Photo By Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Bryson | U.S. Army Soldiers– and spouses, from across the National Training Center (NTC) and...... read more read more
FORT IRWIN, Calif. – U.S. Army Soldiers– and spouses, from across the National Training Center (NTC) and Fort Irwin graduated from the two-week Leader 360 Course in a ceremony at the Sandy Basin Community Center on March 8, 2024, at Fort Irwin, Calif. The Leader 360 program is designed to teach leadership skills to noncommissioned officers (NCOs) and help participants learn how to create a holistic culture of trust, balance, and awareness both in their units and personal lives.
Steve Salazar, a cofounder of the 360 Leadership program and president of the 360 Military Veteran Partnership (MVP) says his organization has delivered the program to over 5,000 NCO leaders nationwide, who themselves lead over 58,000 Soldiers, civilians, and family members, since the course’s inception in 2010.
“We fortify the health, resilience and wellbeing of–– and create capacity for engaged leadership among our NCO leaders, who we believe are our most important leaders,” Salazar said.
Leader 360 concepts include the understanding of how communication can affect relationships, the importance of promoting self-care, and the development of the physical, mental, and spiritual components of individual and team readiness; Soldiers are introduced to nutrition and fitness information, communication and leadership techniques, and mental and spiritual readiness exercises, such as breathing and yoga for stress relief.
“[Our organization] is called the Military Veteran Partnership, but I like MVP, because we believe our NCO leaders are our nation’s most valuable players,” said Salazar. “They deserve all that we can do to equip them with the tools to be able to take care of themselves so they can effectively take care of our nation’s treasure, which is our sons and daughters of the American people,” said Salazar.
Salazar said life skills taught through the program can also help Soldiers transitioning out of the force to become healthier veterans and Soldiers for life.
Staff Sgt. Miles Alexander 2nd Transportation Co., 916th Support Bn., truck driver, said he didn’t quite know what he was getting into when he was selected for the course, but he left the course with an increased knowledge of nutrition and exercise, a greater understanding of forgiveness and the people he works with every day, and the tools he needs to be a better leader.
Alexander said he also learned self-care was critical.
“If you are looking to be a good leader and a good example, you need to know how to take care of yourself first,” said Alexander. “As a leader you have to be squared away… and then you can square away your soldiers.”
Alexander said he highly recommends the course for other noncommissioned officers.
“I would tell all my Soldiers this is a great opportunity to learn different aspects of leadership that may not be what the army [traditionally] teaches us. It gives a worldview understanding of leadership and a different way of looking at things.”
While the course is designed to increase the professional leadership skills and readiness of the NCO corps., participants say it has reach beyond uniformed personnel.
In fact, military spouses were encouraged to attend the course with their Soldiers so the whole community could benefit from the life skills being taught.
Sgt. Ethan Macias, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, infantry Soldier, said he had no expectations of the course going in and was surprised at how impactful it really was.
“This was the best thing I’ve ever done in my military career… besides Air Assault school, of course,” Macias exclaimed.
Macias said the biggest take-aways for him were the communication and conflict resolution tools he learned, which are already having a positive effect on his marriage.
Those same skills, according to Macias, will help him read his Soldiers better, and coach and help them more effectively.
“A lot of the time we say we’re tough, we’re tough as nails… we don’t need to be soft, but at the end of the day if Soldiers are having a bad day we need to know about it so we can help them,” said Macias “This course gave me leadership skills that I will be able to take back to my unit and emplace… to better myself– to better my soldiers.”
NTC and Fort Irwin Command Sgt. Maj. Cavet. C. Tate said the goal of hosting the course here was to encourage NCOs to enroll in the program to be more holistically healthy and to become better leaders.
‘They learned how to be holistically ready… they learned mental readiness, physical readiness, the proper nutrition… they learned how to take a break and rest. More importantly- they learned about spiritual readiness,” said Tate. “We know all of that is going to make them better leaders and they’re going to take it back to their Soldiers and teach them how to be holistically healthy.”
Tate explained investing in the Army’s NCOs, who are known as the “backbone of the Army,” and giving them the tools they need to take care of themselves, their families, and their Soldiers, will make them better leaders and strengthen the force.
“This is going to make the Army better overall,’ said Tate. ‘Lead, train, win!”
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2024 18:56 |
| Story ID: | 468292 |
| Location: | FORT IRWIN, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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