Resource & Resiliency Center Kurt R. Lugar

Table of Contents • Objective • Problem • Project Goal • Terms and Definitions

• First Sergeant • Comprehensive Airman Fitness

• Biography • My Project • Education Connection • Conclusion

Objective:

• Create a product that demonstrates interdisciplinary skills that enhances my squadron’s

effectiveness as a USAF First Sergeant

Problem: • Today’s Airmen experience significant stress due to resource and manpower constraints,

increased workload, operations tempo, and expectations. • There are resources available to assist their personal and professional problems however, most Airmen are unaware of these resources • Military personnel are reluctant to ask for assistance because of the perceived stigma and embarrassment of failure and the fear of negative career consequences

Project Goal: • Build a company Resource and Resiliency Center at no added cost by pooling support agency resources • Promote support agencies and their services in an effort to encourage early self-help seeking behaviors • Reduce negative stigmas associated with seeking the appropriate support thereby supporting employee needs, improving production, and effectiveness

Terms and Definitions • First Sergeant: The First Sergeant is an expeditionary leader who is

critical to executing the unit’s mission. This person primarily supports through interaction, support and management of Airmen and families. He or she works directly for and derive their authority from the commander. He or she must ensure the force understands the commander’s policies, goals, and objectives and must also ensure support agencies are responsive to the needs of unit personnel and their families.

• Comprehensive Airman Fitness (CAF) is a program that develops over-

arching Airman fitness and resilience. It focuses on four pillars of resilience: mental, physical, spiritual, and social. The strategy behind CAF is to strengthen and balance your personal four pillars thereby developing your personal resilience to the stressors of life. CAF encourages early self-help seeking behaviors; thus eliminating or reducing the stigma(s) associated with seeking help through appropriate agencies.

Biography

Master Sergeant Kurt Lugar the First Sergeant, 355th

Maintenance Group, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB),

AZ. MSgt Lugar serves as the key enlisted advisor to the

Commander on matters concerning the welfare, career

progression, and mission readiness of over 190 total force

personnel on a daily basis. He provides guidance and

direction to senior leadership on unit morale, career

enhancement and discipline. His duties include performing

quality force reviews on all enlisted performance reports,

awards, and decorations, and administration personnel actions.

Additionally he, monitors compliance with Air Force

standards, counsels personnel on leadership, military courtesy,

self-improvement and self-discipline and acts to resolve

complaints.

Sergeant Lugar enlisted in the Air Force on 6 February 2001. Upon graduating Basic Military

Training he remained at Lackland AFB for Security Forces technical training. He has held duty

positions through the spectrum of the Security Forces career field; to include Fire Team Member,

Military Working Dog Handler and Training Supervisor, Flight Sergeant, and Installation Security

Superintendent. His assignments include bases in Nebraska, New Mexico, Portugal, Alaska, and

Arizona. He has numerous deployments in direct support of Operations Southern Watch, Iraqi

Freedom, and the War on Drugs.

My Project When I reported to my unit as a new First Sergeant, I discovered I had two offices. One where I primarily conducted my duties and one that had a shelf, two chairs, and a crooked picture on the wall. For weeks I thought about what I could I could do with the area. After reviewing my General Studies Capstone project requirements, I decided to build a resource center for my unit that would pool support agency information from across the installation into one location. This project would allows me to exercise my knowledge gained from my degree while supporting my personnel and improving overall mission effectiveness. My goal was to identify the needs of my unit and provide the appropriate resources to improve personal and professional performance.

Comprehensive Airmen Fitness Theme

The intent of this project was to build a resource center based on CAF. A cornerstone of CAF is to educate Airmen and their families on available resources and encourage self-help seeking behavior before their personal struggles spin out of control. To do this, I needed promotional information from our support agencies, including our CAF center.

Our installation CAF center is located in what use to be our library. The library was closed due to budget constraints however, many of the books remained in storage not being used. Thanks to our CAF coordinator, I was able to obtain them and build a mini library of books in my center that cover CAF’s four pillars at no cost .

In addition to books, I obtain CAF course information and promotional items such as water bottles, stress balls, mouse pads, and office supplies.

