Fort Benning marked the opening of a new center to house its Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program on Friday afternoon.
The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness-Performance and Resilience Enhancement Program center at Brown Hall will provide a place to provide soldiers with mental and physical resilience techniques and enhance their performance under stress.
“We’ve always valued the physical fitness of our soldiers. What we haven’t done is invest in the psychological fitness and resilience of our soldiers,” Brig. Gen. Jim Pasquarette, director of the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, said before cutting the ribbon opening the center.
The fitness program, which is already in use by several units at Fort Benning, uses practices from sports psychology and resiliency training. Program components include individual assessments, tailored virtual training, classroom training and embedded resilience experts.
Pasquarette said recent combat in the last decade has increased the levels of stress among soldiers. The comprehensive soldier fitness program offers some stress prevention up front for soldiers.
Those who have been through the program experience less hesitation and have more mental focus, he said.
The program has also improved the success rate for the Jumpmaster course, raising graduation statistics from 67 percent to 76 percent. The course now averages seven more graduates per class than it did in the past.
Family members of soldiers and Army civilians are also eligible to go through the program.
“We want our soldiers to be just as psychologically fit as they are physically fit,” Pasquarette said.
Sara Pauff, 706-320-4469
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