Photo By Pfc. Dixie Rae Liwanag | U.S. Army Maj. Nathan Friedline, (right) brigade surgeon for the 3rd Brigade Combat...... read more read more
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PAKTIA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – A Comprehensive Soldier Health Expo was held by the Spartan soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division and the 98th Combat Stress Control Detachment at the main gym on Forward Operating Base Lightning Friday, March 28 and ended Sat. March 29 in an effort to bring the soldiers’ attention to the U.S. Army’s Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Program.
The two-day event was intended to emphasize a holistic approach to health. It was kicked off with demonstrations of different martial arts, which included Jujitsu, Karate, boxing and Krav Maga, an Israeli hand-to-hand combat system. After the demonstrations, soldiers walked around from station to station to learn more about comprehensive health.
The Army’s ACSFFP is based on the premise that true fitness is more than physical, it is also emotionally, spiritually, socially and family based. Finding a way to communicate these pillars, as they are called, proved to be a big mission, according to U.S. Army Nathan Friedline, 3rd BCT’s surgeon.
“Oftentimes, when we think about health, we think about physical health, such as how many pushups we can do or what our blood pressure is but it’s actually about so much more than that. It includes emotional, spiritual and family health, which is really nicely outlined by the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Program,” said Friedline, a native of Chesterfield, Va. “I exercise my body everyday but how often do I exercise my mind or do I ensure I have emotional stability? I don’t think we place enough emphasis on those things as a culture.”
There are many aspects martial arts have in common with the CSFFP. Karate and Jujitsu have a strong emphasis on family and emotional control. Similarities were also demonstrated between Karate’s Bushido Code and the Army Values, also showing the importance of maintaining control of one’s self mental and physical well-being. The expo was meant to be an entertaining way of conveying all of this information to the soldiers.
“We wanted to bring this to life in a fun way,” said Friedline. “A lot of military personnel really like martial arts and mixed martial arts -- that kind of stuff. So we wanted to use that to bring everybody around to thinking about holistic health, all of the five different pillars, while trying to keep their interest by making it fun.”
Freidline also explained good health practices such as proper diet, water intake and how to ensure one can get a good night’s sleep. He shared how everyone should drink eight, 16-ounce bottles of water a day in the current environment, which is a high elevated, arid desert and demonstrated his system of actually writing a number on each of his bottles to keep track of his intake.
U.S. Army Sgt. Diego Mesias, of Santiago, Chile, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the 98th Combat Stress Control Detachment at Forward Operating Base Lightning, is an expert in Karate. He earned a black belt as a teenager. Besides helping set up the event, he was also a demonstrator himself, explaining and then showing the audience some basic Karate techniques.
“One of our unit’s jobs is to improve morale and we had a few choices, such as a talent show but taking into consideration the units we have here such as infantry and artillery, we conducted a survey with the help of [U.S. Army] major. [Chadwick] Milligan to see what the soldiers wanted, and they wanted more sports and martial arts which made sense because they’re soldiers -- they’re warriors.”
Everyone present had the opportunity to learn something and even those who have been around a bit, took something away from the expo.
“I needed something cool to add to my toolbox to help both me and my sons, and I got it,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Charles Thigpen, a network operations noncommissioned officer with the 3rd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div.
While the event was well received by the soldiers, Friedline wanted to ensure the real purpose of the expo remained clear.
“If you look at the grand masters of the different martial arts, they have emotional stability, they have self-control and they place their families ahead of them. They also have a spiritual depth about them,” Freidline said. “So I think they make good role models to start with.”
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2014 14:10 |
| Story ID: | 123184 |
| Location: | PAKTIA PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 280 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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