Master Resilience Training; is it working?

2015-01-18T17:09:23-05:00

Caveat upfront: I am a Wing MRT and have a pretty positive view of the program. Now since that is out of the way, from folks who are not MRTs/RTAs what is your experience with this training?

Is it value added?

Have you seen any cases where you believe the training actually helped?

How often are your units training on it?

Folks that ARE MRTs/RTAs, do you feel the program is working?

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 18 at 2015 7:56 PM

2015-01-18T19:56:02-05:00

I was just talking about this the other day with someone and had to make this point... Most Resilience classes deal with two major things to draw from. Faith (whatever religious beliefs you have) and Family. Unfortunately from what I'm seeing with this newest generation of 17-21 year old's joining the Army, They have neither. A great deal of them (not all) are joining because of lack of family structure and many (not all) have no religious base. I have never seen a resilience class teach any other methods but what I do notice is my younger Soldiers rarely have anything to pull from when things get crazy. SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas have you noticed this from your end of the spectrum as well? How about you MSgt Copeland?

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 18 at 2015 10:57 PM

2015-01-18T22:57:41-05:00

I am a trained MRT in the Army Reserves and I teach it at my company. I taught it to two other companies and a detachment while at annual training. I think if we had enough time to teach it and not cram it into a weekend or annual training with every training then it would be more effective. I think in AC it could be more effective. However, I have had a few Soldiers come up to me and ask questions and state that they will utilize some aspects of it or that they are having issues and asked how to use it. I believe it helps open the lines of communication. I also had an incident where a Soldier was going through a rough time and I was able to teach him some tools without realizing at first that they were resiliency skills until I was halfway through our conversation. It has helped him and I keep in touch with him to help him through difficult times. I also personally utilize these skills, though admittedly not as much as I could/should at times.

Response by SFC David Cook made Jan 19 at 2015 2:09 AM

2015-01-19T02:09:34-05:00

My experience as a trainer is that it depends on the Command. If the Command supports it then appropriate time will be allocated and there will be participation from all levels. However, I have had Commands that think it is a joke, and therefore make it a check the block training. I really enjoyed the course and believe in it, but I got to admit it takes a resilient person to put up with all the Naysayers. I however have endured, mostly due to the positive feedback I have gotten from Soldiers in my training.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 19 at 2015 10:07 AM

2015-01-19T10:07:40-05:00

We teach regularly in basic training. At least 2 times a cycle. I personally don't find any value in it but that could be because I already have a naturally resilient personality. But I know for sure that kids joining the Army today need a whole hell of a lot of resiliency. I'm planning on going to the course in a couple months. Hopefully I'll learn some good stuff.

Response by TSgt Joshua Copeland made Jan 19 at 2015 10:21 AM

2015-01-19T10:21:32-05:00

WRT to how much/often my Wing does it, we have a pretty aggressive program. First term Airmen get all this skills in a solid 8 hour block within a month of arriving. When a troop picks up a line number for SSgt (E5) they get all skill in an 8 hour block on day 0 of Airman Leadership School. NCOs with more than 3 years from when they graduated ALS and have not attended NCOA get all skills in an 8 hr block. Everyone else gets a minimum of 4 skill a year presented on two separate days as 2 skills in a two hour block.