This year's Blue Helmet Forum Austria (BHFA) opened on Tuesday, 5 October 2010 on the premises of the National Defence Academy in Vienna. The Association of Austrian Peacekeepers annually organizes the Forum in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Defense.
General Raimund Schittenhelm, Commandant of the National Defence Academy and General (ret) Günther Greindl, President of the Association of Austrian Peacekeepers welcomed the international participants to discussions under the theme "Stress management and Peace Soldiering". The forum focuses on different aspects of stress and stress management in connection with international peace operations.
In his keynote address, LTG Sikander Afzal, Force Commander of the United Nations mission in Liberia (UNMIL), addressed preventive measures in preparing for peace missions as well as the strain during the operations and the challenges of aftercare and reintegration of soldiers into their home settings. He emphasized that admitting to difficulties dealing with stress is still not common for soldiers who tend to feel ashamed and conceal the matter. However, stress and its effects have an impact not only on the performance of the individual but ultimately on the entire mission. Afzal provided practical advice from his extensive experience in missions such as Somalia and Liberia. "Meeting other soldiers from different cultural backgrounds is not so much an issue. Soldiers dress the same, speak the same language and operate by similar concepts. The interaction with the civilian leadership of peace missions needs much more work," he said. Besides civil-military cooperation, the interaction with families at home, the interaction with the mission leadership as well as aspects of modern communication such as the immediacy of television imagery from crisis areas all play an important role in creating stress but also in taking stress away from a soldier on mission.
Participants of the Blue Helmet Forum 2010 will discuss until 7 October issues of preventive psychological care, incorporating stress management into pre-deployment training and diagnostic and therapeutic aspects in terms of the soldiers affected, but also psychiatric consequences and impact of military conflicts on the civilian population.
