FORT HOOD, Texas -- The first sergeants, sergeants major and commanders who fall under the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) met at Club Hood for a quarterly health promotion forum, Jan. 20.
The purpose of the meeting is to have leaders come together and discuss safety and health issues, said Donnie Robinson, Sr., 13th ESC safety advisor.
Robinson said an open format that allows for discussion is important because it enables leaders at the company level to help each other in solving and preventing potential safety issues.
“We want to share lessons learned because in the real end state, it’s for the soldiers,” said Col. Charles Kibben, 13th ESC rear commander. “This is simply helping us see ourselves.”
Fourteen different risk factors are monitored: positive urinalysis, financial problems, child abuse, spouse abuse, crimes against property, crimes against persons, traffic violations, alcohol offenses, drug offenses, absent without leave, suicide attempts, sexually transmitted diseases, and accidents and deaths.
Out of those 14, the four topics discussed at the Jan. 20 council were finance problems, spouse abuse, crimes against person, and personal injury on and off duty.
A great deal of the discussion focused on soldier’s financial issues and how struggling with finances can actually lead to other high risk behaviors.
“Leader engagement” was the major topic for a solution to these problems. The leaders discussed different ways of staying in touch with their soldiers in order to identify what problems they may have.
There has been an improvement since the last forum in several key risk factors, but the 13th ESC needs to continue to improve, Kibben said.
“This is the third one of these I’ve been to, and it’s great because you learn different ways to deal with different problems,” said Sgt. 1st Class Cedric T. Ellis, detachment sergeant in Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 180th Transportation Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade.
Ellis said at the last meeting he learned of different ways to deal with AWOL soldiers and about the importance of finding out everything about the soldier and his situation.
“The knowledge gives me better ways to handle situations to better my unit,” he said.
First time attendees were also impressed with the forum.
“It’s an excellent forum for commanders and first sergeants,” said Capt. Eric Vazquez, the commander of the 157th Quartermaster Company, 553rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th SB. “We get to analyze trends, focus in on the trends and allow us to get ideas on how to train our soldiers to mitigate the risks.”
The council tries to find the answers to questions first sergeants and commanders have and through an open discussion format. By having company level leaders participate, it allows the answers to be streamlined to the soldiers’ first line supervisors, Robinson said.
Subscribe
