RTAs enhance resilience program

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Conroy
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  Eleven service members, civilian contractors and key spouses graduated from the first ever Resiliency Training Assistant Course here, July 11, as part of an Air-Force-wide resilience initiative.

The 3-day course is an ancillary program of the extensive Air-Force-mandated resilience training program initiated in 2012 dubbed the Master Resilience Instructor Course.

This resiliency training is based on the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Resilience development model. The instruction helps Airmen to develop resiliency, which is the ability to bounce back from challenges that come from deployment, work, family and life's hardships.

This all comes at a time when budget and force management concerns are sweeping the military and stress is straining the common Airman.

"Airmen with strong mental, physical, social and spiritual fitness have the ability to withstand, recover and/or grow in the face of stressors and changing demands," said Capt. Lacie Collins, 31st Fighter Wing Master Resilience Trainer representative. "Balance among the areas of fitness is critical for military readiness and personal well-being."

The MRTs as well as the RTAs are considered additional duties and provide resilience training to active duty and Total Force Airmen, civilian personnel and families. Due to the limited amount of MRTs trained throughout the base - nine for a base populace of more than 8,000 -RTAs are here to serve as a helping hand.

"The Air Force goal is to have one MRT per 200 service members. That's a lot of people to keep track of," said Cynthia Burney, 31st Fighter Wing resilience specialist. "These RTAs have the same expectations and standards to live up to as the MRTs and they are there to help any way they can."

For the first two days, RTAs study a variety of subjects such as "Accomplishing Goals," "Checking Your Playbook," "Mindfulness and Meaning-making," "Spiritual Resilience" and "Physical Resilience." On the last day, RTAs are required to teach one skill to their peers, and be evaluated by their Master Resiliency Trainer, in order to become certified RTAs.

"One of the most applicable tools I've gotten from resilience training is learning to count your blessings and I believe very strongly in that concept," said Collins. "If you're spending your day thinking about everything that's going right in your life, you're not going to focus on the negative aspects as much."

The spotlight on resilience is another way Air Force leadership can show how much they care about our nation's warriors, Burney said. For the past nine years of war, the word "resilience" has been used in a medical context, as doctors and nurses needed to be resilient to provide effective health care. Now, resiliency is required by all Airmen to maintain a high operations tempo.

"Every day I see my troops dealing with different issues and I wanted to be effective in helping them," said Tech. Sgt. Salahudin Matteos, 555th Fighter Squadron RTA representative. "I volunteered for this course so I can teach them to bounce back when life sends them a road bump--I now have the tools to show them the most in life."