FORT JOHNSON, La. — Single Soldiers, far from the familiarity of home, friends and family, can often become isolated and lonely. The Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program was created to become a support system for those Soldiers. Its purpose is to not only enhances the morale and welfare of single Soldiers, but also to increase retention and sustain combat readiness.
The BOSS program has three core components aimed at maintaining a balanced life: leisure and recreation, community service and quality of life.
BOSS also assists the chain of command in dealing with suicide prevention, equal opportunity concerns and sexual harassment and assault issues that single Soldiers might experience.
“We are the voice of the single Soldier, day in and day out,” said Spc. Kevin West, Fort Johnson’s BOSS president. “Soldiers have told me they want input on the improvement to their quality of life. So, one of the most important things to me as BOSS president is to enable Fort Johnson’s BOSS program to advocate for the single Soldier from the installation level on up. It’s about giving the Soldiers, who may feel their opinions don’t count, a voice when it comes to advocating for what they want.”
In addition to influencing what happens around them, BOSS Soldiers physical, financial and emotional wellbeing are supported thanks to the three program tenants mentioned above.
Leisure and recreation
BOSS affords Soldiers the opportunity to assist in the planning and execution of recreational activities for single Soldiers.
“These events give our Soldiers a healthy outlet to relax and enjoy their time at Fort Polk,” West said. “It’s not just what we do (a crawfish boil, boating at Toledo Bend or a Cinco de Mayo party), it’s the culture we promote while doing it. We had 387 people attend that Cinco de Mayo party with no reported harmful behaviors. That’s important because these events give single Soldiers a healthy avenue to enjoy their time here.”
Community service
Provides direction for Soldiers interested in performing military and civilian community service-related projects. Community service projects provide Soldiers valuable experience, skills and a sense of community pride and ownership.
“A really big focus for us is giving back to the community that supports us. So you will see us out and about doing all kinds of things like reading to kids, painting at North Polk Elementary School, handing out backpacks full up supplies to kids going back to school and much more,” West said. “By volunteering, we are not only positively impacting the Fort Johnson community, but also teaching BOSS members a sense of purpose and duty outside the traditional responsibilities of being a Solder.”
Quality of life
The BOSS program serves as a tool to address many of the issues and concerns the Army faces today. The program gives the Army the ability to tackle tough issues through peer-to-peer leadership.
BOSS tries to connect with command on behalf of the Soldier. One issue they are bringing to the forefront is single Soldier parents.
“We asked, ‘What can BOSS do to help the single parent who is sometimes having to drop their child off at child care and head to PT (physical training) and go up, down, left and right to make things work as a Soldier and parent every day,” West said. “They are an under represented population. When you are focusing on a population like single Soldiers, it’s sometimes hard to remember that there is also a dependent who relies on them.”
BOSS is looking at ways to better include single parent Soldiers who want to attend their events with their children, as well as represent the unique challenges they encounter. “It’s not just about BOSS’s ability to advocate for them, but our ability to utilize the resources already available on post that they might not know about,” West said. “If BOSS can connect them to the right resource that makes me feel a lot better than just sitting on the sidelines.”
Other topics such as barracks questions and comments to things Soldiers would like to see at the post exchange and more are brought up. BOSS takes that information, depending on the topic, and passes it along to the relevant directorate, installation command or even Installation Management Command to advocate for the Soldier.
Another important part of the quality of life tenant is preventing harmful behaviors by working with programs like Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, Equal Opportunity program and suicide prevention.
West said one of the greatest items in the BOSS tool belt is its collaboration with Fort Johnson’s Viper Protect Program — an initiative which focuses on teaching junior enlisted Soldiers, at the grass roots level, how to protect and keep each other safe.
“Fort Johnson’s BOSS has partnered with
“It’s not just about BOSS’s ability to advocate for them, but our ability to utilize the resources already available on post that they might not know about,” West said. “If BOSS can connect them to the right resource that makes me feel a lot better than just sitting on the sidelines.”
Other topics such as barracks questions and comments to things Soldiers would like to see at the post exchange and more are brought up. BOSS takes that information, depending on the topic, and passes it along to the relevant directorate, installation command or even Installation Management Command to advocate for the Soldier.
Another important part of the quality of life tenant is preventing harmful behaviors by working with programs like Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, Equal Opportunity program and suicide prevention.
West said one of the greatest items in the BOSS tool belt is its collaboration with Fort Johnson’s Viper Protect Program — an initiative which focuses on teaching junior enlisted Soldiers, at the grass roots level, how to protect and keep each other safe.
“Fort Johnson’s BOSS has partnered with the Viper Protect Program, hosted by the 519th Military Police Battalion,” West said. “The program has helped our installation reduce harmful behaviors and we have BOSS members that have graduated from the Protect Program.”
It’s a way for Soldiers to actively improve the climate across the installation.
“Soldiers tell me, regarding the Viper Protect Program, that it appeals to them because it is proactive instead of reactive,” West said. “It’s not just about responding to something that has already happened and trying to make it better in the future. They are able to get ahead of it and proactively put in place what is needed to have a positive culture for Soldiers serving right now.”
Sgt. 1st Class Eric Rostamo, 519th Military Police Battalion noncommissioned officer in charge and founder of the Fort Johnson Viper Protect Program, said its objective is to proactively stop sexual harassment and assault, equal opportunity violations, racism, extremism and suicide.
“The Boss program is important to the Protect Program because these harmful behaviors happen everywhere, but they are statistically higher in the 18-24 year old demographic, which is also the BOSS demographic,” Rostamo said.
The quality of life perspective the BOSS Program promotes combined with the Protect Program’s three day course, promotes a proactive attitude toward reducing these behaviors before they happen.
“We offer SHARP, EO and suicide prevention training to Soldiers. After they take the course, they better understand the impact these situations have on other people,” Rostamo said. “Single Soldiers that graduate from the Protect Program take away a better understanding of the impact these behaviors have. It’s a people first initiative that empowers Soldiers to care about our most valuable resource — people.”
Rostamo has been in the Army for 15 years and wishes he had the BOSS program when he was a young, single Soldier.“This is the best program I’ve ever seen. I sometimes wish I was still a single Soldier so that I could take part in some of the events BOSS offers our Soldiers,” Rostamo said.
West is happy with the wide spread impact of everything BOSS does.
“The thing I’m most proud of is how we take people from every generation, background and culture, who wouldn’t traditionally speak to one another, and give them an opportunity to work together and think about what to do to be a better serving member of our community for, not just our Soldiers, but the surrounding communities as well.”
For more information about the Fort Johnson BOSS program call (337) 531-1948/5540.
Social Sharing