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In operational situations involving dismounted combatants, characterized by multitasking and uncertain and changing environments, goal-directed action requires a balance between antagonistic cognitive demands. On the one hand, combatants need to maintain and protect the goals of the task in hand to guard against distracting information (attentional stability). On the other hand, they have to reconfigure their cognitive system when a task becomes newly relevant due to a situational requirement (attentional flexibility). This article examines the cognitive control processes underlying the activity of the combatant who needs to demonstrate both attentional stability and flexibility, as well as the costs associated with attentional flexibility in a multitasking context.