Soldiers, DA civilians gain critical personal, professional skills through MRT

Photo By Capt. Macario Mora | Gino S. Barbagelata, MRT-Performance Expert, poses a question to his class of Soldiers and DA civilians during a Master Resiliency Training course July 22. Students from across Europe and the United States attended the course offered quarterly at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany.  

VILECK, BY, GERMANY

07.22.2021

Story by Macario Mora 

7th Army Training Command

ROSE BARRACKS, VILSECK, Germany – The 7th Army Training Command’s Combined Arms Training Center hosted a Master Resiliency Training Level I course at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, July 12 – 23.

The two-week course is hosted quarterly at Rose Barracks and biannually in Italy providing Soldiers, spouses and DOD civilians skills and concepts derived from decades of research in cognitive behavioral therapy.

“The MRT program has evolved over the years,” said Daren Keohler, Master Resilience Trainer-Performance Expert and primary instructor. “It’s based within sports and positive psychology to see how we can use some of the things that make us the best of who we are to better our performance and relationships at home and work to be more effective leaders and to handle the stress of life.”

Koehler, from Storm Lake, Iowa, is one of the many highly qualified MRT instructors employed by the U.S. Army, which is the largest employer of sports psychologists in the United States. The University of Denver graduate said the MRT program is equipping leaders with the skills and tools they need to care for themselves and their Soldiers.

Sergeant 1st Class Armando Quintana, communications section chief with Field Artillery Squadron, 2nd Calvary Regiment, said he was excited when he learned about the course. The Guaynabo, Puerto Rico native said military leaders are often put into situations when leading Soldiers that aren’t in any field manuals. He said the skills he learned in the class can be taught to his Soldiers providing them a more diverse skillset to handle the adversities of personal and professional life.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Tien Chen, with the 7th Mission Support Command’s intelligence section, said the experience was great and that it will help him provide Soldiers skills to allow them to cope with basic Soldier tasks such as qualifying on the rifle range and increased physical fitness performance, Chen, who holds an Masters of Science in Social Work from Hunter College of the City University of New York, said resiliency will provide Soldiers an increased performance in their day-to-day lives, and, ultimately, it is a major contributor to unit readiness.

Koehler stressed that resiliency training hasn’t made the Army softer, and the research conducted since its inception almost a decade ago has shown a quantitative decrease in unit mental health diagnoses and behavioral issues. The research points to the 18 to 24 year old age group as being the most positively impacted by resiliency training.

“The MRT program is focused around mental toughness and building mental toughness skills to better be able to navigate life and increase our performance,” Koehler said. “Resilience isn’t just about surviving or bouncing back from challenges. It’s also about how do we start thriving in life to push forward and try to continue to strive to become the best version of ourselves.”

Soldiers interested in attending a Master Resiliency Training must meet the rank requirement of E-5 and above. To participate in the training contact your unit S3 and visit https://www.7atc.army.mil/CATC/ for more information on when the training is available.

• Date Taken: 07.22.2021
• Date Posted: 07.26.2021 08:57
• Story ID: 401695
• Location: VILECK, BY, DE