Observations on the Association between Operational Readiness and Personal Readiness in the Canadian Forces
Abstract
This report was written to assist the Stress and Coping Group within Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) Toronto develop, as part of its long-term project to explore the notion of psychological resiliency, a methodology to examine operational readiness at the individual level (i.e., personal readiness) in the Canadian Forces (CF). The report will focus on: 1) existing policies governing individual readiness for deployed operations, and 2) actual and perceived individual psychological readiness for deployed operations. While the CF has had considerable success in devising and maintaining systems to assure unit readiness, the CF has invested very little in examining the question of individual or personal readiness. For the purpose of this study, personal operational readiness (individual readiness) is defined as the physical, operational and psychological preparedness of an individual to deploy. Individual readiness has become an even more pressing issue for the CF in the past decade with the higher operational tempo that the CF is experiencing. This high operational tempo combined with reductions in both personnel and financial resources has led to a situation where the CF is unable to sustain its ability to carry out its roles and missions in the long term. The report observed that there are a number of systemic problems that appear to have negative impacts on the ability of the CF to ensure high levels of individual readiness. The report recommended that research be considered to further investigate the observations made in this report.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 31, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA473037
Entities
People
- Allan English
- B. Gen
- G. E. Sharpe