Total Force Fitness model enhances warrior resilience

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES

01.06.2012

Story by J Snyderman 

Defense Health Agency

By Emily Greene
health.mil

The Department of Defense and service branches are focused on building and maintaining resiliency in service members, both at home and while deployed. Increasingly, service members are receiving instruction and training to build resiliency across the force.

Following the Total Force Fitness model, initiated by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. (Ret.) Michael Mullen and concurred by current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the eight domains of wellness are described as physical, nutritional, medical and dental, environmental, behavioral, psychological, social, and spiritual. Each domain is equally important in the overall wellness of the service member and is intimately related to the others.

One way in which resiliency is being emphasized is in physical fitness training. Army Sgt. Omar Estrada reported from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division on the Army’s new physical resiliency training program in a recent article. Estrada detailed the practical changes being made to physically prepare soldiers to move in ways that mirror everyday activities in a battlefield environment.

Last month the National Guard unveiled a new initiative, Vets4Warriors (http://www.vets4warriors.com/) , a toll-free, peer-to-peer counseling hotline which provides Guard members and all reserve component members the ability to speak with counselors on the phone or online 24/7. All counselors are veterans and are therefore able to provide a unique understanding of the issues Guard and reserve component
warriors face.

Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said it is important to find any and all means to help Guard members be resilient; and this program has his full support in a National Guard Bureau story by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Orrell.

Students at the Defense Information School were treated to a Warrior Resiliency Day last month organized, in part, by Air Force Master Sgt. Chris Eder, a DINFOS instructor and certified yoga instructor. The day’s activities included lessons in integrative nutrition and a yoga class. The program served as a model for teaching resiliency as a foundational element of a military career.

As part of a total force fitness approach, resilience programs contribute to overall wellness and enable service members to perform better under challenging circumstances and recover better from trauma and stress.

• Date Taken: 01.06.2012
• Date Posted: 01.06.2012 16:32
• Story ID: 82132
• Location: WASHINGTON, DC, US