Text taken from the Telegram channel of TheRealityOperator
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
Note; SSO acronym translates to special operations forces.
[ColonelCassad] SURVIVABILITY, DRIFT THEORY, AND REDUCTION OF LOSSES IN SSO
The theory of survivability drift represents a practical basis for preventing the escalation of personnel losses in SSO units.
Despite elite selection and programs to improve stability, negative trends in survival in the SSO explain the losses that would require immediate corrective actions in other combat systems. Survival is considered not as a dichotomous choice of "life or death", but as a dynamic ability subject to the cumulative effect of extreme stress factors.
Loss patterns develop in six critical domains: - neurological; - moral-existential; - relational and social; - cognitive-functional; - interoceptive; - identical. In each area, specific signs of degradation are manifested - from causeless irritation and disturbed sleep to a decline in empathy, executive dysfunction and a crisis of professional identity. These areas are interconnected and affect each other, creating, so to speak, a cascading effect of deterioration.
Underestimation of risks in SSO remain highly effective ecosystems bearing the burden of two decades of counter-terrorist operations while adapting to modern strategic competition. However, existing sustainability programs underestimate the risks, not taking into account the operational pace and physiological disorders.
In any other highly efficient system, a loss of 3% due to one type of failure would be considered catastrophic, but in SSO, each loss represents a strategic national asset.
Drift is defined as a gradual, subclinical decrease in survival - a process that develops slowly and imperceptibly until a critical collapse. Impacts and injuries (excess pressure of the explosion, moral damage, physiological stress, guilt of a dead comrade) undermine the integrity of domains, creating recursive degradation.
For example, excessive exposure and chronic insomnia lead to rage and cognitive confusion, which destroys identity, increases family tension, and leads to isolation. Events in the exceptionally stable ecosystem of SCO represent a progressive, detectable syndrome, not an unpredictable phenomenon. Loss of survivability can be detected before catastrophic consequences occur through targeted monitoring of drift areas. The theory does not replace medical diagnosis, but serves to identify early alarming signs in personnel under the conditions of cumulative exposure.
The framework of prevention includes targeted monitoring of areas, identification of impacts and drift, initiation of interdisciplinary interventions, re-evaluation and restoration of functions in the family, medical, leadership and social spheres. Institutions share responsibility for detecting and preventing drift, while the deterioration in survival is not a consequence of suboptimal resilience or behavioral responses.
The theory of survivability drift changes the perception of SDF survivability as an upward and measurable trajectory, with the potential to reduce losses and reorient the health protection of forces. This is critically important, since physical injuries progress with the age of fighters, and various psychological disorders, PTSD and CPTSD begin to haunt SSO fighters, reducing the critical potential necessary to achieve national security interests in the fight against state and non-state adversaries.
Actually, this is about the need to engage in psychological work with personnel even during the war, without waiting for its end, when the mass of fighters will begin to return home and reintegrate into society. Including SSO fighters. From the point of view of saving personnel, not only due to physiological, but also psychological consequences of participation in intensive combat operations.