R.O.S.S. Combat Anxiety Management Plan

by Scott Sonnon

In fighting across the globe and coaching the US National Sambo Team these years, as well as training various generalized and specialized military forces, I have traveled throughout the world and uncovered insights into elite preparedness that augment specific skills and enhance performance regardless of the theater of conflict. Highest among those in organizational skills were the Russian methodologies. In my years of formal training throughout Russia with their Special Forces and Olympic Trainers, I was given the honor of learning their unique strategic program of combative preparation: the R.O.S.S. Training System. It is very important to reinforce that R.O.S.S. is a SYSTEM of combative performance enhancement, rather than a specific STYLE of fighting. The following is an example of the climate of personal combat preparation detailed by the R.O.S.S. Training System: In the "friction" of combative engagement, the individual must rely upon his innate tendencies and idiosyncratic abilities, not on the haphazard calculus of conditioned skills. To have access to fighting skill, operations must be an extension of the individual's natural capabilities, not something foreign to him.

Why is this? As any combat veteran will attest, battle is won not through superior tactic, maneuver, or attrition, but through the ubiquitous and incalculable factor of Morale. In personal combat, deploying violence -- or the credible threat of violence, which requires the apparent willingness to employ it - compels us to accept the will of the opponent, or for him to accept ours. It is always to this fact that combative reality returns: combat is a clash of wills, and he who imposes his will upon the other is victorious. Violence is the critical ingredient of personal combat, and its immediate outcome is bloodshed, suffering, and trauma. Whilst the magnitude of violence may vary with the objective of the assailant, the violent essence of personal combat remains immutable.

Any study of personal combat that neglects this characteristic is misleading and incomplete. Being that personal combat is a violent enterprise, danger is a fundamental characteristic. And since personal combat is a human phenomenon, fear - the human reaction to danger - has a significant impact on the conduct of personal combat, and should be the prime requisite in determining a program of preparation. Why? All men feel fear. Proper combative preparation must foster the courage to manage fear and forge ahead through the din of combat, for fear shall either be the excellent servant of our survival or the terrible master of our demise.

Courage, or moral force, is not the absence of fear; rather, it is the virtue of effective anxiety management. Since it is true the old saying, "Courage comes after...," all preparatory efforts must attend the climate of fear. Personal combative programs must study fear, understand it, and be prepared to effectively use it to the individual's advantage. Experience under attack generally increases courage, as can realistic training by increasing the familiarity of the individual to the effects of anxiety management upon combat performance. Effective anxiety management programs should develop internal cohesion and esprit de corps, for as said by Napoleon, "the moral are to the physical forces as three are to one."

Personal combat is characterized by the interaction of both moral and physical forces. The physical characteristics are generally easily seen, understood, and measured; the moral, less tangible. ("The term moral as used here is not restricted to ethics -- although ethics are included -- but pertains to those forces of psycho-physiological rather than tangible nature.) Moral forces are difficult to grasp and impossible to quantify. We cannot easily gauge forces like resolve, conscience, emotion, fear, courage, morale, leadership, and esprit. Yet moral forces exert a greater influence on the nature and outcome of personal combat than do physical. This is not to lessen the importance of physical forces, for the physical forces in personal combat have impact on the moral. Because moral forces are intangible and elusive, it is tempting to exclude them from personal combat preparation. However, any doctrine or theory of personal combat that neglects these factors ignores the greater part of the nature of personal combat.

The R.O.S.S. Training System focuses heavily upon this as the progenitor of all operational efficacy, for any effective preparatory contact engagement model should focus upon soliciting a breach in the morale of the opponent, whilst simultaneously fortifying personal and unit morale. "Combat is a trial of moral and physical forces, by means of the latter. One might say that the physical seems little more than the wooden hilt, while the moral factors are the precious metal, the real weapon, the finely-honed blade." (On War, Carl Von Clausewitz.)

A combative philosophy should be a doctrine of morale that produces effective tactical operations, not an operational doctrine that hopes to inadvertently manufacture 'faith in the structure.' Morale determines tactical efficacy; tactics do not generate morale. Or to keep it American, "don't let the tail wag the dog." Detailed below is the basic plan for moral fortification derived from the R.O.S.S. Training System. The following is an example of how R.O.S.S. aids in developing strategic effectiveness, in particular for the most neglected and CRITICAL aspect of ALL forms of combat: Combat Anxiety Management. R.O.S.S. Combat Anxiety Management Plan This procedure can be divided into 6 parts:

• 1. Pre-Contact Reconnaissance\Scouting (well before)
• 2. Pre-Contact Assessment (day before)
• 3. Pre-Contact Preparation (day of)
• 4. Contact Engagement (itself)
• 5. Post-Contact Debriefing\Review (immediately after)
• 6. Post-Contact Assessment (day after)

• A. This phase scouts intelligence on event conditions and regulations & potential and expected competitors and their abilities, tendencies, preferences.
• B. From the above intelligence gathering aspect of this phase, a Profile is created.

