So, I have recently become the Behavioral Section Sergeant for the AK National Guard Medical Detachment. Unfortunately this means doing SRP packets for other units EVERY month. This being unacceptable for a mission junkie like myself, I have looked for new missions. Since the Med Det is a State military department resource (not just Army Guard) and our Air Guard is heavily involved in some hairy S&R missions, one of my thoughts was to focus on traumatic stress and CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) techniques.

What I do not know, is how effective are CISM and other stress debriefings? Since this site has a large number of soldiers, police officers and contractors that have experienced trauma and likely been through some type of stress or incident debriefing, I would like feedback on how useful the experience has been for you.

So far my S&R buddies have said mostly positive about there CISM experience, my LEO friends have not gotten back to me yet and my Army friends have been mostly negative, though few of them have actually had a true CISM debriefing.

What are your experiences?

Reed Dyer

P.S. I am also interested in anyone's interaction with Army Combat Stress Teams in theatre.