FORT HOOD, TEXAS – Soldiers assigned to the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division took part in the Resilience Trainer Assistant Course at Fort Hood’s Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Training Facility from Feb. 11 to 14.
The CSF2TF program defines resilience as the ability to grow and thrive in the face of challenges and bounce back from adversity.
“Being resilient is a process, it’s a destination,” said Orange City, Fla., native Sgt. 1st Class Joel Ahmann, an Apache crew chief and Master Resilience trainer and operations noncommissioned officer assigned to the CSF2TF headquarters. “It’s not something you just naturally have and through learning the simple skills master resilience offers (soldiers) can be more resilient and be able to deal with life’s adversities, regardless of how small or how great it is.”
Killeen, Texas, native, Spc. Richard Gomez, a cavalry scout assigned to1st “Head Hunters” Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment of Ironhorse, who is taking part in the training, said it is important because it teaches soldiers how to help fellow teammates deal with stress stemming from the pace at which today’s army operates.
Katie Copeskey, a master resilience trainer-performance expert who has been working at CFS2TF for over three years and who works with Ahmann agrees with how this training helps in dealing with stress.
“We can’t avoid those adversities, we can’t avoid those challenges.” Copeskey said. “They’re coming anyway, so why not have a better way to problem solve, why not have a better way to self-regulate?”
Copeskey said this training adds to the Master Resilience Trainers already in place across the army by giving them additional individuals to aid them in teaching unit classes and bring other aspects of resilience to light.
Copeskey said it is important for both soldiers and leaders to be trained because if soldiers know about resilience training and are not getting it, they can bring it to the attention of leaders and leaders need to understand the program to aid in building stronger soldiers.
During basic training, soldiers receive training to aid them in their careers and resilience training adds to what they already know.
“Any tools that we can give to soldiers to better themselves, why not give them those tools to better themselves to deal with life as a whole, whether it’s on the battlefield, in garrison or at home,” Ahmann said.
Gomez said he intends to share this knowledge with his leaders and peers to show how it can help them be more optimistic and better deal with adversities at hand.
Gomez concluded with how he wants to emphasize that this training shows how the army is helping take care of and maintain the most important resource, its soldiers.