II. Pre-Contact Assessment (day before)

• A. The first aspect of this phase is the discussing all details that have been reconnoitered. What is predictable and unpredictable? Critical team members and coaches/trainers only. Dialectic should remain within the parameters of the Profile, but missing intelligence should be expected.
• B. One major goal of this phase is RELAXATION. Relaxation must be a fun, non-mental activity, and physical, not like attending a ballet or theatre where one is sitting only mentally absorbed. But a physical activity where there is no psychological room to "worry" about the impending event. It should obviously be an event with no danger of harm to participant, no stress.
• C. After this physical exertion, it shall be easier to sleep. Without it, the mind will fixate on the upcoming event (except for those professionals who have trained this phasic mechanism well), and either be unable to sleep, or will not sleep fitfully. Sleep is critical at this phase, and should be 8-10 hours.

III. Pre-Contact Preparation (day of)

• A. This is the phase of Programming Success. All what-if variations are considered, in light of the Pre-Contact Assessment. It is here that each possible what-if scenario is VISUALIZED with a positive outcome.
• B. Visualization is the key to this phase of training, but moving from Disassociated to Associated Visualization is "turning the key."
• 1. Disassociated Visualization is either Objective or Subjective. We begin visualizing objectively and move to subjectively. a. Objective Visualization is picturing your trainer or any other respected person perfectly perform the task. b. Subjective Visualization is picturing your self successfully accomplishing the task as if watching yourself in a movie.
• 2. Associated Visualization is "moving into the movie" and picturing what you what see out of your own eyes, hear from your own ears, feel from your own skin, etc... This is the most rewarding level of visualization, for many reasons to be discussed in actual training.
• C. Critical team members should be isolated for visualization for Visualization Editing. If visualization goes awry, and a negative outcome is pictured, mentally rewind the event, go to the "frame" in the movie immediately before the negative outcome began, and insert the beginning of a positive outcome. Scroll ahead mentally, but still slowly, until the positive outcome is assured. Program Success in every visualization.
• D. Identify Performance Goals. Have a key catch phrase for one encompassing performance goal, such as "Exhale through...," or "Fold don't force." Repeat this like a mantra, so as to consolidate focus into one encompassing, irradiating concentration. By irradiate, I mean a phrase that has impact on your overall activity, and is your most critical attention spot. It must be simple, direct, and activity specific.

IV. Contact Engagement (itself)

• A. If the event runs smoothly, then there is no work to be done in this phase. However, it is rare that the event is unfettered by surprise. Usually, if an event experiences nothing unpredictable, it was not a sufficiently challenging event. The true Anxiety-Management test is not when the event runs smoothly, but how we deal with unpredictable variables when they manifest.
• B. The unpredictable happens, what to do? We must not ask, what can be done. If we are asking this question, in this phase, our performance is being blocked. What is blocking us from our performance? Mismanaged energy, panic. Where does panic begin? It begins in the stomach as a sensation that can be detected.
• C. How do we stop the panic from continuing in duration/severity? Switch to the Machine. The Machine is a very deep psychological operation that lacks emotion (though emotion may be intentionally outwardly displayed). It is purely logical and systematic, and its effectiveness is based upon preparation and experience. During operations there is a psychological division between the Machine and the Outward Appearance. Not only Verbal (language and paralanguage), but more importantly non-verbal/bodily (gestural, postural, positional, and facial calibration) communication must be deliberate, convincing, and appropriate to the event demands.
• D. The only way to program the Machine is within everyday activity. If an event solicits fear, and panic begins in the stomach, using the "2nd Mind" of the Machine:
• 1. Ask, "Why do I panic? Is this a true threat?"
• 2. Separate the Machine from the Outward Appearance.
• 3. Deal with the task at hand so as to neutralize the immediate threat.

V. Post-Contact Debriefing\Review (immediately after)

• A. Record all details of the Event, while the Machine is still present. NO discussion, only recording. All critical team members and trainers contribute their perspective to the report, again, without discussion.
• B. Critical phase requires relaxation in order to allow the Machine to switch-off. Relaxation should include hot shower, food, drink, and physical companionship. No discussion of the event. Pretend as if the event did not just occur. Then, most importantly, SLEEP! (Sleep will be VERY difficult, if the Machine is still present. These relaxation suggestions will allow the Machine to "leave" or return to dormancy.)

VI. Post-Contact Assessment (after event, day after)

• A. This phase is a discussion of the Event and the Team Performance. What unpredictable variables appeared and why? What performance goals need to be altered for sustained training?
• B. Team members return back to everyday living.
• C. Everyday Training: If surprise events in non-event daily living begins to solicit panic, prepare to switch to the Machine on a count of 25. This time-delay on the switch will allow create a governor so that the Machine/Appearance split is always within control and not sustained when not in-crisis. The Machine/Appearance split is only for crisis situations. When the Machine is switched on, begin a mini sequence of this Standard Operating Procedure. Begin with Reconnaissance and Assessment: "From what point did the Panic begin? Where? When? Why? At what event did I begin to feel unusual?" Daily performance goal when confronted with a crisis, "Cover my fear inside me." A dog can perceive emotional intent; it detects the electromagnetic field. Civilization is the cause of our separation from this sensitivity, which is not mystical, but utterly physical. If the Machine is on, despite 'feeling' panic beginning, our electromagnetic field is not altered. They cannot see the fear, although the Machine acknowledges it is present, and it uses the fear as increased energy reserves and enhanced sensory perception.

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