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| News > Minot AFB officials work to improve Airmen resiliency |
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(U.S. Air Force graphic/Sylvia Saab) (U.S. Air Force photo/Amber Whittington)
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Minot AFB officials work to improve Airmen resiliency
Posted 4/12/2012
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by Tech. Sgt. Chris Powell
Defense Media Activity
4/12/2012 - FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- Officials at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., will admit the northern-tier base poses several inherent challenges for the Airmen stationed there. Its high-tempo nuclear mission coupled with the base's isolated location and large population of young Airmen can test the resiliency of every member.
Base leaders have adapted several programs to teach the Airmen there know how to adequately deal with these issues and other stressors of life,
"Minot is taking an additional step to ensure a laser like focus on resiliency," said Col. Janet Deltuva, the deputy command surgeon at Air Force Global Strike Command. "When you consider the unique stressors associated with the mission sets we are responsible for, combine that with some of the environmental factors of some of our locations, we have made it a top priority for our headquarters and our wings to address the needs of our Airmen and families to the greatest extent possible."
One of the ways wing and command leaders are addressing those needs is by creating resiliency teams comprised of representatives from on-base support agencies such as mental health, Airman and family readiness and the base chapel.
"We get these big projects from the wing commander, and we're already set up to implement it immediately because we're meeting almost weekly to organize the projects," said Capt. Leah Laffoon, Minot AFB's mental health and resiliency team chief.
At Minot AFB, the resiliency team increased the frequency of wingman days from the annual Air Force standard to every quarter.
"We decided that quarterly would be better for Minot (Air Force Base) because we had some serious concerns that we wanted to address more clearly and make our Airmen and spouses more aware of," said Cindy Whitesell, the base's Airmen and family readiness chief.
Junior Airmen stationed there said the more frequent wingman days have been helpful, but they'd like to see other activities added.
"The wingman days help improve awareness about the places on base that can help us and that the base leadership cares about us," said Airman 1st Class Shaka Hubbard, an individual protective equipment technician assigned to the 5th Logistics Readiness Squadron. "I know they're going to do the briefings, but I think wingman days should be about team building. That's a big part about being a wingman."
While team building exercises aren't currently part of the curriculum, Minot AFB officials recognize the benefits of peer-to-peer counseling and have included that in the program.
"With wingmen days, we have a unique program where we train people so they can go back to their units and have these small-group discussions," Laffoon said. "We found that it has great success in reducing our alcohol incidences and maltreatment rates. (It's important to) just get people talking about being a good wingman."
Along with wingman days, the base is one of nine other Air Force bases to recently participate in a social norms study created by professors at Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y.
According to Laffoon, the study sampled nearly 2,000 18- to 24-year-old Airmen to find the social norms of the Minot AFB community. Once the data is collected and analyzed at the college, Minot AFB officials will work with the professors to develop a marketing plan to reduce alcohol abuse and risky behaviors. "It's a great opportunity to get some research to back up our (alcohol and drug abuse prevention and treatment) outreach," she said.
In the near future, the resiliency team will launch a leadership pathways program that gives Airmen a series of educational opportunities to not only learn personal resiliency, but resiliency in the workplace as well, according to Whitesell.
"We're going to cover nutritional programs, spiritual and professional development, have topics on mentoring, leadership and communication," she said. "We're also looking to roll our marriage care into the program to get some of the spouses more involved in the education."
To get as many Airmen to participate in the pathways program, base officials are considering unique incentives, like giving Airmen a day off of work if they attend a certain number of classes within the program.
"We're hoping it will help our Airmen invest in themselves," Whitesell said. "Getting a day off of work without having to take leave is really nice when you have a high-ops tempo."
Throughout the command, Global Strike leaders have partnered with American300 officials to bring a month-long Never Quit rowing challenge to all the bases. The challenge, which links the American300 Never Quit series with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London by challenging Airmen to row the distance between Washington D.C. and London, will begin April 5 at Barksdale AFB, La.
The Global Strike Airman who rows the farthest will travel to London with the American300 team in July, and the base with the farthest distance rowed will receive $50,000 in quality of life funds. |
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