Fort Jackson community stands up for resilience

Photo By Emily Hileman | Fort Jackson Resiliency Stand-To  

FORT JACKSON, SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

11.09.2023

Story by Emily Hileman 

Fort Jackson Public Affairs Office

Ask any Soldier to quote the Soldier’s Creed and they can probably do it in their sleep. They’re always prepared to serve the U.S., to place the mission first, to never accept defeat, to never quit and to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the U.S. in close combat.
However, if you ask them how to bounce back from stressful and traumatic situations, they might not be able to readily belt out the 14 techniques taught in the Master Resiliency program or other methods which exist to overcome hardships.
Fort Jackson is leading the charge to change that with the Resiliency Stand-To, Nov. 16-17.
“There is so much goodness going on,” said Col. Kenneth Dwyer, Leader Training Brigade commander. “We have a keynote speaker who’s going to talk about some of his struggles throughout his life, having been diagnosed later in his career with bipolar disorder, as well as some other presentations, booths about some of the resources that exist on Fort Jackson, and demonstrations from the Master Resiliency Trainer Course.”
The keynote speaker, retired Maj. Gen. Gregg Martin, a combat veteran, served in the Army for 36 years. While he had an abundance of knowledge and experience, he was also battling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder throughout his career.
Martin is one of many Soldiers who struggled with a mental diagnosis, and he actively encourages Army leaders to talk about mental health with their Soldiers.
“I would recommend the Army leadership … talk about it (with their Soldiers) and encourage people all through the ranks to … talk about it and gain a great understanding, not just about bipolar disorder, but about mental illness and mental health conditions,” he was quoted in an Association of the U.S. Army article.
Martin will be speaking on Nov. 17 at 3 p.m. in the Institute for Religious Leadership Auditorium. His talk will also be livestreamed on Microsoft Teams.
Mental readiness and agility is one of the five Holistic Health and Fitness pillars that will be discussed and expanded on during the Resiliency Stand-To. The other four are physical readiness, nutritional readiness, spiritual readiness, and sleep readiness.
“If we put a little bit of fuel in each one of those five gas tanks every day, it builds a capacity for resilience,” Dwyer said. “And if we fail to put gas in each one of those tanks every day and something happens that we must navigate, it’s difficult and it’s going to make it a lot harder. So, it’s investing early into all these things that are going to make you resilient.”
The Stand-To is designed to make the entire Fort Jackson commnity, not just Soldiers, more resilient.
“It’s geared towards the Soldiers and Army Civilians, the Family members of the people that call Fort Jackson home,” Dwyer said. Service members, their Families, Department of Defense civilians, retirees and their families are all welcome to “come on and see the goodness we put together.”
“Everyone who shows up is going to take something away that’s a little bit different, because we all absorb information based on our experiences in life and what we’re currently dealing with,” Dwyer said. “However, if I had to narrow it down to one key takeaway, it’s the idea that we all have a greater capacity to bounce back than we realize.”
Dwyer will be one of three guest speakers for the Guest Speaker Luncheon, Nov. 17 at the NCO Club and he is speaking about the power of mental toughness in overcoming trauma. Other guest speakers are Command Sgt. Maj. Linwood Barrett on the topic of emotional resiliency and Sandra Mayweather discussing finding power through your pain.
Not only is Dwyer the leader of the Leader Training Brigade, which conducts levels one through four of Master Resiliency Training, but he was injured 17 years ago in Iraq, when he was hit with a rocket propelled grenade.
“I lost the (left) hand and eye (in the attack),” Dwyer said. “So, I’ve spent a ton of time thinking about how we, as people, can overcome things like this. I really break it down into there big key points to resiliency.”
Dwyer will speak on his personal struggles following a life-changing incident he encountered and the three key points that drove him to understand and dedicate his life to his personal mission of helping others become more ready and resilient in the face of hardship.

• Date Taken: 11.09.2023
• Date Posted: 11.09.2023 11:17
• Story ID: 457554
• Location: FORT JACKSON, SOUTH CAROLINA, US