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Sage Debrief

Session evaluation

Overall score

4.6 / 5

Exemplary

I watched you sit with SGT Hale's silence after you delivered the news — and you didn't fill it. That was the right call. You asked what he'd heard before you told him about Diaz, delivered the KIA notification with clarity and compassion, and when he said 'I should've seen it,' you reframed his guilt as love without letting him disappear into self-blame. By turn 10, when you said 'You won't go through tonight alone,' you'd held therapeutic presence under operational stress and still named a clear handoff. My one note: turn 9 and 10 are both yours — give him one more beat to answer the safety question before you move to the chaplain plan.
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Framework fidelity

vs. SPIKES Protocol

Baile et al. (2000); adapted for military casualty notification · KB-SPIKES

5 of 6

elements landed

Strong

SPIKES sequence followed with strong empathy and summary; safety assessment was personal though turn 10 moved to handoff before SGT Hale could respond.

  • Landed

    Setting

    Private room, asked if anyone should be present

    Turn 1
  • Landed

    Perception

    what have you heard so far about what happened on the patrol?

    Turn 3
  • Landed

    Invitation

    Invited SGT Hale to share what he knew before notification

    Turn 3
  • Landed

    Knowledge

    PFC Carlos Diaz was killed in action — direct, compassionate delivery

    Turn 5
  • Landed

    Empathy

    Stayed with grief and guilt without clinical distance

    Turn 7
  • Partial

    Summary/Strategy

    Clear chaplain handoff; moved to close before safety answer landed

    Turn 10

8 competency domains

I noticed when SGT Hale said 'Where's Diaz?' you didn't rush the notification. You asked 'what have you heard so far about what happened on the patrol?' first — you grounded the room before the hardest words landed. When you asked about safety, you said 'Not as a form, Marcus — I mean you, sitting here with me.' That's psychological safety, not a checklist.

Does this reflect what you experienced?

Turn 9: “Not as a form, Marcus — I mean you, sitting here with me”

DoD Casualty Notification Protocol · §3.2 Immediate post-notification support (KB-DOD-CN-3.2)

Strengths

  • Turn 3 perception check before knowledge delivery followed SPIKES sequencing.(turn 3)
  • Turn 7 validated guilt as love without reinforcing self-blame.(turn 7)

Improvements

  • Pause after the safety question before moving to the chaplain handoff.

    Try: “[Pause] Take your time. I'm not going anywhere.”

Conversation moments

  • Turn 7 · strength · I watched you sit with SGT Hale's guilt and reframe it as love — without filling the silence or rushing to assessment.
  • Turn 5 · strength · You delivered the KIA notification directly and with compassion — no euphemism, no retreat.
  • Turn 10 · strength · You closed with a warm, concrete handoff — chaplain, continuity, not alone tonight.

What's next?

Try the same scenario yourself, or watch another performance tier.

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Simulations are training environments, not clinical decision support.