What Do Fighter Pilots Do When They're Overwhelmed?

In this episode's Mental Health Minute, we discuss Task Saturation and Prioritization in the cockpit and in life in general. Check out The Mover and Gonky Show Mondays at 8PM ET LIVE. • The Mover and Gonky Show
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Views presented are my own and do not represent the views of DoD or its Components.

[@mistergunpilot]

This is when all that training you've been doing comes into play. Training and knowing your aircraft (Machine or Job) to the point of being able to do it while blind folded. The final battle I had in the Korengal was a prime example. The entire day, leading up to the final shootout, had been one event after another building up to the shoot. ie. not supposed to be on that flight, listening to the radios enroute hearing the ground unit fighting the insurgents right on the route we had to go, getting approved to go single ship to help stop the fight, thinking the gun was broke only to find out it had never been fully loaded, first soldier trying to put a rocket backwards into the Pod, the FOB not having the equipment nor correct trained soldiers to refill my gun, the lead aircraft never having been in the Korengal all year long; my anxiety was building up inside me to the point I wanted to just scream "Knock it off" to everyone involved. Yet I continued the mission despite myself screaming within that this was all too much and I knew that something really bad was going to happen. Sure enough it did. Just like you said Mover, and I described in my book and movie, all sound was nonexistent, my visual acuity was extremely sharp (I could see the bullets passing by my canopy) and it felt as if time had slowed down. When I watched the video later I realized that I had done everything as well as could be expected. It wasn't until all was said and done that I could take a breath and decompress. If you listen to the audio, right after the shoot, as we were leaving the Korengal my front seater can be heard telling me "Dan you're hyperventilating" That is when I just handed him the controls. All that training and experience I had allowed me to do the job at hand without even thinking about it.

[@captaintoyota3171]

Success= prepardness for when opportunity presents itself. If you have the Experience when that opportunity, wheter in life or battle, presents itself you know how to grab it. So in life n death and career choices/on job you are ready for those emergencies or opportunity to progress. I was told this long ago by an old head at a hooters of all places. But it stuck with me 30+yrs later

[@bearowen5480]

Task saturated? Fess up. "Two, I'm tumbleweeds" may be the most important radio transmission you'll ever make. "Roger, terminate, terminate. I'm at your four o'clock high, one mile, visual."

[@Garythefireman66]

Mental health is so important and often overlooked. Glad you're making it a regular part of the show.

[@Strider1Wilco]

Mental Health is all we hear about nowadays tho.

[@a.n.7229]

“Aviate, navigate, communicate” is a platitude, but it’s still solid advice for any dangerous task that requires focus in the presence of distractions ….as I’ve tried to explain to my wife when she tries to talk to me when I’m driving somewhere new

[@gregorymaupin6388]

My wife blew my mind when we drove over one of the bridges in New Jersey and she kept telling me slow down but the traffic was insane, then shortly after I almost missed the turn after the bridge and then she got upset. We all have similar experiences as to these scenarios.

[@ghettostreamlabs5724]

This may wind up being the most undervalued, under-appreciated, and underrated video on this channel. Task saturation impacts almost all of us at some point, even though the consequences may not be life or death.

[@baghdaddymike6669]

“Fighter pilot advice for everyday life” Future NYT Bestseller by CW Lemoine

[@CWLemoine]

I think ol' Hasard Lee beat me to that one.

[@JBSmoke1]

Aviate, navigate, and a communicate was a mantra that was drilled into me in private pilot lessons. It served me well as solo student with 16 hours when my engine quit on me soon after take off - luckily in controlled airspace with assistance. I did just that and got the airplane and my little pink body on the ground intact. Recognize / Prioritize was a harder lesson I learned later on in my life. Prioritize and eat the elephant one bit at a time. Great words from you, Mover, and Gonky!

[@connorspirasee6426]

"Oh man, I'm starting to break, help me out" "What's the Fonzis real name" "Arthur Fonzerelli, OK I'm back"

[@EKTORPTULLSTA]

Mark Watney taught me similar things. First, commit to not dying. Then solve the most important problem in front of you. Work the problem.

[@D.J._S]

I'm a former 82d Airborne Div. paratrooper, OIF-OEF combat veteran, and a career firefighter/medic. I recommend that people who work in chaotic, and overwhelming environments look into the philosophy of Stoicism. It helps you accept that some things are just outside of your control, and that it's pointless, or possibly even dangerous to get emotionally stressed over what you can't control. It's also important when working in high stress environments to not make decisions based solely on what your emotions are telling you, and to make decisions based primarily on logic.

