Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) developed research-based, effective, and life-saving protocols and psychological training techniques that help soldiers protect themselves, react to, and survive the most extreme situations they may face. But soldiers were not retaining the techniques and couldn’t draw upon them when needed most. In order to reduce PTSD, injuries, and casualties, WRAIR had to turn their research into actionable training for soldiers. And it had to work.
WRAIR partnered with BES Studios to develop, produce, and release a campaign of videos that break down real-life military scenarios where a soldier may face an acute stress reaction and put themselves or their unit in jeopardy. A cinematic presentation featuring a realistic scenario accompanied by actionable information was the best way to relate to our audience and make the information memorable. The films follow a pattern: a real-life scenario, a reaction, and an example of how to implement a given technique. We reinforce the information by explaining the science behind the protocols, and provide other psychological training techniques to keep the information memorable enough for soldiers to draw upon during engagement.
“iCOVER” and “Warrior Mindset” have been enormously successful, and while there’s no way to know exactly how many lives have been saved, units across the Army report successful use of these techniques in the field. The films and the methodology have been so popular, in fact, that they’ve been implemented not only in the US Army’s training curriculum, but have been deployed to many of our allies as the gold standard for training.