Objective To investigate the relationships among resilience, perceived social support and acute stress reaction of naval soldiers. Methods Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC), perceived social support scale (PSSS) and the military acute stress scale (MASS) were used to investigate 1 348 naval soldiers. The relationships among the involved variables were analyzed by structural equation model. Results Perceived social support was positively correlated with resilience in the participants (P<0.01), and both resilience and perceived social support were negatively correlated with the military acute stress reaction (P<0.01); both of them could independently explain the variance of acute stress reaction of navy soldiers, in which strength (β=-0.136, P<0.01) and external family support (β=-0.229, P<0.01) had significant negative predictive effects on military acute stress reaction. The mediating effect of resilience was significant between military acute stress reaction and perceived social support, accounting 16.22% of the total effect. The model fitting was good:χ²/df=27.91/11=2.537, P=0.003; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)=0.032, comparative fit index (CFI)=0.997 and goodness-of-fit index (GFI)=0.994, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI)=0.986, normed fit index (NFI)=0.995, relative fit index (RFI)=0.986, incremental fitness index (IFI)=0.997 and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI)=0.992. Conclusion Perceived social support has direct effect on acute stress reaction of navy soldiers, and it also has indirect influence on the acute stress reaction through the mediating effect of resilience.