Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Sasha Ambrose | 230305-N-IX644-1302 ADRIATIC SEA (March 5, 2023) Sailors assigned to Carrier Strike...... read more read more
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For Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10, George H.W. Bush CSG, full-domain superiority is nothing new since deploying on Aug. 10, 2022. The strike group frequently trains and operates in a full range of warfighting with NATO partners and allies. While coming together to hone these skills and accomplish our mission is something the strike group does regularly, the Sailors across the strike group must be fit – mentally, physically, and spiritually – for the team to achieve the mission. Ensuring the individual Sailors of CSG-10 achieve individual excellence on a personal level is a unique challenge to tackle. This requires a three-pronged approach to fitness, developing the mind, body, and soul of every Sailor.
Mental Fitness
In the austere, industrial environment of a deployed aircraft carrier, mental and emotional health can become a secondary or even tertiary concern compared to maintenance and operations. However, tending to mental health is essential to day-to-day mission accomplishment and to the short and long term health of Sailors.
“Mental Fitness is crucial to ensuring we have the grit to face difficult times and not only stand firm, but to move forward with steadfast resolve,” said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Lombardi, ship’s psychologist aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). “Without grit, we may succumb to challenges and will see solid barriers instead of hurdles.”
Lombardi notes the myriad of mental challenges posed by deployment; everything from reduced privacy and autonomy in our daily schedules to homesickness to fatigue brought on by sustained levels of mentally-tasking work.
In light of these and other challenges, he offered an extensive list of things Sailors do to maintain mental fitness:
• Have a good “why.” Having a good reason for doing what you’re here to do increases resiliency.
• Create goals and revisit them regularly. Having achievable goals you can attain keeps us motivated.
• Find a mentor and be a mentor. Everyone has something to offer to others.
• Cognitive reframing. Instead of dwelling on not being at home with loved ones, a reframe might include: “I am doing this in order to enjoy more time with family in the future.”
• Exercise regularly. Physical exercise helps you sleep better and has been shown to lift moods and to reduce stress.
• Form a spiritual or religious practice. Studies have shown that religious belief improves mental wellness.
• Interact socially. Engage with others in some meaningful way at work or by engaging in MWR activities.
• Eat well. It is important to have a balanced diet to fuel our energy expenditure while deployed.
• Get some sleep. Getting enough quality sleep can be difficult, but should be a priority.
• Nurture your passions as best you can. Having a hobby or two can be a good way to deal with downtime and homesickness.
• Plan for the future to escape the now. Organize things you’ll will want to do when upon return to home port. i.e. trips, hobbies, etc.
• Access all resources available to you: medical, resiliency counselor, chaplains, MWR, departmental or divisional leadership, mentors, friends, coworkers, etc.
Lombardi emphasized the importance of creating an agreed-upon approach toward establishing a command-wide culture of fitness and nurturing warrior toughness.
“A culture of fitness would strive to engage resources and energy toward maintaining all around high level of fitness,” said Lombardi. “In this sense, well rounded fitness includes physical, mental, and spiritual. Maintaining a culture of fitness requires buy in. The group must agree with the tenets of the culture and be unified in their striving for the same goals.”
Physical Fitness
Perhaps the easiest fitness to observe is physical fitness. Sailors can be seen working out in gyms and hangar bays and participating in command fitness events. It’s also easy to see firsthand; when Sailors care for their diet and exercise, they feel stronger, they look leaner, and they perform better. However, in environments like this where time is a commodity and the desire to eat fast at the sacrifice of nutrition or to forgo working out in order to get work done, maintaining physical fitness can be a challenge.
“Time and space are two key challenges,” said Kristen Baker, Fitboss aboard George H.W. Bush. “It may seem like there’s a lot of equipment, and there is, but not enough for people to get in and out the way they might be used to at home. People spend half their workout time waiting, and so some would just rather do work in their shop.”
As a way to mitigate wasted time, Baker had a few suggestions:
• Take part in fitness classes. George H.W. Bush offers a variety of fitness classes, including cardio, cycling, yoga, and strength training, and suitable to a variety of skills sets. While some classes are designed for specific Sailors, like department head classes (HOD FIT), most are open to everyone. For the most up to date information on fitness class offerings, reach out to MWR.
• Focus on high intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT exercises offer impactful workouts in a fraction of the time, making them a great way to get in vital physical activity when workout facilities are busy, your go-to pieces of equipment are broken, or you’re just on a time crunch.
• Focus on calisthenics. While cardio and traditional strength training using equipment are admirable ways to workout, calisthenics are an excellent way to train the whole body using little to no equipment.
HOD FIT, a midday workout for leaders across George H.W. Bush, has played a unique role in expanding the strike group’s culture of fitness by placing the spotlight on leaders, creating a ripple of reassurance and understanding throughout the strike group.
“The timing and placement of HOD FIT is strategic,” said Rear Adm. Dennis Velez, commander, CSG-10, George H.W. Bush CSG. “We chose to do it midday and publicly to set an example for junior Sailors that it’s okay step away and prioritize themselves. What we want everyone across the strike group to understand is that taking time to increase individual fitness is essential to our shared success.”
When it comes to chow, Baker stressed the importance of consuming healthy, nutritious meals whenever possible.
“Sailors are always moving, always working, and that requires fuel,” said Baker. “The food we consume is fuel. If we eat low-nutrient, low-quality meals, we shouldn’t be surprised when we have no energy left for ourselves when the work is done.”
