The Art of Training Ordinary People to Work in Chaotic Environment

Imagine this scenario: Bullets flying from all corners. 

Everything is literally happening at the same time. People are getting shot outside and the pandemonium is increasing by the second. 

And yet . . . The cameraman is still videoing. polyglots and analysts are still talking the locals to get adequate information that they will take to base. The extraction team are focusing on getting everything and everyone to safety. 

I know you're wondering who on earth would want to do such Work? 

It's too dangerous, too risky. 

Well, that's what people who maintain the balance of peace pass through every now and then. 

Just imagine how the world will be without people risking their lives to keep peace. These individuals may not be heard of, or might never be honoured openly in any form - yet they’re the driving force that keep peace globally.

But how do they end up working unafraid in such a hostile environment. What kind of training do they go through to make them ready for the kind of conflict I painted above? 

The Mind Training 

The mind of people who haven't trained or gone for jobs in hostile environment don't function like those who have. The primary goal of these trainings is first to make you "super conscious of your environment" and secondly to know how to better handle hostile environment..

According to Andrew Kain, managing director of AKE group, the whole point of this course is to give the trainees the tools to handle these situations, to know what to do next.”

A gun to your head or a bomb blast a few feet from you can mess with your body chemicals.

From normal body temperature and operation the body can quickly skydive to panick mode and you’d get to see your breathing increasing rapidly, heart rate follows sharply, peripheral blood vessels (the ones in the skin, for instance) constrict, central blood vessels around vital organs dilate to flood them with oxygen and nutrients, and muscles are pumped with blood, ready to react.

It doesn’t stop there.

Muscles — especially those that hold each hair — becomes tighter, causing piloerection AKA goosebumps. When a human being’s hair stands on end, it doesn't make much difference to their appearance, but for some hairy animals, it makes them seem larger and more scary.

Literally speaking, the mind goes on panic mode when humans are exposed to hostile environment. And that almost ends bad. When millions of chemical are being secreted at the same time, they will be a lot of suggestions that ends up causing more harm than good.

At hostile trainings, one of the first things they’re taught is how to not react but try and be calm and conscious of everything happening around them. It takes a calmer mind to make right judgements, especially ones that will save the whole team. 

“Was I using what I learned on a daily basis? No. But was I conscious of things I wouldn’t have otherwise known? Absolutely,” said O’Keefe, a congressional reporter who volunteered to go to Iraq.

“There were nights when I walked through the Green Zone and was conscious of the fact that behind that corner, someone could be waiting, conscious that an explosive could go off at any point, conscious of not walking in the shadows, but in the light.”

You see how intentional he’s become? He’s now mindful of everything and watches everything. The entire stuff starts in the mind. Once you’ve been trained to be mindful the rest will be easy.

The Weapons Training 

Every knowledge is useful when you’re in a hostile environment. Carrying guns and using them may not be part of your job description, but going into such environment changes a lot of things.

You’d be forced sometimes to protect yourself and you can’t do that effectively except you’re taught how to do that. Apart from teaching you how to be mindful at all times and be ready for danger whenever it strikes, you’d be taught how to handle gun situations.

How best to react. How to diffuse heated situations. 

A lot of danger zones can be avoided by common psychological tricks. Tricks as simple as wearing big and bulgy trousers so people won’t know when your legs are shaking. This and lots more are used to get you properly prepared for anything in the hostile field that’ll get you off balance.

The Medical Emergency Training 

Most of not all the journalists that have gone through hostile training agreed that the medical emergency training they went through was the most helpful part of the training.

“I’ve put lessons in safe tactics from the course to good use in battlefield and patrol scenarios in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya,” said CNN International Anchor Michael Holmes. “But, to me, the most important element of the course is medical training. I’ve had eight colleagues and friends killed in places like Iraq, Libya and Syria in recent years and I know how a little training can save lives.”

According to Christenson, having the medical training saved him countless of time and even saved the lives of some of his colleagues. He learned how to apply the right first aid at any given time, especially at hostile periods.

These trainings are made for literally anybody who wants to enter areas of hostility, countries that aren’t quite safe to do peacekeeping jobs. And the most profound thing about the medical emergency training is the need to improvise. 

Majority of what you may need to save a life may not be readily available in a time of ambush. These improvisation teaches the trainees a better to utilize their environment to save lives.

In conclusion, these people take all the risk and they’re always at the finish lines of battle every now and then, so it is quite imperative for them to train.