[@FighteroftheNightman]

Paratroopers are no different than legs. 0 combat jumps in a century almost

[@SammyTheDitchDoctor]

Wombat’s life phrase literally pulled me out of a hole. Keep moving forward. Even if your down to inches. Crawl. Keep trying and keep making progress, Never down Never out.

[@eggdidi]

“Talk to me, Goose”

[@SoloRenegade]

"ask a cool question", that's actually really good advice.

[@GunniesLetsFlyVFR]

Great topic. Run into this when I was flying Light Sport Aircraft. Just doing continuous circuits. Just couldn't think so went out to the area and just flew around time my,head was clear. It's quite a strange place to be mentally. Great conversation. 👍

[@Parawingdelta2]

I arrived at work after a month off and was immediately summoned to a meeting between my divisional manager and a manager from another division to discuss an issue of relocation, which apparently had been sorted out in my absence. After about ten minutes of listening to the two of them talk, I realised I wasn't keeping up with the thread of the conversation. I finally admitted, I was lost and asked them to 'back up' and clarify the whole issue. It was then that they both realised THEY had been talking at cross purposes with exact opposite understanding of the arrangements. If I hadn't said anything, both divisions would have been trying to relocate into the same space. Pays to own up.

[@Towbie442]

Great entertainment with fantastic quality life lessons. This is what our youth needs to evolve correctly. Thank you, gentlemen, for your continued service to humanity.

[@GrantvsMaximvs]

This video helped me understand how to overcome feeling overwhelmed. Anyone that has ADHD needs to see this.

[@shinygemsbro]

In conclusion: What do fighter pilots do when they're overwhelmed? They deal with it. Methodically.

[@paulbrooks4395]

Man oh man, my first job preached multitasking and it was a burnout factory. Good people would go in and get drained because the company didn’t understand importance and urgency nor how to effectively use leadership/delegation. My later jobs, after getting therapy and integrating it with what I learned in Psychology (ironic how we forget our training) and finally getting in touch with these basic principles-life got way easier. Now I even enjoy when stuff is hitting the fan and things are down and out, because I’ve learned to focus on getting people into the mindset of “what’s broken, what do we know, what resources do we have, and how can we solve the problem creatively with what we have?” To a certain extent, being really difficult situation helps me push out all other concerns and boil things down to the most essential things that are needed to get through the moment. Obviously, I’d rather plan ahead for everything and prevent all the problems, but being able to live in the moment without anxiety is a true gift that I never thought I could have.

[@jockstrapp21]

Some Air Force F-15 pilots came to the UK to teach our NHS nurses how to manage high stress situations - like juggling when more balls are added, you have to make quick decisions on priority & efficiency etc. Completely different worlds yet that have the same levels of stress & need for situational awareness .

[@Revaris]

This came at a great time, I'm in a phase of flight training where the "sim from hell" you mentioned is coming up soon and I was just reflecting on workload management to avoid this exact scenario. Great advice, thanks for taking the time.

[@AmericanAbsolute]

You explained compartmentalizing perfectly. To be able to slow the scenario in your mind, reassess and react accordingly. Depending on the situation will dictate how quick you can recover from, what I've referred to as sensory saturation. Fighter pilots such as yourselves can only speak on the different scenarios that cause sensory stress overloads. I appreciate this awesome brief segment. Once again sir, thank you for what you do

[@alasdairmunro1953]

Wish I’d heard some of this years ago. This applies to lots of stuff. As an ex-firefighter trying to live with PTSD, it makes a lot of sense, particularly in the early moments of flashbacks, when you’re trying to make sense of what is going on. Good one Mover & Gonky!

[@timgosling6189]

The first thing is not just recognising task saturation/loss of SA but anticipating the circumstances likely to precipitate it. In training you will be deliberately task saturated. But it's not done just to make you look a doofus; it has real value in learning the best coping mechanism and giving you greater effective mental capacity in normal ops, whether stressed or not. Now I'm retired I apply the same ideas to my scuba training and regular diving so I can again anticipate loss of SA and keep my scan going. The 'aviate, navigate, communicate' rule remains, only in this case it's 'buoyancy, gas supply, communicate'.

[@scottyfromthe80s]

A colleague finally got this through my thick skull; and this is a perfect distillation of what she showed me. “You don’t have to be the strong one for everyone, always”. Opened my to prioritizing who was actually worth my time.

