My buddy is going on his first deployment and is stressing, how can I keep his mind at ease?

I think the best thing yo ucan do as his friend, is to remind him to trust his training. I'm sure he has been through a ton of training in preparation for his deployment. Trust the training and never turn down an opportunity to ask questions of his leadership. You cant guarantee him anything other than his unit cares for him and to trust everything he has been taught from BCT up until this point. Good Luck to you both.

Tell your friend to try and relax as much as possible. Tell him to rely on his training and knowledge/experience of his NCOs that have deployed before. Thinking about "what ifs" all day long will just drive him crazy. Focusing on the "what ifs" and "shoulda, woulda, coulda" scenarios will not keep him focused on the job and will probably end up causing him...and maybe others...to get hurt.

I am reminded of the words of Herger the Joyous: "The All-Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won't live one instant longer. Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing." All fear and worry does is distract you from the tasks at hand and prevent you from doing the things to keep yourself from getting killed.