State of mind: Army to start mental fitness program

By SUSANNE KAPPLER, Fort Jackson LeaderAugust 6, 2009

State of mind: Army to start mental fitness program
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FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- The Army is looking to improve the resiliency of its Soldiers through a new program, which will be launched in October, said Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff, during a visit to Fort Jackson July 30.

The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program is designed to strengthen Soldiers emotionally, spiritually and socially, giving them the ability to cope with stress.

Casey emphasized that the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program will be part of a Soldier's training from BCT through War College.

"This will be instituted so that at every level of Army school - officer and noncommissioned officer - there will be a different level of resilience training taught," he said.

Casey said that the demands during war time make it a necessity for the Army to teach its Soldiers adequate coping skills.

"The treadmill that we have been on as an Army for the last eight years ... is such that if we don't give Soldiers these skills, we're going to have increasing challenges," he said.

Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, director of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, said the program is designed to prepare Soldiers to deal with any situation. Resiliency should be automatic just like loading a weapon is automatic to a Soldier, she said.

Cornum said that Soldiers are at a different level of emotional, mental, spiritual and social fitness when they enter the Army.

"It's an opportunity to help the entire Army, not just people in some crisis," she said.

"We have 1.1 million people in the Army. Probably 98 percent of them don't have a diagnosis, don't have some kind of dysfunction. Most people don't flunk the PT test, but that doesn't mean everybody is in equally great shape. Psychological fitness is the same thing. Most people are OK, but not everybody is in a 300-plus kind of category."

To find out where Soldiers rank in terms of resiliency, the Army will launch a Global Assessment Tool, which Cornum compared to a "PT test for mental health."

The tool evaluates a Soldier's social, emotional, family and spiritual strength.

"The reason that's important is ... not everybody needs the same education and training at the same time in their life," Cornum said. "So this will help people do two things. It will give people an understanding of where they are and where they need to improve. It will then direct them to either online or local training, depending upon where they live, that would help them to improve in those areas specifically."

Cornum emphasized that results of the assessment are confidential and will not be available to anyone in the Soldier's chain of command.

Casey said that Fort Jackson, the largest Initial Entry Training installation in the Army, is a prime location for the program.

"I've been running around, seeing some of the training and talking to some of the Soldiers, and I must say, there's great potential here for the program," he said.