Page 95 - JSOM Spring 2024

trust you. We like SOST because we all have the same mission-essential bag set components: airway represents bond-
mindset. We think the same way. Unlike the Big Blue ing patterns; breathing represents impression management;
where everyone is different, we assess and select for that circulation represents medical–martial creativity; disability
same mindset. Normal people can’t understand and can’t represents grief processing; exposure represents family forma-
deal with our world. We just don’t want to deal with them. tions. The weight of the bag set represents the arrangement of
Being of one mind, gives us an advantage compared to social determinants in support of a particular SOF mission.
regular humans in Big Blue that deploy medical wise. We Describing how each part of our operational model (organi-
really know each other and have selected for like-minded zation, team, and individual SOF medic) interacts with the
people. We don’t talk to regular Air Force because we weight of each essential component of the bag set is tactical en-
don’t feel like they deserve to know what we have done. gagement. In our third paper, the operational model expanded
They don’t deserve to hear those stories about what our conventional resilience’s focus on the individual to include the
service meant. team and organization in unconventional resilience. 8

Interactions within SOST teams that strive for hegemonic ex- Tactical Function of Social Determinant:
clusivity by obstructing outside influence, nullify the pressure Bonding Patterns
of performance in SOF culture, distilling practical wisdom The social determinant of bonding patterns carries the weight
down to like-mindedness. By ignoring the value of pressure of the airway component of bag sets. A functional airway al-
attendant to non-SOF mission-specific performance, tension is lows oxygen to enter and carbon dioxide to exit the human
diffused such that torque cannot be created, halting freedom body. A dysfunctional airway prevents oxygen from entering
of maneuver. The everyday practice of gravitating toward sim- and carbon dioxide from exiting the human body. Therefore,
ilarity to create connection blocks engagement with dynamic the airway is the conduit that modulates movement between
freedom of maneuver by attempting to destroy the ambiguity the external and internal environment of the human body. The
inherent in complex SOF missions. The facile bonds formed airway is an essential component of the bag set not because the
cannot support the weight of uncertainty involved in SOF mis- physical airway is always compromised with a catastrophic in-
sions. This pattern of in-group bonding causes short-term deg- jury, but because catastrophic injury always demands a series
radation of unconventional resilience by excluding difference, of immediate medical interventions to potentiate the saving of
which is the tensive agent in bonds that can bear the weight of life, which quickly become ineffective without a protected air-
transformation. It causes long-term degradation of unconven- way. In other words, having a protected airway in austere SOF
tional resilience by replacing the potential to enhance practical medicine allows SOF medics to anticipate stresses associated
performance with the comfort of sameness. with the pressure of performing life-saving medicine.

The previous quotes highlight how overly rigid and facile bond- Like a protected airway, functioning bonding patterns act like
ing patterns deflect performance pressure and misdirect torque tensive conduits for unconventional resilience, by allowing
so that it obstructs adaptation when deviations within the cul- new lifeforce (oxygen) to enter and expended tension (carbon
tural norm occur. Qualitative data suggest that, when inade- dioxide) to exit the cohesive ecosystem of relationships. Bond-
quately functioning, the social determinant of bonding patterns ing patterns modulate performance pressure across our ecosys-
creates a brittle or loose membrane that breaks down or gives tem of unconventional resilience by discerning the appropriate
way amid the pressure of performance within SOF culture. composition—type (diameter and length) and placement—of
relationships. When bonding patterns are functioning in sup-
Bag Sets as Meaningful Metaphor: port of dynamic freedom of maneuver in ambiguity, they allow
Bonding Patterns an influx of external tension to be directed toward the appro-
priate application of torque, and expended energy to flow out
To make concrete our analysis of the social determinants, we of the ecosystem. As such, both natural and artificial airways
4–7
turn to a metaphorical analysis of bag sets. Pragmatically, need to maintain a certain level of pliability to support the in-
if tactics are the ordered arrangement of everyday activities flow of new life-source and outflux of expended tension. When
and their relationship to each other, then medical bag sets this happens, SOF medical teams can anticipate, embrace, ab-
constructed for SOF missions are an ideal metaphor to ex- sorb, and direct the pressure of performing amid catastrophic
plain how social determinants orient unconventional resilience injury exposure and the making of meaning in its aftermath.
3
at the tactical level. Since SOF missions generally occur in
austere environments, they involve limited support and a low Dysfunctional bonding patterns act like an unprotected air-
profile. Therefore, SOF medical bag sets are limited to mis- way that is at risk for system failure because there is no means
sion-essential material. While the core content of the bag sets of introducing new life-source into the ecosystem of relation-
remains the same for all missions (airway, breathing, circula- ships. Toxicity in the form of inappropriately engaged tension
tion, disability, exposure), a meticulous cost–benefit analysis is allowed to build in the ecosystem with no means of effec-
of the arrangement of bag sets occurs before each mission to tively expelling it. When bonding patterns focus on construct-
match the requirements of the SOF mission. Of particular im- ing a homogeneous ecosystem, expended torque builds up in
portance is consideration of the bag set’s payload (weight, size, the closed ecosystem causing organizational, team, and indi-
and balance of contents) because the load must be born across vidual toxicity to increase. In other words, the homogeneous
the SOF mission and maintain a light footprint. ecosystem inhales its own “waste.”

According to our metaphor, establishing the proper balance and Tactical Process of Forming Social Determinants:
usage of social determinants will go through the same process Bonding Patterns
in preparation for combat performance. Each bag in the bag Within our metaphor of bag sets, the organization tactically
set represents a social determinant that carries the weight of engages by protecting the airway component of the bag sets.

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