Introduction to Comprehensive Soldier Fitness


Uploaded by soldiersmediacenter on 07.01.2011

Transcript:
[♪upbeat music♪]
[male speaker] A soldier's life is complicated.
It can change drastically from one day to the next.
It's challenging, difficult and stressful for soldiers, Army civilians and their families,
and it's often dangerous. [gunfire]
[female speaker] To excel in this era of high operational tempo and persistent conflict,
soldiers, Army civilians and their families must be resilient, self-confident
and balanced individuals.
The Army wants you to be totally fit, both in body and mind.
That's why the Army wants you to get involved with
the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program.
It's a program for soldiers, Army civilians and their families,
and its mission is to enhance their performance and build their resilience
in the face of everyday challenges.
The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program or CSF
is about giving you the confidence to lead, the courage to stand up for your beliefs
and the compassion to help others.
CSF is about maximizing your potential.
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It's about strong minds and strong bodies.
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CSF is a career long program that involves physical training,
resilience training and continuous self-development.
Self-development means you're in charge,
and CSF offers you many tools to help.
But the most important tool you'll use is called the Global Assessment Tool or GAT.
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The GAT is a self-administered survey that takes about 20 minutes
and consists of questions scientifically designed to assess your strength
in a lot of areas beyond just physical strength.
Beginning when you enter the Army or go to work for the Army,
you'll be given the opportunity to complete the GAT periodically throughout your career.
The results of the GAT are completely confidential.
No one but you will have access to your answers or your results.
The GAT is a great way for you to keep track of your progress
and see how your total fitness and performance improves
in response to training, experience and maturity.
You'll be able to monitor your personal growth,
and CSF offers you appropriate self-development opportunities
based on your results.
For example, you can immediately begin using CSF's Comprehensive Resilience Modules
or CRMs.
These self-development modules are linked to your GAT results
and will help you enhance your performance and build resilience in several dimensions.
In addition, the CSF program offers a 10-day Master Resilience Training course
that will train you in critical thinking that will increase your optimism,
self-awareness and mental agility.
Every battalion throughout the Army will have a Master Resilience Trainer,
and resilience training will be available to soldiers, Army civilians and families.
Sustainment Resilience Training will be taught to the Army's first line leaders
and will be included as part of the military life cycle training
taught in TRADOC courses.
You'll also receive resilience training both before and after you deploy.
The CSF program is based on five dimensions of strength:
physical, emotional, social, spiritual and family.
You have to make fitness part of your lifestyle,
and by lifestyle I mean not just the exercise but the eating, the diet, your daily regimen.
Your enemy may be strong, but you've got to be stronger than them.
It's just part of being in the Army. You're a warrior. You're a soldier.
You have to be physically fit in order to do your job.
If you're not fit, you can't perform the way you're supposed to.
And if you can't do your job, you're putting other people's lives at risk.
The first dimension of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is physical.
Soldiers and civilians must be able to perform and excel physically.
And for soldiers in combat, your life and the lives of your comrades may depend on it.
These activities require aerobic fitness, endurance, strength,
healthy body composition and flexibility.
This requires regular exercise, proper nutrition and continuous training throughout your career.
The CSF program will build on the physical fitness program
that began the day you entered the Army.
But total fitness requires more than just physical training.
Emotional strength, stability, is absolutely important.
Things are unpredictable in the Army.
I feel I just can't be vulnerable. It's not who I am.
And I know that that's probably not the best thing, and it affects my performance.
Just moving here and then having him deployed,
he had to pack up everything, and I still have boxes around me.
So I'm having to deal with some of the emotional things that go along with that.
The emotional dimension is much like the Army's slogan.
There's strong, and then there's Army Strong.
It's about making the most of every opportunity you have for growth and success,
and it's understanding how not only to enjoy your successes
but also how to handle tough challenges.
It's your emotional strength that gives you the capacity to bounce back
when life hits you hard.
Use the GAT to make a self-assessment of your emotional strength,
and follow it up with continuous self-development using the CRMs
and Master Resilience Training.
Another vital dimension of total fitness is the social dimension.
Yeah. I would say all my friends in the Army are definitely my best friends.
And we're just like a team, whether we're working or whether we're hanging out.
All of us Army wives have kind of banded together and created a support system
because we're all going through the same thing.
And through that, my Army friends have become my best friends.
It's hard to make friends when you first get there,
but everybody is there for a reason and a purpose,
so you all have something in common.
Social networks, friendships and relationships are important factors
in the well-being of totally fit soldiers and civilians.
CSF will help you develop and maintain trusted, valued relationships and friendships.
The social dimension is also about the connection you feel with your unit
and your coworkers and the Army values of loyalty, duty and respect.
You're part of a team, and teams are stronger and more effective than any one individual.
CSF will give you the skills you need to develop this kind of relationship
and help you understand the value of building these kinds of bonds
and working together as a cohesive team.
Use the GAT to measure your social strength
and get involved with all facets of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program
to improve your relationships with your friends and fellow soldiers.
Let's look at another dimension of total fitness, spiritual.
I'd say that I'm a spiritual person.
I don't really go to church, but I'm spiritual.
I have things I believe in, and I know right and wrong.
Religion has been a big part of my life.
It's given me meaning, a purpose, and I find my strength in God.
I think the church really provides a lot of strength for me.
The community that it provides, that really sustains me
when my husband is gone.
Mostly I just try to stay positive and believe in myself,
but I don't really get into spirituality. I never have.
You draw strength from your family, the institutions you're involved with,
such as the Army, and from society at large.
But sometimes it's good to draw strength from a set of beliefs, values and principles
that come from somewhere else.
The CSF program can help you gain strength from spiritual sources.
The GAT, the CRMs and the Master Resilience Training in the CSF program
can help you find out where you are spiritually
and help you gain spiritual strength in your growth as a soldier.
We mentioned getting strength from your family.
That's our final dimension of strength, and it's an important one.
Family is my strength.
Being with my family just makes me feel so good,
and I love everything that I get to do with them.
When I'm away, I think about them. When I come back, I can't wait to be with them.
Having a really strong family only makes him stronger.
And knowing that your family is proud of what you are doing
gives you incentive to go out there and fight for your country.
In the Army, your family is your support system.
And the term "family" doesn't have to include just relatives.
You might consider your friends in the Army to be your family.
But whoever you call family, if you're totally fit, they're probably your main source
of strength and resilience.
The CSF program strives to help soldiers, civilians and their families
establish and maintain family relationships that are safe, supportive and loving
and that provide the resources needed by all family members
to live in a healthy and secure environment.
As you become involved in the CSF program,
encourage your family to become involved as well.
Remember the five dimensions of strength: physical, emotional,
social, spiritual and family.
Get involved with the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program,
get your family involved and enhance your performance,
strength and resilience in these five areas
by using the GAT, the online Comprehensive Resilience Modules
and the Master Resilience Training.
You'll also receive Sustainment Resilience Training
both before and after you deploy.
The Army asks a lot of you.
The CSF program will improve your readiness and effectiveness
and make you a better soldier or Army civilian--
a totally fit soldier or civilian.
The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program for strong minds and strong bodies.
To find out more, check out the CSF website or ask your chain of command.
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