CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - Brian Wade and Alex Lalonde, members of the Fort Bragg Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Program, came to Kosovo to teach courses on tactical breathing and stress management to the soldiers of the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade at camps throughout Kosovo from Aug. 11-17.
The idea began when the CSF2 met with the brigade leadership prior to their deployment about the importance of comprehensive fitness. The CSF2 continued their support and visited the brigade during their mission validation exercise at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. At that time, the leadership asked if they would come to Kosovo after 90 days of deployment to help assess the needs of the soldiers.
"Every soldier that has come through seems to appreciate having an outside source to talk to, to share their daily stress," Wade, from Charleston, S.C., said. "They also appreciate getting [extra training] they can use."
On Aug. 15, the CSF2 team met with members of the Joint Regional Detachment - East on Camp Bondsteel to discuss their reactions to the stress they face during their deployment to Kosovo. The sessions ran for an hour for each team, and began with a conversation about the stress they face, how they handle it, and what they can do to manage it better.
Once the conversations were complete, Lalonde and Wade gave the soldiers classes on a process called "tactical breathing" to help them manage their stress in a simple and effective way. Afterwards, soldiers got to sample some of the software the CSF2 team brought with them, including a laptop with specialized biofeedback software to track their breathing, fight or flight responses and levels of stress.
"We're not typical trainers in the sense of throwing up a PowerPoint slide and talking to them," Lalonde, from Rochester, N.Y., said. "I know most of our sessions have been discussion based, getting them to speak up and tell us what's going on, how stress is affecting them."
The visit at Camp Bondsteel concluded a week's worth of training from the CSF2, who now head back to Fort Bragg to continue to improve on their abilities to help soldiers and families combat stress.
U.S. Army Spc. Anthony Cancel, a soldier with JRD-E, said having the program come to meet directly with the soldiers was beneficial.
"I definitely think it's a good idea," Cancel, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, said. "I know a lot of guys here that are stressed out. I'm pretty sure that there are guys out there that need this."
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