By Tim Cherry
Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2012

U.S. Army Garrison Fort Belvoir hosted the its first Master Resiliency Training program Dec. 3, at the U.S. Army Nuclear and Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Agency.

The 10-day course, which concluded Dec. 14, is organized and executed by the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program. In total, 54 Soldiers and civilians, including seven working on Fort Belvoir, became certified trainers in helping the military community stay resilient through good and tough times.

The course is a life saver. Just ask Sgt. 1st Class David Parish, 5th Armor Brigade master resiliency trainer level-three instructor.

“I’m 100 percent sure if I had these skills 11 years ago, I wouldn’t have tried to take my own life,” Parish said.

The MRT course is a joint initiative between the U.S. Army and the University of Pennsylvania. These two-week courses are conducted at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa., several Army installations and at various military facilities worldwide via Mobile Training Teams.

Participants learn techniques designed to enhance resilience with an emphasis on how to teach these skills to Soldiers and Family members. The MRT course is intended to help enhance a person’s mental and emotional skills so they have the strength to avoid life-threatening acts such as suicide, domestic violence, drug abuse and others.

“We’re designed to increase psychological health resilience and enhance the performance of Soldiers, Family members and Department of the Army civilians,” said Sgt. Maj. James Devine, CSFF senior enlisted advisor. “We’re training people to cope with adversity and ultimately thrive in life.”

Devine said the course is broken down into four phases in which participants learn and teach skills that help produce productive outcomes to negative as well as positive situations.

Devine said an example of a negative situation is a Soldier encountering a spouse committing adultery. Course instructors teach participants to pause and think of constructive and positive ways to handle the ordeal. An example of a positive situation is hearing news that your friend has been promoted. Participants learn the importance of demonstrating support.

“If I have a Soldier tell me something good and I respond negatively he may never come to me again,” Devine said. “It’s assertive constructive responding.”

Once participants complete the course, they travel back to their units and help colleagues stay resilient. Their instruction is in the form of discussions, worksheets, contact information, training and other resources.

Sgt. 1st Class Sean Conley, 55th Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), response noncommissioned officer in charge, is one of the seven members from Belvoir who participated in the program.

He said the training provides constructive ways to handle interpersonal relationships, which will make for stronger professional and personal lives. Conley looks forward to helping his unit become more resilient.

“If we had this program in years past, it would have prevented many (post traumatic stress disorders) and other issues,” Conley said.

One person who can attest to Conley’s comment is Parish.

In 2001, Parish attempted suicide and spent 11 months in various treatment facilities attempting to recover. Then, he tried the MRT course.

The instruction taught him how to analyze his thoughts and not to worry about things that he doesn’t have control over, among other lessons.

Parish said he learned more about himself in those two weeks than in the preceding 11 months at treatment facilities. He now teaches these lessons to fellow Soldiers and civilians. Parish believes resiliency training saves lives.

“Every Soldier is a human being. We all have things that are impacting us on a daily basis and as humans, if we don’t learn how to harness our thoughts to something more productive, we spend a lot time beating ourselves up. If you let life beat you down, it takes you to a dark place,” Parish said. “You can choose to have a good attitude.”

To date, the Army has trained approximately 13,000 MRTs and plans to train an additional 7,400 during the 2013 fiscal year, Devine said. The goal is to have an MRT within each company. Devine said another goal is to have one MRT spouse per Family Readiness Group but this is dependent upon approval of an MRT course for spouses.