PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - Training was held at Picatinny Arsenal, May 11-22 for a unique new program intended as a support for Soldiers with increased deployment cycles, as well as a preventative measure designed to stem a notable increase in suicide rates.
Master Resiliency Training (MRT) was developed by the U.S. Army in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania in 2009.
While the program was originally developed for Soldiers, it quickly became apparent that the skills being taught were also applicable and beneficial to military spouses and Department of the Army Civilians.
The MRT program is part of the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) mission and is governed by AR 350-53.
The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) has a 10-year strategic plan, which is a living document that helps guide the focus and direction for ARDEC.
In 2013, a new strategic plan was initiated that has four primary objectives.
John F. Hedderich III, the current director of ARDEC, was the "owner" of objective four. The intent of objective four was to foster an enterprise culture built on trust, empowerment, collaboration, and workforce well-being. This objective also contained ARDECs Resilience initiative.
Hedderich attended the training May 19 to address the students and discuss how the course supports the ARDEC strategic plan and mission. Several days later, he was followed by Senior Commander Brig. Gen. Patrick Burden, who spoke about the importance of the class. He also had a breakaway session with active-duty military members.
ARDEC was the first organization in the U.S. Army Materiel Command's chain of command to host this training. Thirty-six students (25 civilians, 10 military, and one spouse) attended the two-week training session.
Capt. Kristie Stuckenschneider, a contract specialist with the Army Contracting Command -- New Jersey, said: "This has been a course I thought I needed to take for years now. I feel to be a good leader, I needed to really focus in on my thinking and my reactions to situations."
"Being in the Army has been an amazing experience, but since it is so fast paced and I move often, I may have lost touch with my own emotions. Going into the course I hoped to learn skills to manage difficult situations within the work place," Stuckenschneider said.
Matthew Stracco, one of the ARDEC Master Resiliency Trainers, was designated as the MRT program manager.
"As the Resilience Task Owner, I envisioned the best way of achieving the desired end state was with senior leader buy-in," Stracco said.
"I coordinated with Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) to bring a Mobile Training Team to Picatinny in February 2015 to present a two-day MRT executive course. The executive course was designed to educate leaders about the program and get their support for the program.
Thirty-three leaders attended the executive course, 29 from ARDEC," Stracco added.
The second phase was to bring the two-week Level 1 certification course to Picatinny.
At the conclusion of this most recent Level 1 course, ARDEC now has 29 certified MRTs.
"The last few years have provided many challenges to our workforce," said Michael Nicotra, an ARDEC program analyst.
"Although I believe that the ARDEC workforce has done an admirable job of working through the added stresses that come along with being a government employee, these stresses do not appear to be getting any easier in the near future. I took this class because it was an opportunity for me to get involved and engage with our workforce.
"Although I will never engineer or create a weapon that saves a Soldier's life, if I can provide support utilizing the resiliency tools taught in this class to the engineers and scientists who do, then I have done my part."
In the third phase ARDEC MRTs will begin teaching the competencies and skills to the greater ARDEC workforce. Resilience training will begin October 2015.
Related Links:
ArmyFit website offers information on how to achieve, sustain lasting fitness
Command Emphasis on Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness
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