Photo By Steve Morningstar | The new construction on the corner of Gruber Road and Shachnow Lane is the Human...... read more read more
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FORT LIBERTY, N.C. – The new construction on the corner of Gruber Road and Shachnow Lane is the Human Performance Force Generation (HP Forge) building. The building houses an innovative approach to health and wellness.
“One unique feature is the size of the building,” said Jim Arp, deputy director of the Human Performance and Wellness. “The building is about 90 thousand square feet. There's about 46 thousand square feet for physiological training exercise, strength, and conditioning, and stretching mobility.”
The building provides a consolidated area for trainers and instructors, whether it be the physical trainers or Family Programs. It is one consolidated space to allow a one-stop shop for training and rehabilitation, as well as development and growth.
“The building houses a state-of-the-art performance therapy clinic, where physical therapists can work on training prevention,” Arp said. “We want to train young men and women how to prevent injury. When they are injured, we want to be able to rehabilitate them and get them back to training and working.”
HP Forge focuses on optimizing performance. It takes a holistic approach to health and wellness, mentally, physically, interpersonally, spiritually, family – all domains.
“When you have an issue, we're going to be there to help them get the services and the treatment,” Arp said. “We get them back to that level of readiness, that quality of life and, really, the wellness that we want our Soldiers to have in our SOF community.”
The Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) has approximately 5,000 people that can be beneficiaries to the services that will be offered at HP Forge. The beneficiaries include brand new candidates in our training pipelines.
“Candidates who are young men and women that just get here off the bus, and all the way up to people who are finishing their career and preparing to leave the service,” Arp said. “It's a very broad demographic and one of the beauties of this building is it gives us the capability to address each of those different levels of performance, readiness, and wellness.”
For Lt. Col. Talisha M. Lewis, SWCS command engineer, she noted a feature she said was unique.
“I observed an indoor track to allow Soldiers to perform or conduct physical training all year round,” she said. “It was one of the issues that we had a lot of feedback regarding. This allows them to be able to train at all-times. It also allows them to have different set stations. Soldiers can utilize and maximize their time on the equipment.”
Arp added that “one of the key things that is piloted by HP Forge is starting the baseline for every Army special operations Soldier. When they get here, they get a baseline assessment. The baseline is going to focus on their physical readiness, their mental and interpersonal readiness, spiritual, family, and financial […] We're going to measure that every two years.”
The concept is that the Soldiers’ metrics will be tracked across their career.
“When they get to that last quarter of their career, they're able to function, as well as (functioning) in their operational capacity. When they get ready to retire, they have historical data that they can take with them. It's their data.”
The idea is to increase the longevity of operators across their military career.
SWCS has several professionals and experts across the enterprise, who provide support to Soldiers and candidates.
“We have our performance nutritionists, military family life counselor, behavioral health, all these people are going to come together right now,” Arp said. “These health and behavior professionals are dispersed in various other buildings and phases of training. We're now bringing them all together, under one roof to provide a one-stop shop for our special operations men and women, who are coming here to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.”
One of the programs who will be operating from HP Forge is Family Programs.
“SWCS Family Programs falls under the Human Performance and Wellness (HPW) umbrella because we manage and operate within the Social and Family Pillar of Preservation of the Force and Family,” said Christin Chavez, director of USAJFKSWCS Family Program. “Having our Family Programs Center housed within HP Forge allows for a one-stop-shop approach to the HPWs intent for holistic care, total mind, body, spirit, and of course, heart.”
Chavez added that the easier it is for Soldiers and their Families to find us, the more connected and informed they are. When ARSOF Families are connected and informed, they’re better prepared for making their transition to the operational groups smooth and increasing readiness and retention.
One of the missions focuses on leadership applying best practices, whether it's motorsports, the tech industry, academia, college athletics or professional sports.
“We work with SOCOM and the other services special operations forces, Acquisition Technology and Logistics, Air Force Research Lab, among many others,” he said. “So, we bring all the best practices that we can find. We tried to apply them here and, as we're applying them, we're trying to measure. We answer questions such as, does it have an impact? What is that impact? And what do we want to build on? Or maybe we want to find another practice. It is all about how we can increase individual performance.”
Lewis added that the facility helps and supports the Soldiers across ARSOF.
“We're going in the right direction as far as helping Soldiers in the SOF community,” she said. “I think we're setting the blueprint for the for the rest of the Army to follow.”
The HP Forge facility is set to open towards the end of 2024.
| Date Taken: | 02.16.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2024 12:54 |
| Story ID: | 470674 |
| Location: | FORT LIBERTY, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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