New Army Training Doc Outlines Ways To Give Soldiers Superhuman-Like Sensory Perception

[Judi Lynn]

The Advanced Situational Awareness concept aims to give soldiers an unconscious "human edge" through various techniques.
BY BRETT TINGLEY APRIL 16, 2021

he U.S. Army has published a new training circular that contains a section on how soldiers can train their senses to new levels of awareness, enabling them to almost unconsciously perceive small details about their surroundings in a near-superhuman manner. Other sections of the circular describe how cultural anthropology, the study of world religions, and even Gestalt psychology, can be leveraged in U.S. Army training in order to make soldiers into what some might call "warrior monks" with near-preternatural deductive reasoning ability.

While many will scoff at some of the loftier ideas in the training circular, the document cites numerous case studies of soldiers in the field in which a greater sense of situational awareness could have saved lives. The Army is already offering training courses in this new type of Advanced Situational Awareness (ASA) at Fort Benning in Georgia, which is home to the service's Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE). MCoE oversees the Army's Infantry and Armor Schools, among other responsibilities.

The training circular, published by the Headquarters of the Department of the Army this month, outlines a variety of techniques and requirements through which soldiers can learn Advanced Situational Awareness training methods of optimizing human performance “through building the skills necessary to develop agile, resilient, adaptive, and innovative Soldiers who thrive in conditions of uncertainty and chaos.” The document mostly focuses on ways by which soldiers can optimize and heighten their observation skills, enabling them to respond to anomalies or recognize unusual behaviors or objects that may present a threat more quickly. Using this training, the document writes, soldiers can "achieve a better understanding of their organic equipment and system: their capabilities, limitations, and components." This heightened sensory perception "can lead to a new level of "Advanced Situational Awareness," the circular claims, which "can be crucial to Soldier survival, as use of the sensory system provides input into a Soldier’s decision-making process."

According to Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) regulations, training circulars “are official departmental publications that are not doctrine, but doctrine based.” The information in training circulars can range from how to train for specific events or to operate certain pieces of equipment, or even contain “detailed procedures of a technical nature.” Training circulars have no set format or development process. This latest training circular claims that the U.S. Army’s Advanced Situational Awareness training is “designed to support Soldiers’ cognitive skills on the battlefield to create preemptive decision-making over threats, thereby increasing their combat lethality.” This training should be designed “with a combat focus and an understanding of the tactical mindset,” the circular reads.

More:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/40202/new-army-training-doc-outlines-ways-to-give-soldiers-superhuman-like-sensory-perception

[soothsayer]

1. Cool

[Midnight Writer]

2. Yeah, sign me up. I'd love to take some classes on this.

Lesson 1) Put down your smart phone.

[nilram]

3. "Cognitive Enhancement Specialist" job posting

Was looking for something else, but I ran across this job posting last night --

Cognitive Enhancement Specialists will support brigade-based Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) Human Performance Teams (multi-disciplinary) focused on optimizing Soldier readiness and performance within the Army’s new H2F System by managing and providing cognitive enhancement education and tailored training programs for individuals and teams by operationalizing resilience core competencies and addressing mental barriers to physical performance.

Primary Responsibilities

. Manages and provides cognitive enhancement education and tailored training programs for individuals and teams.
. Operationalizes resilience core competencies.
. Identifies and cultivates existing mental skill sets to assist the Soldier in performing optimally during physical, technical, and tactical training in preparation for combat operations, garrison, and life stressors.
. Recognizes and addresses mental barriers to physical performance by focusing on stress and emotional regulation; normalizes physiological responses to stress, to include combat situations.
. Conducts tactical breathing and arousal regulation, team cohesion, imagery, and provides cognitive/learning strategies.
. Advises the commander on the implementation of cognitive enhancement programs to optimize specific performances.

Basic Qualifications

. Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in the field of Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Counseling Education, Coaching Education, or Kinesiology with a specialized emphasis in sport and/or performance psychology.
. Licensure as a psychologist with a proficiency in sports psychology as recognized in Division 47 of the American Psychological Association, Certified Consultant through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (CC-AASP), Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), or Board Certified Sport Psychologist through the American Board of Sport Psychology (ABSP). Out of the 4 licensures, the Board Certified Sport Psychologist through the ABSP is preferred.
. 3 years of demonstrable accumulated experience within the past 5 years as a mental performance coach or sport psychology practitioner with individual athletes and groups of athletes at the levels of NCAA Collegiate, Olympic, professional sports, and/or Service Members in the accompanying, respective settings.
. At least one year working directly with Service Members in a performance and/or resilience training and education setting is preferred.
. Local and long distance travel may be required to perform services.
. Certifications in Basic Life Support and automated external defibrillators (AED).
. Ability to function as an integrated member of a Brigade-based multi-disciplinary team.
. Knowledge of emerging best practices within the health and fitness industry.
. Ability to physically train in an austere environment/terrain and lift/manipulate loads up to 50 pounds.
. Ability to gain access to military bases and follow security, environmental, and cyber regulations. Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint software applications.

Work locations include:

. Ft Bliss, TX
. Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA
. Ft Drum, NY

https://careers.leidos.com/jobs/6489335-cognitive-enhancement-specialist