Aberdeen Proving Ground embraces 'Ready and Resilient' campaign for Soldiers, civilians

By Yvonne Johnson, APG NewsSeptember 20, 2013

R2C eyes readiness for APG Soldiers, civilians
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (Sept. 20, 2013) -- The Army launched the Ready and Resilient Campaign Plan, known as R2C, earlier this year. The purpose of the campaign is to establish an enduring cultural change that integrates resilience into our current daily duties therefore promoting readiness within the force.

"Installation programs and services are major components of the R2C plan," said Wendy LaRoche, APG Health Promotion Officer, and Community Health Promotion Council, or CHPC. "The Community Health Promotion Council is about ensuring that the programs and services that exist are serving the needs of the community and then ensuring that there is unity of efforts in caring for the community."

"A great example of this occurred with the recent furlough," LaRoche continued. "The camaraderie among the tenants was amazing. Financial institutions partnered with religious services; there were fundraisers to help and community establishments that offered discounts. It explains why the CHPC is the appropriate venue for the R2C Plan".

The Community Health Promotion Council, chaired by Senior Mission Commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Ferrell, is the forum for the synchronizing of R2C activities.

According to Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. James Ervin the Ready and Resilient Campaign integrates and synchronizes multiple efforts and programs to improve the readiness and resilience of the Army Family.

"This is about making us an even stronger Army," Ervin said. "What is Ready? The ability to accomplish assigned tasks or missions through resilience, individual and collective team training and leadership. What is resilient? The mental, physical, emotional and behavioral ability to face and cope with adversity, adapt to change, recover, learn and grow from setbacks."

"Readiness is tied into resilience," he said.

Ervin said the Army's R2C will make resilience training a key part of all professional military education. It will promote healthy lifestyles that are based on the triad of physical fitness, nutrition and sleep, and it will improve methods to help leaders understand high-risk behaviors that could lead to suicide. Finally, the campaign will strive to eliminate stigma that might keep Soldiers from seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress or brain injuries.

Another goal, he said, is to bring in key Army programs to reduce or eliminate sexual harassment and sexual assault, bullying and hazing, substance abuse, and domestic violence.

"We want to make our Warriors stronger through resilience," Ervin said. "It gives you standards and training that make you career ready. As leaders, we must make an effort to teach our Soldiers that it's okay to reach out for help; this effort has to be a career-long process."

Ultimately, the R2C will seek to institutionalize education to promote resilience and build it into professional military instruction at various levels of a Soldier's career. It is important that civilians be included in this effort to obtain and then maintain a state of resilience, Ervin added.

"We are all one team. Our families and civilians face challenges and stresses similar to those faced by Soldiers," he said. "Their sacrifices and their continued support to Soldiers demonstrates their remarkable strength and resilience, but the stress of more than a decade of combat has taken its toll on all of us and is a reminder that our national security comes at a cost shared by the Total Army.

"Likewise, our civilians play a crucial role in supporting Soldiers and families," he continued. "When they are affected by setbacks, the Army as an institution suffers. Resilience is required across the Total Army in order for Soldiers to remain ready to perform their missions both on and off the battlefield."

The end state for the campaign is achieved when the Army's culture has embraced resilience as part of its profession and as a key and critical component to readiness.

For more information, visit the Army's Ready and Resilient website at www.army.mil/readyandresilient/.

Related Links:

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Army.mil: North America News

Army.mil: Ready and Resilient

STAND-TO!: Ready and Resilient Campaign Update

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