Military medical research on cognitive performance: the warfighter's competitive edge.

Despite the military’s captivation with high technology systems, human performance remains the keystone of successful military operations. Computerized, digitized, networked, and even robotic or biochemical performance enhancement tools can be force multipliers of great value; but they are only as useful as the human designers engineer them, and are only as productive as clever human operators learn to employ them. To link system designers more closely with human operators, multidisciplinary research and development teams consisting of engineers, psychologists, physicians, physiologists, and actual users of the product integrate towards achieving a well-defined and realistic goal. These teams work on to answer both basic and applied research questions to produce performance enhancement tools that are providing our forces with the competitive edge required to win on the battlefield. The military medical cognitive research community, often led by behavioral scientists, is increasingly joining with National Space and Aeronautics Agency (NASA), Department of Transportation (DoT), Academia, and partnering with small businesses and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to leverage unique, cutting-edge, expert capabilities. These scientific teams often collaborate with colleagues in allied nation laboratories and universities. Together, their collective products help enable U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, as well as forces of allied nations to fight better, longer, stronger, smarter, and safer. These multidisciplinary teams of scientists adhere to mission mottos such as "Conducting Research for the Soldier," "Conserve the Fighting Strength," "Protect and Sustain a Healthy and Medically Protected Force," and “Research to Sustain and Enhance Human Performance.” Their stated goals include ensuring that military forces are deployed in a state of superb health and are equipped to protect themselves from disease, injury, and the many health hazards that accompany operation of complex military equipment in high-tempo deployments in harsh environments. Most of all, these multidisciplinary researchers focus on extending human capabilities to permit combatants and support personnel to engage in optimal performance in the face of arduous battlefield operations (1).