Combat Skills Research Articles

A Waterborne Outbreak of Leptospirosis among United States Military Personnel in Okinawa, Japan

A waterborne outbreak of leptospirosis occurred among US military personnel during September 1987, on the island of Okinawa, Japan. Micro-agglutination titres for leptospiral antigen of greater than or equal to 200 were detected in hospitalized adult males averaging 22.5 years of age with symptoms compatible with leptospirosis. Epidemiological findings revealed two case clusters distinguished by time and place of exposure. The overall attack rates among recreational swimmers and combat skills training participants were 467/1000 (7/15) and 183/1000 (15/82), respectively. Swallowing of water differentiated individuals with laboratory-confirmed infection from those with no infection, while water immersion alone did not appear to result in leptospiral infection. Additionally, subnormal rainfall may have contributed to the risk of exposure associated with this outbreak.

Commanders' Attitudes Toward the Nature, Causality, and Severity of Combat Stress Reaction

This study examines the attitudes of 176 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) com- manders to the nature, causality, and severity of combat stress reaction (CSR). Each commander was presented with 1 of 24 vignettes describing a CSR incident and was requested to fill out an attitudes questionnaire. The impact of the following variables on commanders' attitudes was as- sessed: casualty's rank, casualty's combat skill, presence of an additional physical injury, type of symptomatology, and respondent's background vari- ables. Findings revealed relative tolerance toward CSR casualties. On the whole, the commanders did not regard CSR as dangerous or as a sign of insanity. They considered the disorder more as battle shock and emotional breakdown than as malingering or softness. The reaction was thought to be more an outcome of what happened in the battle than a result of prewar psychological problems. CSR casualties with high combat skills, physical injury, low rank, or depressive symptoms, elicited more tolerant attitud...

Officers' Attitudes toward Combat Stress Reaction: Responsibility, Treatment, Return to Unit, and Personal Distance

This study examines the attitudes of 176 Israel Defense Forces officers toward combat stress reaction (CSR) in four areas: (1) the degree of personal responsibility the officer accepts for the treatment of the CSR casualty; (2) the type of treatment the officer views as most effective for CSR; (3) the officer's willingness to accept the CSR casualty's return to the unit following treatment; and (4) the personal distance the officer experiences between himself and the phenomenon. The impact of the following variables on officers' attitudes was assessed: casualty's rank, casualty's level of combat skill, presence of an additional physical injury, type of symptomatology, and respondent's background variables. Each officer was presented with one of 24 vignettes describing a CSR incident and was requested to fill in an attitudes questionnaire. Findings revealed that officers were more severe and less tolerant in relation to the CSR casualty who was an officer than toward lower ranking casualties. Officers were expected to take more responsibility for their own recovery than simple soldiers, support of commanding officers was seen as less effective in their treatment, and respondents were less willing to accept them back into their units after treatment.

The Federal Gendarmerie in Austria

Editor's Note: Mr. Robert Harnischmacher is a West German free-lance writer and lecturer in the Legal Sciences and Police Affairs, with a background in the German military and the Japanese martial arts. The author has been involved in developing unarmed combat skills for various German police forces and a number of foreign countries. His articles on self-defense, criminology and police history and administration have been published in the police publications of Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and Britain. Mr. Harnischmacher has also written some judicial books regarding the police in West Germany. He has traveled widely and delivered many speeches and lectures including highly selective and sensitive topics to highly selected audiences. He is currently an Honorary Deputy Sheriff of San Diego County in California as well as an Honor member of the San Diego Crime Commission. The Editor takes this opportunity to thank Mr. Harnischmacher for his contributions to the journal and anticipates his further cooperation in disseminating his experiences and expertise through the journal. Mr. Harnischmacher has published several articles through this journal in previous volumes.

Performance Measurement during Simulated Air-to-Air Combat

Measurement and assessment of operator performance of complex tasks with decisional and psychomotor components of which only ultimate outcome measures are well defined provide difficult methodological challenges. One such task is the practice of air-to-air combat skills in simulated combat environments such as the Air Force Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) or ground-based visual flight simulators. Measurement and assessment of pilot performance in these environments are especially challenging because of the special cognitive and psychomotor skills involved in the freeplay and gamesmanship of two or more competing pilots. A review of the existing approaches to automated aircrew performance measurement was performed. Although the most common measurement models, using positional advantage or disadvantage, provide an adequate performance metric, other measures, such as control manipulation and the management of kinetic and potential energy, must be added to provide a refined performance measurement algorithm.

A Special Report (II) The Federal Border Guard in Bonn The Protection of Endangered Objects in West Germany's Capital

[Editor's Note] Mr. Robert Harnischmacher is a West German free-lance writer and lecturer in the legal sciences and police affairs, with a background in the German military and the Japanese martial arts. The author has been involved in developing unarmed combat skills for various German police forces and a number of foreign countries. His articles on self-defense, criminology and police history and administration have been published in police publications in Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, Swiss and Britian. Mr. Harnischmacher has also written some judicial books regarding the police in West Germany. He has traveled widely and delivered many speeches and lectures including highly selective and sensitive topics to highly selected audiences. He is currently an Honorary Deputy Sheriff of San Diego County in California as well as an Honorary member of the San Diego Crime Commission. The Editor takes this opportunity to thank Mr. Harnischmacher for his contribution...

A Special Report (I) West Germany—Paradise for Spies?

[Editor's Note] Mr. Robert Harnischmacher is a West German free-lance writer and lecturer in the legal sciences and police affairs, with a background in the German military and the Japanese martial arts. The author has been involved in developing unarmed combat skills for various German police forces and a number of foreign countries. His articles on self-defense, criminology and police history and administration have been published in police publications in Germany, Austria, Australia, Canada, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, Swiss and Britian. Mr. Harnischmacher has also written some judicial books regarding the police in West Germany. He has traveled widely and delivered many speeches and lectures including highly selective and sensitive topics to highly selected audiences. He is currently an Honorary Deputy Sheriff of San Diego County in California as well as an Honorary member of the San Diego Crime Commission. The Editor takes this opportunity to thank Mr. Harnischmacher for his contribution...

Lower dominance ranking associated with delay in development of aversion to ethanol in mice.

Mice with a slower development of aversion to 3% ethanol solutions were slower to develop aggressive combat skills. Plasma testosterone levels did not decrease in another similarly treated group.