Grafenwoehr, Germany (Nov. 8, 2016) -- Standing in front of 47 other students was Sgt. 1st Class Shana Abdus, an electronic maintenance supervisor assigned to the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade in Katterbach, as she received her graduation diploma from the Soldier 360 Leadership Resilience Course, here, Nov. 4.
Abdus, a single mother of three children, enrolled in the course to learn how to de-stress her life in hopes of sleeping better at night, so she can be the best leader she can be for her Soldiers.
"Being a senior noncommissioned officer (NCO), I'm at a point in my life where I'm stressed out all the time," said Abdus. "I'm always stressed out, and I know it, but the problem is how do you deal with it?"
The Soldier 360 Leadership Resilience Course was created to answer questions like Abdus'.
The course's mission statement is to provide Soldier-Leaders with the training, tools, techniques, and guidance to restore and enhance psychological readiness, physical fitness, nutritional status, spiritual health, financial fitness, and relationship communication.
The five-day course was coordinated with the Combined Arms Training Center (CATC), to bring the course back to Vilseck for the second time. The course targeted NCOs specifically because they have the greatest impact on the health and wellness of the unit, but it can be expanded to include other groups.
"Give the best to the best," said Mary Lopez, one of the two developers of the course.
Although many of the students initially expected the course to be another resiliency course, most of the leaders were thankful to gain skills that enabled them to be a better person and a better leader.
"You must take care of yourself before you can help the person next to you," said Lopez. "We are giving NCOs more tools for their toolkits."
Amongst each other, the students participated in group discussions about leadership styles, spirituality, and stress management. They were able to share their experiences as well as bounce ideas off one another.
The students' spouses were invited to attend the course during the relationships and couple's communication discussion, mindful sex discussion and the couple's yoga session.
Abdus, a fitness addict, said she was really impressed with yoga and Tabata, high-intensity interval training, which she plans to incorporate into physical training with her Soldiers.
Other topics included financial counseling, acupuncture, hypnosis, meditation and art therapy.
Like Abdus, many of the other students were given a chance at the graduation to share their experience in the course with everyone at the ceremony.
Some students expressed how thankful they were for the tools that allowed them to make improvements in their relationships, while other students wished for the class to be longer so they could take additional time to get to know each other better.
The students said they were able to walk away with new tools in their toolkits as well as new friends and mentors.
"I recommend this course to everybody," said Abdus. "If leaders at different levels can get access to this course, I think it will make our Army a more resilient Army; and a lot of issues like suicide, alcoholism and stress will subside, then we can create a better, healthier culture of Soldiers."
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