Military Stress First Aid: Practical and Community Implications

Military leaders, service members, families, and healthcare providers endure unique stressors when deployed in response to humanitarian missions, major disasters, or war. The Maritime Operational Stress Control (OSC) doctrine was developed by the Department of the Navy to provide practical and organizational assessment and response to expected stressors of military life. The foundational principles of a color codes stress continuum, core leader actions, and stress first aid have been used to support individuals, communities, military families, and disaster response efforts. The Maritime stress first aid model is an indicated prevention effort for those presenting early signs of stress injury. All professional caregivers who work with Sailors, Marines, and their families must be able to understand and use the Maritime OSC model as a core military culture competency. This presentation will highlight the theoretical foundations and practical applications for assessing and planning interventions for individuals, families, and communities experiencing sources of stress injury of trauma, loss, moral injury, and fatigue. Empirical evidence identified five essential needs that people have following disaster or terrorism events. The stress first aid model uses those five essential needs and the four sources of stress injury to guide assessment and interventions for individuals, families, and communities. Specific examples will be discussed of how this model was used to assess strengths, vulnerabilities, and stress exposure for over 7,000 military personnel deployed Haiti earthquake relief; a framework for understanding community reactions to the Deep Horizon Oil Spill; and U.S. military personnel and family support in Japan.