Tacoma, Wash. - Military leaders from Joint Base Lewis-McChord hugged corners, screeched tires and burned rubber, racing to the goal of answering a single question; what is hope?
Noncommissioned officers with Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, I Corps were asked the question during a Hope Scale Initiative training at the Grand Prix Raceway, in Lakewood, Washington, Mar 30 as the training began.
HSI aims to steer leaders on the right track in identifying Soldiers who may lack hope or need a boost in achieving their goals, according to Maj. Jason Hesseling, chaplain with HHB, I Corps and the instructor of the training.
"It's a very brand new initiative," said Hesseling. "Right now throughout Joint Base Lewis-McChord different units are trying to conduct the training with NCOs. The idea is that we will periodically have every unit use the hope scale to see where they are at, to help identify some of those Soldiers who are discouraged or have low hope."
The hope scale uses a variety of survey style questions to measure a person's level of hopefulness based on their rated responses. According to Hesseling the training is not a suicide prevention training, but it could help as an early detector in preventing suicide, which can be considered the most devastating outcome from lack of hope, he said.
Hesseling said hope, resiliency and readiness are some of I Corps highest priorities.
"It's one of the big things that's talked about and one of the big things we try to instill in our Soldiers. If we can make our Soldiers resilient, keep their morale high, then our unit is more ready and we are able to accomplish what it is we are trying to do."
The training touched on factors that affect people's levels of hope, which Hesseling breaks down during the classroom portion of the training as "bridging the GAP", GAP being; goals plus agency and pathways all contribute to ones hope, a concept developed by psychologist Charles R. Snyder, he said.
Setting goals and accomplishing them are affected by agency, which are your thoughts, will power, determination and morale. These factors are all affected by the avenues and resources available to reaching those goals, known as pathways, said Hesseling.
The NCOs then took to the racetrack for some competitive kart races. The racetrack was a great location for the training according to Hesseling, who wanted to take the training off base.
"I know there [is] so much on NCO's plates and I don't want to just burden them with one more task," Hesseling said. "I want to give them a simple tool, incorporate a little bit of fun and the racetrack made sense. It has an easily defined goal and there are lots of different ways to get to that goal, it just easily translated to the topic."
Spc. Natasha Manning-Redmond, the chaplain assistant with HHB, I Corps said that the HSI training is beneficial to Soldiers and families, especially Soldiers transitioning from the military.
"It's the kind of training that has Soldiers thinking about their future," said Manning-Redmond. "Some Soldiers aren't sure what they want to do with their life after the Army and never think beyond that. They may have a drive to go to school but never really think of how to get there or how to start."
Manning-Redmond said giving this resiliency tool to leaders allows them to self-assess their hope level which can impact their leadership of Soldiers.
"It has to start from the top," said Manning-Redmond. "They have to be able to implement their hope training so that they can teach their Soldiers."
According to Hesseling NCOs are key to implementing HSI training within units and HSI adds yet another tool to their kits for leading Soldiers.
"NCOs are the ones that are kind of on the front lines," said Hesseling. "They are the ones that are in the trenches. As they use me as a chaplain and use a tool like this, they have a huge effect on the course."
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