Situation Awareness Requirements for Infantry Platoon Leaders

Situation awareness (SA) is a construct closely linked to decision making and performance. Identifying SA requirements for specific jobs is a necessary first step in accurately assessing SA, developing training programs to enhance SA skills, and evaluating the impact of new technology on SA. This research identified the SA requirements for infantry small unit leaders. Six highly experienced infantry subject matter experts were given semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The resulting SA requirements hierarchy contained 7 primary goals and multiple subgoals. Situation awareness requirements are job and mission specific. The methods used here may be adapted to identify SA requirements in other domains characterized by small, cohesive teams operating in dynamic environments and as the basis for developing SA metrics in these domains.