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Resilience In The Army

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When I was asked to select a lesson from BLC that I found to be most important, it was an easy decision. To me, Resilience is quite possibly the most crucial topic for today’s Army. The effectiveness of the Army is based upon the readiness of the soldier and that starts with mental strength. What is resilience? While there is a textbook definition, it is said that resilience is a mental state of mind; an action. There are two types of soldiers; one who pushes forward and learns from mistakes, and one who becomes stagnant. The ability to face failure or adversity but not allow themselves to become paralyzed by it is a resilient soldier. I believe mental resilience can be categorized by two words; optimism or pessimism. An optimistic person …show more content…
How can we expect a soldier to reach out to someone he/she does not trust? Expecting soldiers to do as I say not as I do is unrealistic and harmful. By going back to my unit, I intend to behave the same way I always do; well. Leading by example is crucial to ensuring positive reception of resilience training. In the law enforcement side, witnessing first hand senior leaders who are at a breaking point. Clearly not having the ability to be resilient and think with an optimistic mind. This sets a bad example for junior soldiers who may have been on the edge to begin with. You cannot teach resilience if you do not live it. What is the goal as a leader, for resilience training? A quote comes to mind from Friedrich Nietzsche who famously said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”. There are typically two thoughts on the mind of someone who is in a state of depression, a mental roadblock. One of which is “No one can help me” and the other being “No one cares”. With resilience, it must be stressed that you can help yourself, along with the help and support of your leadership. Furthermore, resilience training should show that leaders care, peers care and the individual himself/herself should

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