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86 OG initiates peer support program for flyers

Photo By Senior Airman Jared Lovett | Participants of the Military Aviator Peer Support wingman face-to-face training pose...... read more read more

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE , RHEINLAND-PFALZ, GERMANY

03.11.2025

Courtesy Story

86th Airlift Wing

Every Airman knows that military service can cause stress – we have all felt it at some point in our careers.

In a first of its kind effort, under the lead of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Sandra “Salty” Salzman, 37th Airlift Squadron C-130J Super Hercules aircraft pilot-physician, Lt. Col. Darrell Zaugg, 37th AS psychiatrist flight surgeon, and in conjunction with the 59th Research Group and the 86th Operations Group, has developed and launched the first ever Military Aviator Peer Support (MAPS) program to help address stress at the lowest level.

MAPS is a modification of the standard practice of peer support that exists within the civilian aviation community but has never been implemented within the Department of Defense.

The goal of the MAPS program is to improve the culture of mutual support and reduce the stress felt by our aviators.

The initial European Union Aviator Peer Support Team, Stiftung Mayday, was trained by Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office teams located at Ramstein Air Base in 1994, and are now widely accepted as experts in the field.

The European Union (EU) Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) began mandating aviator peer support programs in February of 2021 as part of mitigations from lessons learned from the fatal Germanwings Flight 9525 crash in 2015. The accident was a result of the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately crashing the plane into the French Alps, which killed all 150 people on board, including 144 passengers and 6 crew members. The plane crash highlighted the need for better mental health support and a non-punitive support system for pilots struggling with stressors.

The peer support program was mandated for civilian aviation in the EU as a first-step measure for aviators to find someone who knew what it was to live the life of a pilot and could understand and validate the hardship.

Data drawn from this program shows that over 92 percent of all stressors can be resolved just by discussing them early with someone who understands the situation and can validate the uncomfortable feeling.

The MAPS program, adapted from Stiftung Mayday’s model to fit the U.S. military operational aviator population, is designed to improve human factor support during challenging operational or life events, validate normal human response to stressors, increase access to available resources through education and extend existing mutual support culture of wingmen from the air to the ground for all those involved in the conduct or support of operational aviation missions.

Peers are selected by leadership or recommended by those who know them to become MAPS Wingmen because they are empathetic, capable, trustworthy and confidential.

The MAPS program trains Airmen of all specialty codes and ranks who conduct 86th Airlift Wing operations as Wingmen Peers who will confidentially listen, understand and be a sounding board for solutions to their wingmen without reporting anything except the AFI mandatory reporting issues such as suicidal or homicidal intent or operations security breach.

Training includes two hours of computer based training developed with partners in the Centre for Aviation Psychology and 15 hours of in-person practice in listening and responding to aviators and Airmen reaching out for help.

Wingman Peers act as a confidante who knows the life challenges of an aviator and often educate those who may be struggling to find local resources that may not have been previously considered, providing a signpost to available help when it is needed most.