What Is iCOVER? Air Force’s 60-Second Acute Stress Technique

Helping a wingman through combat does not always involve stopping bleeding or treating a physical injury. Sometimes, the immediate challenge is helping someone overwhelmed by stress reconnect with what is happening around them.

The Air Force is teaching airmen a technique designed to provide that help in about 60 seconds.

This program is called iCOVER, and it is broken up into six steps. The approaches give service members a structured approach to recognizing a struggling peer and how to deal with these kinds of situations. They are taught to establish contact and then how to guide a person toward a specific mission-related action.

This was practiced at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, where Airmen completed a simulated combat scenario that required them to treat battlefield casualties. The Sept. 17 exercise was taught at an Air Force medical facility that was specifically mission focused on the iCORE procedure, according to a Sept. 25 release from the 47^th Flying Wing.

Buddy Aid That Helps For Stressful Situations

The program treats helping Airmen as a skill, and this skill can be learned and honed for the betterment of their teammates.

“iCOVER is a critical, peer-to-peer warfighter skill set; essentially ‘buddy aid’ for acute stress, and not a clinical mental health program,” said 1st Lt. Caroline Hensley, the Laughlin Medical Group’s executive assistant, in the release.

The officer described it as a technique that anyone can use, and it is completed in under one minute. This is a time frame that that process can be done in and is not a process to get rid of the effects of battle or stress.

The immediate objective is to just help the wingman respond in a way that keeps them alive. It was developed at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where the technique was developed and trialed. According to the release, it has also been used by foreign militaries and some members of special operations units.

Its expansion comes amid concerns about mental health-related evacuations. In March, the Air Force and Space Force surgeon general expanded iCOVER requirements to deploying personnel and medical personnel after the Air Force identified an increase in aeromedical evacuations related to mental health. The release did not provide evacuation totals or report whether iCOVER has reduced them.

What Happens In That Minute?

This framework gives an Airman six actions to help out their wingmen. They are: identify, connect, offer commitment, verify facts, establish the order of events, and request action. It all starts with recognizing a buddy who is in need of help. The Airman who is helping out then connects with that peer and then offers a commitment to support them.

The next steps focus on the situation itself: verifying facts and establishing what happened in what order. The sequence ends with a request for a specific, mission-related action.

Together, those steps give airmen a practical structure for an interaction that could otherwise be difficult to navigate under pressure. They move from recognizing distress to helping a teammate engage with an immediate task.

At Laughlin, participants had to use this process while also performing medical cases for casualties in the simulation. They were watched by evaluators, who assessed their performance using the framework and response time.

In this way, Airmen are able to get two things done. They were able to provide psychological support while addressing the medical needs of others. This was a great way to practice assessing both needs in the heat of the mission.

Practicing Under Pressure

Tech. Sgt. Sharome Stafford, the non-commissioned officer in charge of alcohol and drug abuse prevention for the Laughlin Operational Medical Readiness Squadron, said organizers wanted participants to experience the scenario as they would in combat.

Like many operational training missions, the exercise was designed to require Airmen to practice the way that they play. It was hands-on and gave them an opportunity to apply what was learned in a classroom setting while being evaluated. This is an important distinction. When something happens quickly and a technique needs to be utilized, practice makes perfect. Knowing the sequence or process and being able to actually apply it while other demands are distracting the participant is one of the most important combat mission skills troops need to have.

“We need more resilient Airmen, and we need to give our Airmen the tools to help each other,” Hensley said.

After completing the scenario, participants received feedback and practiced relaxation techniques. Organizers also emphasized looking after their own mental health following a stressful event.

The stressful effects of such a situation can appear later, and this acute stress can be tough on people who are not ready for the moment. The immediate response is not necessarily the end of the person’s coping with the situational demands after the event.

Support After The Chaos

Laughlin paired the exercise with a mental health symposium open to participants and other members of the installation community. Military and civilian helping agencies provided information about mental health resources, coping techniques and suicide prevention. Participants could connect with representatives from programs including mental health, chaplain services, family advocacy and military and family life counseling.

Immediate support with this combination, while being used with broader resources available after a stressful experience, helps to deal with the trauma. The release described the trainers as interested in holding more training exercises as more requirements are rolled out.

The organizers of the events were happy with the results of the simulation and were ready for additional training missions in the future. The greater effort is to make that response familiar before a real emergency demands it.