No, there aren't laboratory simulations, but there is basic training and ongoing training. Before a person ever gets to the point of being deployed on a mission, they have gone through their basic training, they have gone through the mission training, they have gone through their trades training. All of that is like a screen or series of hoops that a person has to go through and prove their mettle before they're fit for deployment. So that's how it can function, in that way.
Is that exactly why it's constructed? No, the training is provided, and it's provided in a stressful and realistic way to prepare people, because there is some evidence that very realistic and very tough mission-specific training helps decrease the incidence of stress on deployments. So that's one of the pieces, I guess, in which leadership has a very important role in reducing stress casualties, taking care of the basics, for example.
Leadership, in taking care of the basics for the troops, will decrease stress. Stresses on deployment include things like not having enough water early on in roto zero, and physical stresses like that, such as not being able to shower, or these very basic needs that are stressful. These can be addressed, and they are addressed. You were there and would have seen that there are a lot of amenities. I remember that I did one of the first rounds of post-deployment screenings, and one of the best things that a lot of the soldiers described was getting the gym. Then, instead of using whatever they were working out with before—rocks, or whatever—they could go to the gym and work out.
So providing amenities, taking care of the basics, and providing tough and realistic training all go a long way to help reduce stress casualties in the field.