[@Vilizio]

Wow this was actually something I really needed to hear. I am a Union Ironworker and I just recently was given the opportunity by my superintendent to take a Foreman position and it was never really something I wanted but I’ve always known I’d be able to do it but man some days just all the apprentices and even journeyman just peppering you with a million questions back to back plus trying to line everyone out and read the prints and bell the crane.. it can get a bit overwhelming somedays to be honest. But I always just take that moment to breathe, clear my head and make sure I am making the best and most productive choices to get the job done as best that I can. Love this topic and thank you for bring it up! Much love y’all

[@briangulley6027]

Everyone thinks the supervisor just kicks back and orders people around, wrong. The supervisor might not get their hands dirty that often but the burden of leadership ain't no joke.

[@cheddar9871]

Huge respect to you. That's really a tough job and I know very few people who could do it. I could not handle that stress. I'm the kind of person who takes a specific task and tries to do it to the best of my ability. But it's just me and my task. I could never herd cats like that, especially in a tough environment like iron work. I applaud you just for trying it.👏👏👏

[@FD1CE]

Amazing. I really needed to hear that in this phase of my life where I'm saturated with too many different scenarios that may await me in near future.

[@tobyreadaerobatics]

Having felt extremely overwhelmed over the last couple of days, this video has suddenly meant a lot moving forward! Thank you so much for the advice Mover & Gonky.

[@thedhl777guy]

Mover these mental health moments are just outstanding. This is a factor most people just don’t want to talk about. Good on you guys for getting this out very important.

[@pollylewis9611]

C.W. thank you so much for this awesome info and all of your hard work you have put into all you do!

[@GoldyMic]

Please make more videos of Mental Health Minute! Love the content!

[@klextacy]

This is great advice for life and work in general and does not only apply to aviation. I'm sharing this with coworkers, as I think it puts into words an effective method of mental deconfliction. Great conversation!

[@dougstitt1652]

Great topic guys . Beautiful flying Mover . Good to see Gonkynet is better !

[@dommycool100]

It's very comforting hearing people (besides my QFI's...) who have gone through this and been sucessfull talk about this stuff

[@cjxj2202]

Thanks a ton for this. Been going through a lot the last few months and this really hit home.

[@rays7437]

Wow. This may be your best video yet. Thanks

[@ronhudson3730]

Your experience gained from all your related but different careers, coupled with I suspect some important lessons gained from your personal life, makes your insight and advice especially meaningful to me and many of your viewers. I sure enjoy watching your KZbin stuff.

[@masonjarhillbilly]

People will always revert back to the basic level of training in a crisis or sensory overload/stress. This is where the difference of going through the motions and real training shows the fruits of labor. The mundane stupid repetitions of meaningful training will kick in. AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE. These priorities are drilled in for a reason. Keep the airplane flying, know where you are, and not fly into hazards, finally let people know what is going on. The constant training is pre-planning for emergencies and certain situations. If it is not committed to instinctive muscle memory, more training is required.

[@CWLemoine]

In the Air Force, we use "Maintain aircraft control, analyze the situation, take the proper action, and land as soon as conditions permit." That's drilled into our noggins from day 0.

[@BushidoDevilDog]

Absolutely true. This can be seen/ experienced in martial arts/self defense as well. Long story short…I got in a scrap with a couple of dumb🤫es at a Karaoke place in the sticks here in Japan, and in the opening shots when it was clear they weren’t gonna stop being stupid, it wasn’t me that consciously threw the punches and kicks to get them off of me, it was the years of muscle memory prior to the incident. To paraphrase what Bruce Lee said, the point of all the training is that when the time comes… *I* don’t hit…the strikes/ techniques, etc. hit all on their own.

[@someguyontheinternet7165]

“We don’t rise to occasions. We fall to our training.” A fantastic motorcycle instructor I had.

[@dazherbert2782]

Very good video. Thanks for this one.

[@franklinosis9495]

It's been great to follow you both, and I very much appreciate this video. Very helpful.

[@hutch8569]

Thank you both for sharing. This advice really does help.

[@andrewcopple7075]

Got to be the 1K like. That was cool. I think I'll learn a lot from this video, and the majority of my coworkers might learn something as well. The majority of them mentioned "overwhelmed" as the best word they could use to describe their emotional state working for our company.

[@lynnecheermom]

Such an important topic, thanks for keeping the topic out in the open for discussion.

[@Amar7605]

I shared your video with some of my staff. We really appreciate your lessons on how to mitigate task saturation and being overwhelmed. Thank you so much, Mover and Gonky! And thank you & your friends and colleagues for their service to our country!

[@zalseon4746]

This video was very helpful life advice, and it'll help out in the starfighter book i'm writing. Thanks for posting this clip dude!

