Imprpved Soldier Decision-Making in Urban Settings

This is a basic research project that will develop a conceptual model for soldier decision-making in urban settings and use it to create individual training programs. The model and subsequent training programs will focus on individual soldier decision-making skills pertaining to the employment of lethal force (lethality), force or population protection (survivability), and mission accomplishment (timeliness). The project's objectives will be twofold: 1) understand how the urban environment affects individual decision-making and task performance; 2) prepare prototype tasks summaries that will set forth the knowledge individual soldiers must know concerning specific tasks they are likely to encounter in high risk urban environments and the skills they must exercise to achieve desired outcomes. The project's methodology will include both contemporary and historical research into military and civilian police operations in urban settings. Civilian police practices and procedures will be studied closely because they present a lucrative source of information for pinpointing task requirements and for establishing desired outcomes for soldier-civilian interaction in volatile situations. The conceptual model will be used to develop tasks, conditions, and standards that will form the basis for prototype programs to train soldiers in urban decision-making skills. BENEFITS: A training program to teach effective and rapid decision-making in high risk urban settings has broad commercial and military applications. Police, fire, emergency services personnel, National Guard, and other organizations required to work in urban terrain during civil unrest, urban terrorism, mass casualty producing events, or violent confrontations will all benefit from such a program.