What I needed

My intent was to bring our installation service agencies to my unit. To do this, I needed to build an office they could work out of. This allowed them to visit our unit, build rapport with out people, provide their service, and accomplish their personal work while making their services more convenient to my personnel. I further intended to build the center at no cost. That meant seeking out and unused unit resources. I already had a book shelf but I recycled two stationary chairs that were wasting space. I needed a computer desk, chair, computer, government and internet access, and brochure holders.

By simply scouting my unit and asking senior managers for used furniture, I found exactly what I needed. Furthermore, our Information Manager discovered a computer, had it updated, and had data ports turned on. Additionally, I spoke to our Chaplin Corps, who not only gave me brochure holders, they filled them with spiritual support information. Total cost to my unit $0.

My Research Once I had the appropriate structure for my center, I needed to research our installation support agencies to determine what services they offered and how to market them. Installation Support Services • Airman & Family Readiness Center • Resiliency Center • Education Center • Mental Health • Alcohol Drug Abuse Prevention & Treatment • Chaplin Services • Fitness Assessment Cell • Sexual Assault Response Coordinator • Equal Opportunity • Staff Judge Advocate & Airmen Defense Council • Health and Wellness Center • TriCare • Family Advocacy • Financial Services

Airman & Family Readiness Center

• Readiness Program • Personal Financial Readiness • Air Force Aid • Spouse Employment • Relocation Assistance • Transition Assistance

In addition to these services, AFRC subscribes to a variety of journals and magazines that offer education advice, career advise and transition assistance such as; G.I. Jobs, Military Recruit Military, and Vetrepreneur all free of charge. Each month I acquire numerous copies of each for my resource center.

By far, the most helpful and under utilized resource we have in the Air Force is the Airman & Family Readiness Center (AFRC). Many Airmen are unaware of the variety of services they offer and are reluctant to visit their center. My goal was to gather promotional items, flyers, and brochures to help educate my personnel and promote the following programs and services.

• Family Life Education • Volunteer Resources • School Liaison Officer • Exceptional Family Member Program • Information & Referral Services • Casualty Assistance • Military Family Life Consultants

Education Center One of the most attractive benefits for serving in the military is 100% tuition assistance and the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. However, many Airmen fail to take advantage. I visited our Education and Center and acquired as many brochures and promotion items from each of the local and online schools as possible. I further tailored my employee orientation briefing to discuss education benefits and services offered at our installation. The most rewarding aspect of the resource center has been helping dependents enroll into education programs.

Education Service Information Offered: American Military University Park University Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Ashford University Pima Community College CLEP & DSST Information

Mental Health & ADAPT

Our Mental Health services were excited about my project. They wanted to begin an outreach program to visit units and build rapport in effort to reduce the negative stigma of using their services. We benchmarked the Mental Health program at our installation while meeting the intent of my project. Our Mental Health Technicians now visit monthly.

22 Veterans commit suicide daily. This staggering phenomenon is unacceptable and the reason why promoting and supporting Mental Health services and CAF is critical as a leader and the intent of my project. Our local services include professional counseling, relaxation training, traumatic brain injury testing, and referrals. In addition our Alcohol Drug Abuse Prevention & Treatment team works with patients and their unit leadership to identify substance abuse issues and to develop positive coping techniques.

I obtained great information on anxiety disorders, depression, substance abuse, and behavior health services for my unit. In particular, information and pamphlets on the Veteran Crisis Line a free and private service offered to Veterans.

Health, Fitness, & Recreation

Physical fitness and recreation are paramount for reducing stress and strengthening individual resiliency. Once again, I discovered many of our Airmen were unaware of the services provided by Outdoor Recreation, Information Tickets & Travel, Fitness Centers, and our Health & Wellness Center. For example, Outdoor Recreation offers camping equipment and frequently hosts professional recreation trips for hiking, fishing, paddle boarding, and many more. Our travel services offer discounted rates for events and vacations such as sporting events, the San Diego Zoo, and Disneyland. Our Health & Wellness and Fitness Center offers nutrition classes and plans, body fat testing services, personal trainers, fitness classes, intramural sports leagues, and more.

In addition, our installation offers a bowling center, golf course, sport bar, and outdoor recreation parks. All of these services information may be found in my resource center .