[@M1Tommy]

Great video and advice for so many aspects of life ! Recognize, Prioritize , Implement .... and watched for your people ! 👍😎👍

[@RealScotrocks]

Want to thank you - I’m a student pilot of advancing years learning to fly - I’ve found myself overwhelmed at times and so learning this can affect the most accomplished pilots helps me be a little less tough on myself. The strategies are also useful. Thank you so so much.

[@-The-Stranger-]

This is good advice no matter what stage of your aviation career you're in. 👍

[@danielstevens3869]

As A former Infantryman in the Amry, It is pretty cool to see that even the pilots can get overwhelmed sometimes. I thought it was just those of us that have been in alot of combat. So it is good to see others get there too.

[@anthonyj5298]

Training is everything. When you're trained in chaos daily, it gets easier with repetition or in a worst-case scenario (war). Tactical pauses, set the conditions, get back after it. Very good episode.

[@Andy_Bat]

Spent last weekend at the UK military Airshow, RIAT, and notwithstanding the weather it was amazing, but what made it for me was the F16 and F/A18 displays knowing that you guys had the stick in these noisy powerful aircraft pulling max G manoeuvres at low level. Respect to you both.

[@musoseven8218]

Good advice, that's good airmanship.

[@vagabondjay7281]

Our military aviators do have it rough. Staying in shape to handle the Gs. Spending 6x the amount of time talking about the flight than actually flying (planning and briefing), Then, you have to the fly the 80+ million dollar jet and not break it.. Just to land and talk about the flight (debrief). That's why they brag when they hit 500hrs of flight time. Cause they talked about it for 3000hrs and they physically trained for it for about 5000 😢😂

[@toddie4usa1]

Sound advice!

[@pweiss1883]

'Aviate, Navigate, Communicate' is the essential thing in life... no matter what vehicle you're in... might even be your own body...

[@friendofenkidu3391]

0:38: FM tail code is 482nd Fighter Wing (Air Force Reserve Command) at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida.

[@bearowen5480]

OODA Loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

[@mikebaginy8731]

Life-saving advice!

[@adrianbooth438]

Great reminder of the Eisenhower (how urgent / how important) matrix and other similar ones

[@BUDS228]

Agree. Sometimes feeling overwhelmed starts to spiral so let’s bring it down to the most basic function and move upward. Am I still breathing, that’s good. Let’s do some slow box breathing for several minutes and go from there. Very difficult to get out of your own head sometimes.

[@GreenCrim]

I am all to familiar with this feeling at the moment. I'm on the last few navs before my CPL test so my instructor is working me hard, doing 500ft AGL runs to a dirt strip in the middle of nowhere by dead reckoning followed by a precautionary search and max performance landing. A quick pause and a deep breath really helps if I start to feel overwhelmed.

[@ninjabearpress2574]

Not a fighter pilot, but I remember a Discovery Channel show with a Vietnam-era F4 pilot who said that once in the cockpit, the first thing he did was turn things off, he even cold miked his RIO.

[@garethhughes5745]

This is interesting to hear. Would be nice if these skills were taught to anyone in any stressful work before they get the job :) sometimes people end up in a horrendous mess.

[@captainlovefinger6519]

I need to avoid the toilet, Always task saturated when in that situation. Good Information

[@bullseye8509]

Trust me, I've had Spatial D sitting stationary at one G. Tumbleweed!!!!!!!!

[@aviationrambler]

It's definitely an interesting topic. I've had situations where I'm task saturated, often related to weather chasing. Even in the humble simulator, working the Viper IFR becomes very saturating very quickly. Still, I think it's important that we all push ourselves, preferably in a safe environment, and recognize what it feels like to be task saturated and overwhelmed, because much like hypoxia, it can be difficult to recognize we're in that state, and people often react differently to being in that state. Some people get angry, some panic, some shut down, others freeze (lol that's me). I'm not a proponent for self torture, but definitely advocate for people to be prepared for when times call for it.

[@icaleinns6233]

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. You guys just expressed exactly what that phrase means, and it applies to SOO many different jobs, not just super impressive fighter jocks.

[@yce1234]

Gonky's last comment reminded me of "superior pilots use superious judgement so we don't have to use our superiors skills"

[@andrewjackson673]

"What Do Fighter Pilots Do When They're Overwhelmed?" well in dcs world we yell, throw the joystick, scream obscenities and then switch to driving tanks for a few hours :P

[@CWLemoine]

How does one drive a tank in DCS?

[@andrewjackson673]

@@CWLemoine combined arms module allows control to varying degrees of all other in-game assets, tanks, destroyers, artillery...

