Fatal training accidents: The military unit as a recovery context

✍ Scribed by Mary P. Tyler; Robert K. Gifford

• Book ID: 102925739
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 888 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-9867
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.2490040207

✦ Synopsis

A n exploratory study of military units' recovety J?om fatal training accidents focused on four Army units which had losl one to three members in muneuver or live-fire accidents involving [racked vehicles. One hundred seventeen soldiers affected by the accidents provided detailed interview data. In each case, the unit offered a recovery context in which formal and informal organizational structures facilitated individuals' resolution of trauma. The unit's tacit acknowledgment of a hierarchy of bereavement helped it organize caretaking and ritriul activities. Soldiers received support from leaders and friends, and were aided by formal and informal rituals. The requirement to return to work, when hundled sensitivei), played a positive role in recovery.