Spiritual Fitness As a core pillar of resilience, spiritual fitness is relative depending on the one’s beliefs. Each individual must discover what their personal spiritual outlet is. For example, one may find running, Yoga, or music as their spiritual relaxation while others desire traditional religious services. My goal was to provide information on spiritual outlets and our Chaplin Corp did just that. They provided books and pamphlets that covered a range of topics such as relationships, suicide, eating disorders, and parenting. However, they are not focused on one particular religion but do have a spiritual theme. In addition, I recovered numerous spiritual guidance books from our library at no added cost. Lastly, our assigned Chaplin enjoys the ability to visit our unit and work out our resource whenever possible. The resource center allows him to build rapport with the unit while offering his services at their convenience.

Education Connection My degree prepared me for a career leading and helping people, our most important resource. The following interdisciplinary courses were the most instrumental for my career transition as a First Sergeant and represent the core of my senior project. MGT300 Principles & Theory of Management: This course taught me management theory, organizational structure, human resource management, and most importantly group dynamics. Furthermore, it covered staffing, planning, motivation, and leadership. Understanding management theory is critical for all leaders and I feel the foundation of being a First Sergeant. MGT311 Organizational Behavior: Another vital course for senior managers, organizational behavior helps leaders understand organizations, group dynamics, the importance of culture and diversity and how to manage people. It covered individual personalities, attitudes, motivation, behavior reinforcement, performance management, conflict, communications, leadership, and change management. MKT300 Principles & Theory of Marketing: The cornerstone of my project was to market military support services in an effort to educate my organization and reduce negative stigmas and stereotypes. I learned in marketing the importance of knowing your customer, their needs, developing a marketing plan, advertising, communications, and sales. This is precisely what I am doing with this project. My customers are my unit personnel. The products I’m selling are our installation support services through advertising, promotions, educational briefs from our service providers, and personal counseling.

Education Connection PSYC324 Psychology of Addiction & Substance Abuse: This course taught me the culture impact of illicit and licit drug addiction and substance abuse. It explained addiction and the physical and psychological effects of dependency. It broaden my perspective of alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco consumption in the military and the importance of supporting programs such as ADAPT and Smoking Sensation in order to reduce negative coping mechanisms. SOCI220 American Popular Culture: This course taught me about the rapid emergence of pop culture since WWII and how global conflict, technology, political demographics, media, and urbanization are conditioning Americans. Understanding our cultural diversity and adapting to how quickly it changes is vital for senior managers in their effort to connect with and lead their organizations. PSYC 343 Adult Development: Adult development taught me the importance of understanding the aging process and psychological issues and disorders that may occur. It helped me understand common stereotypes associated with adult psychological disorders, how to recognize disorders, how people cope and adapt with disorders, and the importance of mental health intervention and services.

DEFM 314 Military Logistics: This course was a history lesson covering Army logistics from 1775-1953. It taught the principles of how to organize and sustain military forces and the importance of logistics strategy. Moreover, it demonstrated pre-war, war, and post-war logistics that included personnel management programs. This course prepared me for force management programs that occur after every war. Understanding the ensuing stress on personnel and operations allowed me to focus on preparing them with their transition into the civilian sector.

Conclusion As a First Sergeant, I have learned that there are no parameters to the problems we are asked to solve. We are not subject matters experts, rather we are versed in a myriad of disciplines. Little did I know, my General Studies degree would prepare me for the position. Learning management, organizational behavior, adult development, and substance abuse all taught me the value of understanding people and their needs and how to maximize their performance. This project was centered on marketing support services in an effort to encourage self-help seeking behaviors and professional development. No matter how much my resource center is used or what grade I receive, if only one Airman finds information that helps them through adversity, this project was worth the effort!

References

Betts, Raymond F. (2004). A History of Popular Culture, More of Everything, Faster and Brighter. New York, NY: Routledge. Hiam, A. & Rastelli L. (2007). Marketing. Hoboken, NJ. John Wiley & Sons Hoyer, W. J. (2009). Adult Development and Aging, Sixth Edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Huston, J. (2004). The Sinews of War: Army Logistics, 1775 - 1953. Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific. Kinicki, A. & Kreitner, R. (2008). Organizational Behavior, Key Concepts, Skills, & Best Practices. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill. Levinthal, C. F. (2010). Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society, 7th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781269458214/outline/2 Montana P. & Charnov B. (2008). Management. Hauppauge, NY. Barron’s Education Services.