BANGOR, Maine - The Maine Army National Guard conducted its first ever iteration of the Soldier Wellness Education and Training program over the past two weeks at the 240th Regiment (RTI) in Bangor, Maine.
The program is designed to help educate Soldiers about living a healthy lifestyle through nutrition, mental resiliency, and exercise. This change in lifestyle is aimed to help Soldiers not only live healthier lives, but also pass their Army Physical Fitness Test as well as height and weight standards.
"By getting these Soldiers physically capable of passing an APFT and being compliant with the body fat standards, we're making them an asset to the organization," said Sgt. 1st Class Timothy MacArthur, a member of the 11th Weapons of Mass Destruction- Civil Support Team who staffed the entire program.
The program's bottom line is to help Soldiers in the program become better leaders and team members for the Maine Army National Guard.
"We started off with an entry APFT, which gives us a baseline," said Sgt. Daniel Fox a member of the 11th WMD-CST and a cadre member for the SWEAT program. "Then they also did height and weight so we knew exactly where they were at."
The program was open to people who qualified and wanted to attend it for their own benefit.
"It is a completely voluntary program," said MacArthur. "No one was mandated to come to this."
Besides the Maine National Guard cadre, there were other health professionals who helped the participants.
"The Soldiers have been educated by a nutritionist who is a licensed dietitian," said MacArthur.
The nutritionist, from the University of Maine, helped each Soldier figure out how many calories their body needed each day and what foods they should be eating to stick to their calorie and nutrition goal.
"We also utilized the strength and conditioning coach for the University of Maine varsity athletic teams to work with the Soldiers on their stride and how to hold their body posture while running," said MacArthur.
The strength and conditioning coach helped each Soldier learn to run and breathe in the most efficient way possible, thus decreasing their run times.
The program entails much more than physical training, it is designed for overall wellness and soldier skills, "We've given them classes on stress management, time management, the effects of tobacco and caffeine, we've done M-16 and M-9 qualification, and we're doing a full combat lifesaver certification next week," said MacArthur.
The cadre has also made sure to address the issue that some Soldiers may not have regular access to a gym near their home.
"We're going give them a class on equipment free workouts, so they know there are workouts you can do at home without having to pay for a gym membership," said MacArthur.
The program has Soldiers do a variety of physical training whether that be in a traditional structured fashion or in the form of games.
"Twice a day we're doing some kind of physical activity, said Fox. "In the evening there's times where we're just playing sports, in the morning we've been doing a lot of circuit drills."
The Soldiers have a lot of activities packed into one day but seem to enjoy the challenges of each event.
"I think they're doing really well," said Fox, "Emotionally, it seems like every day they're more positive."
The Soldiers in the program also seem to agree that the change in pace from just traditional physical training sessions makes things more interesting.
"It's been motivational, they've made the actual working out a lot more fun," said Pfc. Zachary Chapman a military policeman with the 488th Military Police Company.
The SWEAT program is specifically designed to benefit Soldiers beyond the two week session. Soldiers who did attend the program will go back to their units with health specific knowledge that could greatly benefit others who may be struggling with their physical fitness.
"It's not just helping the people that are here now, because this is all knowledge that I'm going to bring back to my unit to share with others," said Chapman.
The Soldiers in the program are already looking towards the future of the program due to its apparent benefits and after one week some Soldiers had already noticed significant weight loss and strength gain.
"I just hope they keep this program going, maybe even more than once a year," said Chapman. "It's only been a week and it's already helped a lot."
Most soldiers in the program gained points on their APFT and lowered their body fat percentage, some being as much as an 85 point increase in APFT score and a 6 percent decrease in body fat percentage.
Going forward into the future, cadre squad leaders were instructed to stay in contact with their Soldiers to keep track of forward progress towards being a fit, healthy Soldier.
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