Effects of Competition and Mode of Fire on Physiological Responses, Psychological Stress Reactions, and Shooting Performance

Abstract : This research supported the Advanced Combat Rifle field test and the Human Engineering Laboratory (HEL) stress program by evaluating competition as a methodology for producing a known level of stress in soldiers. The subjects in this field experiment were volunteer infantrymen from the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). During the 2 competition weeks, 10 soldiers from each division participated; during the control week, 20 soldiers form the 82nd Airborne division served as subjects. The subjects fired M855 ball ammunition loaded into 30-round magazines from M16A2 rifles equipped with Crane Naval Weapons Support Center No. 1 muzzle devices. Each subject fired two different target scenarios during the record-fire days, one scenario in semiautomatic mode and one in burst mode. Each scenario consisted of 36 target presentation events. Events involved presenting one, two, or three targets for 1.5, 3, or 5 seconds at 50, 100, 200, or 300 meters. The stress created by competition was assessed by comparing the psychological and physiological responses of the soldiers firing competitively with the responses of soldiers firing during noncompetitive, control conditions, and with the responses obtained from subjects in other stress protocols.

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