A strong body and mind are vital to make any leader successful, no matter what level. That was the message as the Army Physical Fitness Research Institute celebrated the opening of their new $1 million satellite facility at the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

This new collaboration brings 24 years of APFRI expertise to the 1,200 mid-grade officers attending the Command and General Staff College annually, as well as the staff and faculty of CGSC. APFRI has also opened its services to the family members of Soldiers in order to increase awareness, and to allow families as a whole to implement healthy lifestyle changes.

On Jan. 2, the temperature in Daytona Beach, Fla. was 70 degrees. In Manati, Puerto Rico, it was a balmy 83 degrees.

Those warm, beach climates were a far cry from the 41 degrees that it was here when Pvt. Sean Whitfield and Pfc. Efrain Cruz, both Soldiers with Company B, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, arrived at the MG Robert B. Solomon Center last week signaling the end of Block Leave.

"It was so nice, I was on the beach yesterday," said Whitfield, a Florida native. "I felt bad just getting on the plane, leaving the warmth."

Army Civilian University, the institution created this year with the mandate to integrate and optimize Army civilian development and training, is taking its first major step by assuming oversight of Army Management Staff College at Fort Belvoir, Va., by Jan. 30, 2009.

Army Management Staff College is the Army’s premier schoolhouse for civilian leader education for basic and advanced leadership and management responsibilities.

SAMS graduates creative thinkers and adaptive leaders