“When soldiers share their suffering, they realize they are not alone. Healing happens in connection.” says Oleh Hukovskyy. In Ukraine, soldiers’ psychological resilience is of paramount concern. Therefore, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have developed a new intervention, Combat Path Debriefing, designed to address combat stress and promote unit readiness for soldiers returning to combat. I spoke about this with Oleh Hukovskyy, MD, a Ukrainian military officer and psychiatrist. He is head of the combat stress control group in the Military Unit A4123 of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Oleh talks us trough the five steps of the combat path debriefing model (Introduction, Narrative, Reactions, Care Strategies and Resetting). Care strategies for example are discussions about effective coping strategies, reinforcement of basic self-care practices (such as sleep, nutrition, and connection), introduction of stress-reduction techniques, and consideration of group rituals for managing grief.
The intervention enhances psychological resilience, allowing soldiers to manage stress and recover from combat challenges, while normalizing experiences through shared reactions to combat stress, addressing grief and loss to mitigate acute stress reactions, reinforcing team identity to strengthen unit cohesion and morale, and fostering a forward-looking perspective focused on gratitude and positive expectations for future missions, ultimately improving overall readiness and effectiveness.
We also talk about the transition from civilian life to military life and the importance of identity, rituals, shared experience, storytelling and establishing common ground. Oleh talks about focussing not only on acute stress but also on chronic traumatic stress, recognizing the ongoing nature of the conflict. Medical topics like the prevalence of concussions among soldiers is emphasized and the need for cognitive training and support. Addressing moral injury is crucial, as the conflict creates divisions in society, necessitating improved systems for short-term contracts and resources for recovery. We end this conversation with the question how we Europeans can prepare ourselves fphysically and mentally or conflict.
Quotes from Oleh
📌 “When soldiers share their suffering, they realize they are not alone. Healing happens in connection.”
📌 “In war, we don’t talk about PTSD. We talk about continuous traumatic stress – because the danger never ends.”
📌 “You either self-regulate or self-medicate.”
📌 “Moral injury is one of the most widespread reactions. It’s not only fear-based acute stress, but also a lot of despair, injustice, and a sense of betrayal.”
📌 “We have a lot of untrained soldiers and untrained leaders. Expectations are high, but sometimes leaders cannot meet those expectations because they haven’t had proper training or selection. This can lead to a feeling of betrayal.”
📌 “Uncertainty about the length of service creates learned helplessness. Soldiers don’t know when their service will end, which leads to despair and a loss of morale.”
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