U.S. NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Chief of the Air Force Reserve and Commander of the Air Force Reserve Command Lt. Gen. Richard Scobee said the Air Force Reserve’s greatest asset is its Airmen.
These same Reserve Citizen Airmen come from different walks of life, various preferences and diverse upbringing yet share a common bond, to serve their country. Answering this call while balancing family life and civilian employee obligations bring with it a lot responsibility and inevitably equal opportunity to feel the weight of stress. Resiliency is needed now more than ever.
Recognizing this need, the 301st Fighter Wing held a Resiliency Training Assistant course on Feb. 3 – 7, 2020, at U.S. Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas in an effort to empower its Airmen to help their fellow wingmen in their time of need. The wing’s Master Resiliency Trainer Mary Arnold, who is the director of psychological health, oversaw the five-day training.
“The Air Force, in partnership with curriculum developed at the University of Pennsylvania, has identified eight specific skills that may help increase individual resilience. The RTA training teaches participants how to teach these skills to other Airmen in order to spread the resilience message,” Arnold said. “Participants attend several days of learning and then teach a lesson to the group to help them to gain comfort with the materials in order to take the skills back to their respective units.”
One RTA student, Tech. Sgt. Alex Adames, 301 FW Communications Squadron technician shared what he took away from the course.
“We [may] see the word resilience on computer-based training every once in a while, or hear it when something bad happens but the meaning of the word goes deeper than a dictionary definition like strength, endurance, stamina, etc.,” Adames said. “Being resilient doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen, but more importantly, having these skills can certainly help us overcome those obstacles and difficult situations. Resiliency is not a way around life, it’s a better way through it.”
Arnold agreed saying this training is significant because it touches nearly every person at some point.
“Resilience is important for growth in the Air Force as well as in life. We all go through struggles and how we manage them affects the outcome… positively or not,” Arnold said. “These skills do not guarantee that troubles won’t come, but they do give us some tools to get through rough times.”
This is the wing’s third RTA class under Arnold’s supervision. Her goal is to ultimately hold this class twice a year in order to allow more Airmen the opportunity to gain confidence and skill in supporting their teammates.
“I’d like to thank Mr. Jimm Harper, 301 FW Violence Prevention Integrator, and Master Sgt. Ross Robbins, 301 FW Maintenance Squadron MRT, for helping instruct the classes,” she added. “I especially want to thank our 19 newest RTAs for volunteering to step in to help their fellow wingmen.”