[@andrewjackson673]

@@CWLemoine kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXWboI1thNxqjpY

[@notsureyou]

Where do you want to go, and what is needed to get you there. If it isn't required to get you to where you want to go, then it's not a high priority.

[@deantait8326]

I’m afraid I’m tumbleweeds most days but I’m older. At least I can still recognize I’m lost. Not completely sarcasm either.

[@0BuLLeT01]

Very interesting video. This is probably the largest argument for two-seaters, no matter how good the tech gets.

[@CWLemoine]

Nah.

[@ag3nt_green]

It's hard to describe to someone who has never experienced combat conditions just how much information you have to process while in an active engagement. It's why training your soldiers and subordinate leaders is so important. You want to avoid decision making bottlenecks and have enough brain power left to keep SA. Most leaders I saw end up KIA were due to loss of SA due to task saturation. There's a fine line between taking responsibility and being a good leader and letting yourself become task saturated and becoming a liability. Things happen so fast and the consequences are often permanent. Then there's the duality of the radio. While it enables you to send info, request assets, and direct tactical movements it also becomes a nightmare when you have several different levels of command in your ears asking for sitreps and anything else under the sun while you are in a direct fight. Think of when you're driving in an unfamiliar place unsure of where to go. People typically turn down the volume on their music/radio to focus. Now imagine that radio is asking questions persistently while people are actively trying to kill you.

[@Just_Klaatu]

OODA Loop!

[@Tacticaldave1]

As always, aviate, navigate, communicate.

[@chloehennessey6813]

Mr Lemoine, Which fighter jet do you believe is the absolute meanest machine-with no drag on the aircraft (missiles, bombs)?

[@DonRecepcion]

Mindfulness FTW!

[@thomashimstreet3019]

I like the "fess up" and ask for help. Controllers love to bail you our. Get safe. Max endurance. Knock it off. Figure it out. Shed tasks or wave off entirely....is RTB still an option? Zippy, Go Navy

[@landotter]

"use the force..."

[@wiwa23]

Ok, so much for the theory.😅

[@tedmarynowski3881]

Can you do a Mover Ruins Movies on The Great Santini please?

[@LilYeshua]

An ewok or r2d2 second seater might help

[@2atalkandpolitics422]

This subject reminds of when mover started having a spiral in the trainer. Glad mover is doing ok though

[@cmdrefstathiusplacidus9003]

So I realize DCS is not the real thing, but it's what I got. After buying way too many modules not realizing what I was getting into, went back to my original purchase the F18 found a good group that likes to be serious but also likes to have fun. Started CAP training after last weekend fail. Had been preparing to SEAD and was switched last min to CAP. I can't even imagine, IRL during BVR and then merge. I was shaking by the time I was done... in DCS😂. Maybe a valium or two before flying? No that's a pretty bad idea

[@winslowgreaves121]

Honestly this is one of the reasons I don't like the F-35. Fantastic design but a second seat is always a good option just to share the load with someone else.

[@marcosavila8215]

you tell me.....and.. im just a DCS pilot, lol !

[@Fox-One1937]

Is "mover" was always u r call sign, I mean in y r USAF squadron, navy reserve and then back in USAF T38 duty?

[@CWLemoine]

Yes.

[@ghostviggen]

They say: Talk to me Goose

[@Glamrock993]

What is a platitude and how does it affect your decision making?

[@CWLemoine]

Platitudes are usually phrases or sayings that have been used so much they've lost their meaning. They're often nonspecific and broad, misused when more specific language should apply. However, they're easier to remember and sometimes can convey a good basic principle (like aviate, navigate, communicate, for example).

[@Blackcloud_Garage]

And just as important is to not be a “d!ck” if/when someone admits they need help and asks a question. Sooo many mistakes are made when people are scared to ask a question because they are afraid of some A-hole who gives everyone crap for asking questions.

[@thorpesch924]

Very similar training for the fire department

[@thorpesch924]

Thank you sir love the channel very motivating and inspiring you have accomplished so much just retired from the fire department after 35 years wish I had thought about being a fighter pilot keep up the excellent work

[@CWLemoine]

Thank you!

[@potterwoodlawncare2680]

Don’t think, just do

[@CWLemoine]

You told me not to think!

[@wsucougarfan]

Thanks, I really appreciate this reminder!😅 super discussion.

[@ResolUloseR]

Hence why aviation is going unmanned. AI don't care.

[@minthouse6338]

I'll be impressed if AI can dodge SAMs and shoot down bandit planes.

[@CWLemoine]

Maybe so, sir. But not today.

[@ThePowerfulMach5]

Eject