New Mexico Minuteman - Winter 2012

Resilience:
strength beyond the uniform
By Staff Sgt. Jason A. Henson, state resiliency coordinator
With our nation being at war for more
than 10 years, the stress on the force is
beginning to show. We are experiencing
increasing rates of substance abuse,
omestic violence, post-traumatic stress disorder,
depression and a whole litany of other
disturbing trends among service members
including increases in suicide rates. With all
of these issues plaguing our Soldiers, the
Department of the Army has founded the
Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program in
an effort to combat this epidemic.
So what exactly is CSF? Simply put,
CFS is a structured, long-term assessment
and developmental program to build the
resilience and enhance the performance of
every Soldier, family member and Department
of the Army civilian. What does this
mean for you and your Soldiers?
Resilience, at its simplest, is a comprehensive
skill set that will enable Soldiers to
thrive in all aspects of their lives by giving
them an increased ability to handle the
stresses of life, whether they are big or small.
Essentially, it is the ability to bounce back
from adversity. The resilience program is
not to be confused with suicide prevention;
however, you can think of the resilience program
as being preventive medicine against
suicide. The basic idea is the more resilient
the individual, the less likely he or she is to
fall into the trap of suicidal thoughts.
So how does it work? In order to build
an individual’s resilience, the resilience
program teaches the Soldier a number of
simple cognitive reasoning skills designed
to increase that individual’s resilience
and overall well-being.
For example, the “hunt the
good stuff” skill teaches
the individual a simple
daily exercise that involves
refl ecting on three good
things that happened in
that person’s life that day
and how he or she can
build upon those successes
to create “winning streaks.” The
premise is that by actively dwelling on
the positive events in our lives, no matter
how big or small, we can gradually build
up a signifi cantly more positive outlook on
life, which in turn, will increase our overall
success and happiness.
Other skills in the program address areas
such as interpersonal communication techniques,
personal strengths, problem solving,
and energy management. However, like
most areas of cognitive reasoning, you only
get out of it what you put in. For the program
to succeed, it is vital that senior offi cers and
noncommissioned offi cers work together to
establish a unit climate that promotes resilience
as a way of life versus another “check
the box” training requirement.
As of October, the R3SP program—
Resilience, Risk Reduction & Suicide Prevention—has
trained 30 resilience training
Assistants and six master resilience trainers.
These individuals are responsible for
conducting the National Guard Bureaumandated
quarterly resilience training in
every unit within the New Mexico Army
National Guard. Over the course of fi scal
year 2012, the R3SP program will be conducting
RTA training courses targeted at
any units that do not yet have their own RTA
or MRT. The goal is to have at least one RTA
in every unit/detachment, one MRT in every
battalion headquarters, and two MRTs in
every brigade headquarters. In addition to
the NGB-mandated resilience training, the
R3SP offi ce will also be offering a shorter
resilience training program during unit
annual trainings called “Flash
Forward,” and will develop
a “Resilience for Leaders”
course to be fi elded in
early 2012. For more
information about the
resilience program or
the suicide prevention
program contact Staff
Sgt. Jason Henson at
jason.henson@us.army.mil
or call 505-474-2162.
BEYOND STRONG
Winter 2012 / NEW MEXICO National Guard 23