


edit: In retrospect, Zeke said something pretty similar above. I don't experience it as time slowing down but as greater clarity of thought and decisiveness, which I guess I call "focus". Different perspective, similar concept I think. Again, I have only a few life and death experiences to draw on. I've never done anything that compares to going into a jungle every day hunting armed men.

 

[Provincial]

Focus is a good word for this.

In my experience, I tend to focus on dealing with the situation by prioritizing the elements of the danger, then addressing them in that order. It happens very fast, but feels like it takes forever. I don't ever remember thinking it over. It just happens automatically.

 

[Provincial]

I remember one time that I was dealing with the failure of one engine (out of two) on takeoff too late to pull the power and land straight ahead. The airplane was not performing as well as it was certified to, and I was very low when returning to land. The tower called to tell me of a tall radio tower ahead of me, and I responded "I see it. Don't bother me, I'm busy." They just cleared me to land and shut up.

 

[Flopsweat]

I remember one time that I was dealing with the failure of one engine (out of two) on takeoff too late to pull the power and land straight ahead. The airplane was not performing as well as it was certified to, and I was very low when returning to land. The tower called to tell me of a tall radio tower ahead of me, and I responded "I see it. Don't bother me, I'm busy." They just cleared me to land and shut up.

I remember the documentary about "Sully" landing that passenger jet on the Hudson. The number of decisions and tasks in such a short period of time was scary. On the outside it's a plane turning around and landing but on the inside you guys are doing complicated stuff exactly right all in less time than I could find one damn switch.

 

[WillametteWill]

The tower called to tell me of a tall radio tower ahead of me, and I responded "I see it. Don't bother me, I'm busy." They just cleared me to land and shut up.

Just like when the race engineers tried to talk with Kimi Raikkonen during a difficult part of a Formula 1 race...

 

[CLT65]

I understand perfectly. That's a very eloquent way to speak about it.

As for myself, I have always responded to stressful situations the same way. Time slows down and I do what needs to be done without much emotion. Later I will experience emotion and nerves. In the moment I'm detached. I don't know if it will always be this way in all stressful situations, but it always has been this way. I've had a few situations where I've had to render aid in horrific injury situations, or where I've had to act immediately to otherwise save a life (once with my own child).

That's been my experience too. I've never been in combat or flown a plane, but there have been a few times in my life when I've experienced just what you describe. At the time you just do what you have to, without a lot of thought. Afterwards is when it sinks in.

When one of my boys was born, the doctor laid him on mama's chest and went to wash up. He laid there turning blue. I asked my wife "That's not right, is it?! Can't be right?!"

She was in a drug/hormone induced haze, all she could say was "he's fine, he's perfect…"

The doctor and nurse were across the room washing up and chatting. I'm not a pushy, take charge kind of person, but I was at that moment. I barged in between them and said "Over here, now! Somethings wrong!" They grabbed him up immediately and did what they needed to do. He was in the NICU for over a week.

Later I shuddered to think how it might have been if I hadn't reacted quickly and gotten so pushy. He turns 16 next month; he's a great kid. He's had arthritis since he was three. I've wondered if his rough start might have had anything to do with that. No way of knowing.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

That's been my experience too. I've never been in combat or flown a plane, but there have been a few times in my life when I've experienced just what you describe. At the time you just do what you have to, without a lot of thought. Afterwards is when it sinks in.

When one of my boys was born, the doctor laid him on mama's chest and went to wash up. He laid there turning blue. I asked my wife "That's not right, is it?! Can't be right?!"

She was in a drug/hormone induced haze, all she could say was "he's fine, he's perfect…"

The doctor and nurse were across the room washing up and chatting. I'm not a pushy, take charge kind of person, but I was at that moment. I barged in between them and said "Over here, now! Somethings wrong!" They grabbed him up immediately and did what they needed to do. He was in the NICU for over a week.

Later I shuddered to think how it might have been if I hadn't reacted quickly and gotten so pushy. He turns 16 next month; he's a great kid. He's had arthritis since he was three. I've wondered if his rough start might have had anything to do with that. No way of knowing.

One of my incidents was when I was running the marina and my (now ex) wife parked our car in the sloping parking lot, leaving our 18 month old daughter in the car so she could come talk to me about something before going into town. As we were standing on the dock talking I looked up to see our car rolling down the boat launch ramp with my daughter in it. I didn't think or even say anything. I just dropped everything and ran as fast as I could. I got to the car just as the water was about half way up the door, windows rolled up. I yanked the door open and grabbed my daughter then watched as the car rolled on into the lake. It ended up completely submerged in about 10 feet of water. That was one of those "slow motion" times.

 

[LDmax]

doing complicated stuff exactly right all in less time

failure of one engine (out of two) on takeoff too late to pull the power and land straight ahead

One nice thing about a lot of emergencies in aviation as opposed to life in general, is the limited variety of emergencies possible, and the amount of training that can go into them. There's a lot of "known unknowns". Pilots know that an engine failure during takeoff and initial climb leaves them with very few options and minimal time to think, so they program themselves for that specific emergency with simulator training, memorized checklists, and a briefing right before takeoff to pre-load the appropriate response into their brain as best as possible. That way, when Provincial's engine fails at point A, he's primed to do one thing, and when it fails at point B, he'll do a different thing—he doesn't have to consciously decision-make his way through everything in the moment, while the adrenaline is pumping and the caveman brain is trying to take over.

That frees up brain power for

prioritizing the elements of the danger, then addressing them in that order

Which is convenient if you're like me and you didn't have much brain power to start with.

What really sucks is if something completely unexpected or confusing happens, and good decision-making and action have to happen immediately, regardless of whether any fight-or-flight response or instinct have kicked in.

Many things don't require an instant reaction, and the first step is to "wind the clock", and take an extra second or two to think, even if it's just a literal second or two.