Baker said the fundamentals of a healthy diet are protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables, and plenty of water.
“About half your plate should be protein, ideally lean,” said Baker. “The other half should be your fruits, vegetables, or minimally refined carbs. Always have at least a glass or two of water with each meal.”
From a leadership perspective, helping Sailors manage their time appropriately to eat healthy meals and exercise regularly is not only necessary for the command to cultivate the culture of fitness it hopes to have. It’s an investment in the productivity, safety, and well-being of every Sailor onboard.
“Healthy diet and exercise are essential to Sailors,” said Baker. “If we enable a culture of poor eating habits and workout regimes, we’re setting ourselves up for failure in the long run. Work performance, endurance, sleep, mood, awareness, safety – it’s all going to decline without an emphasis on physical fitness.”
Spiritual Fitness
Spiritual and religious fitness is perhaps the least tended to part of fitness culture, but it remains essential to the warrior mindset.
For Sailors who work tirelessly all day to achieve the tasks necessary for the strike group to perform at the level it does, making time for command-run religious services or spiritual programs, personal prayer, meditation, religious readings, etc. can seem like more of a distraction from production than an investment in fitness. However, regularly putting in the time necessary to strengthen one’s spirit against inevitable challenges make it easier to tackle them head on.
Prayer, church attendance, and scripture may not help Sailors lift heavier objects, mitigate injuries on the job, or get a better time on their PRT, but they can help people find purpose, build discipline, form fellowship, and push past defeat.
“Making spiritual and religious fitness a priority helps us to maintain an integrated warrior mindset and care for the full human persons that we are,” said Lt. Brad Guillory, a chaplain aboard George H.W. Bush. “We all ask the question ‘why’ and this is answered by our personal values, expressed in our discipline, and helps us to find motivation. It takes practice - just like reps and sets in the gym - to develop the area of spiritual and religious fitness.”
While the capacity of command religious ministry departments vary across the strike group, CSG-10 strives to offer what Guillory describes as the “full range of pastoral care and spiritual services” according to the ability of each Chaplain on board, to include “a full slate of daily worship, prayer, study, and refection.”
Religious services feature a range of preferences and denominations from Catholic Mass to protestant Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and “earth-centered” services. Chaplains also offer religious and secular counseling, which is both confidential and available to all Sailors.
Command religious ministry departments (CRMD) may even be able to accommodate services run by lay-people. Sailors can volunteer to operate scriptural studies groups, faith formation classes, meditation sessions, etc.
CRMDs also run ships’ libraries, which in addition to offering non-religious books, frequently offer spiritual and religious books for checkout or to keep for free.
All of these official and unofficial offerings from CRMD enable the Sailors of CSG-10 to remain as spiritually fit as possible and their leaders to provide resources that will support the command’s culture of fitness.
“A culture of fitness would be one where we know our leaders care about us, and out leaders know we are caring for ourselves in the most practical way,” said Guillory. “Inspire optimism and drive innovation for our Sailors at all levels. Strive to recognize that an inclusive and supportive workplace requires mindful attention and intention, as we tend to the evolving needs of our shipmates. Our culture is in our shared hands of responsibility as we interact with one another.”
When it comes to maintaining spiritual fitness and exploring religious life while deployed, Guillory suggests being open “to the variety of possibilities, it isn't as bad as you think.”
A holistic, mind-body-spirit approach to fitness is the mission of CSG-10. Making sure Sailors communicate needs to leaders, manage time toward achieving fitness, and take advantage of the opportunities and resources provided to them is indispensable to accomplishing this mission at the individual level. Leaders managing expectations, providing time for warrior fitness, and encouraging the use of resources is crucial to accomplishing this mission on the command level.
“The phrase ‘mental, physical, and spiritual’ isn’t a ranking,” said Velez. “All three are equally important and neglect of one will have negative effects on the others. The Sailors of CSG-10 will continue to lead from the front and foster a culture where we prepare our minds, bodies, and spirits today for the battles of tomorrow.”
George H.W. Bush is the flagship of CSG-10. CSG-10 is comprised of George H.W. Bush, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 26, the Information Warfare Commander, and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55).
The ships of DESRON 26 within CSG-10 are the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Nitze (DDG 94), USS Farragut (DDG 99), USS Truxtun (DDG 103), and USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119).
The squadrons of CVW-7 embarked aboard the George H.W. Bush are the “Sidewinders” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 86, the “Jolly Rogers” of VFA-103, the “Knighthawks” of VFA-136, the “Pukin Dogs” of VFA-143, the “Bluetails” of VAW-121, the “Patriots” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 140, the “Nightdippers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5, and the “Grandmasters” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 46.
For over 80 years, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-U.S. Naval Forces Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) has forged strategic relationships with allies and partners, leveraging a foundation of shared values to preserve security and stability.
Headquartered in Naples, Italy, NAVEUR-NAVAF operates U.S. naval forces in the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command areas of responsibility. U.S. Sixth Fleet is permanently assigned to NAVEUR-NAVAF, and employs maritime forces through the full spectrum of joint and naval operations.
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.03.2023 15:13 |
| Story ID: | 441845 |
| Location: | U.S. 6TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY |
| Web Views: | 268 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Warrior Toughness: Establishing a Culture of Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Fitness for Carrier Strike Group 10, by PO2 Richard Rodgers, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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