FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — In an effort to strengthen their mission readiness, 14th Military Police Brigade Soldiers spent a day focusing on training from the inside out.
Drill sergeants and other cadre gathered June 24 in For Leonard Wood’s Main Post Chapel for what Maj. Uriah Perez, 14th MP Bde. Behavioral Health officer, called a holistic resiliency training event, focused on “strengthening individual and team resilience across the five domains of physical, nutritional, spiritual, mental and sleep readiness.”
He said resilient Soldiers are more adaptable, more focused and more prepared to operate effectively under stress, making them more lethal on the battlefield.
Nicole Cunningham, Integrated Prevention Advisory Group prevention lead, agreed, and said that is why her organization wanted to be a part of the training event.
“If we have healthy Soldiers and families, that allows Soldiers to focus on their mission,” Cunningham said. “We need them ready to complete their mission and ready to fight — that is ultimately our goal.”
According to Perez, event participants included basic combat training cadre and designated drill sergeants with units in the 14th MP Bde.
“Our success lies in empowering our leaders and cadre with tools that help them take care of themselves, so they can take care of their Soldiers,” Perez said.
Representatives from several Fort Leonard Wood organizations, such as Army Community Service, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, Armed Forces Wellness Center and Better Opportunity for Single Soldiers, participated in the event.
Throughout the chapel, there were nine different stations for the Soldiers to rotate through, including mental, financial, physical, nutrition and sleep readiness training.
“Our intent was to expose Soldiers to local resources, practical coping strategies and subject matter experts. The event emphasized the importance of self-care, adaptive stress responses and holistic performance — key factors in sustaining operational readiness,” Perez said. “The rotating station format fostered engagement and feedback indicated that Soldiers valued both the content and the opportunity to interact with experts in an informal setting.”
Perez said the event demonstrated that high-quality education on resilience and coping doesn’t have to be time-consuming to be impactful.
“We view this as the foundation of an ongoing brigade-wide initiative. The next iteration is being scoped for Fall 2025 and will incorporate feedback from this pilot to further improve stakeholder integration and expand to include family-focused programming and digital tools,” Perez said.
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