Military minds - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences
Abstract
With his hands tied behind his back and his feet bound together, Charles Alexander Morgan III splashed into the water of the Olympic-size pool at the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla. with no equipment—except, that is, a dive mask that hung uselessly by its strap from between his clenched teeth. As the water engulfed his body, air bubbles shot towards the surface and he sank quickly to the pool’s bottom. But he didn’t panic. Having spent much of his childhood in the water, Morgan, who studies the biology of stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at Yale University School of Medicine, was surprisingly calm about the particular predicament in which he currently found himself. And it’s a good thing too, as staying relaxed in this situation is really the only way to keep from blacking out. Related Articles Defending conservation The war against war metaphors Rolling Back the Fog of War Many of the military trainees who complete the same task during their 1-month training course are not so fortunate. Morgan had recently come to the training center to look for physiological correlates of stress, trying to identify those individuals better equipped to