Yeah, surviving and tanking successfully was a new concept for me too, but I think I partially figured it out.
The great thing about battle commands is aside from buffing your groupmates, they give you a great deal of flexibility. I twist [spell]Stand Stong![/spell] and [spell]Gather Your Resolve![/spell] when being hit at range, and [spell]Stand Strong![/spell] with [spell]Press The Attack![/spell] when being hit in melee. Also, you have no excuse not to have [spell]Shield Rush[/spell] constantly active, since it has a 10 second duration and 10 second cooldown. Semi-permanent +10% block as long as you have someone to hit? Yes please.