Comprehensive Soldier Fitness

I recently had the opportunity to discuss the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program with its director, Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, Ph.D., M.D. And with several warriors currently participating in the program. CSF is the United States Army's program for mental fitness training, designed to mesh with its existing physical and technical training programs.

BG Cornum brings twenty years of medical practice as a military doctor to her position, including commanding Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, where nearly all the casualties from the War on Terror are directed. She also is in the unique position of being one of the very, very few serving military who have been a prisoner of war. Cornum was captured with several others by Iraqi troops in February 1991 and released a couple of weeks later. Her survival despite injuries and abuse by her captors allow her a particular perspective on the program she now directs.

Cornum told us that the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program was designed to recognize that historically the Army spent a lot of time on training physical fitness and technical excellence; but they hadn't spent a lot of time on psychological fitness. And that all three are essential, particularly in this era of persistent conflict.

The program is intended to be a part of a soldier's entire career, from basic training through his final tour. The soldier will initially take a global assessment test, and his or her mental strengths and challenges will be identified. Based on that, reading and course work can be assigned to the individual soldier.

For Cornum, the key word for the program is resilience. The program breaks down strength into five dimensions, physical, emotional, social, family and spiritual. Over the course of a soldier's career, CSF will provide the tools to allow that soldier to grow stronger and have a greater capacity to cope when faced with difficulties in any of those dimensions.

Participants in the CSF program talked to us about concepts such as learned optimism, catastrophic thinking, icebergs and the ATC model. They told us how the program was changing how they viewed their decisions and how they were understanding much more thoroughly how emotions and core beliefs affected their actions.

General Cornum talked a little about her POW experience and how the military is incorporating what happened into current training, including CSF. She described the psychological pressures brought to bear on prisoners of war, and the self doubts that captors try to induce.

The CSF course skills are just those needed as a POW. Cornum described the need to remember that the captivity is temporary, and that the captive still has control over their thoughts and feelings. She credits her lifetime practice of CSF principles with her success coping with her captivity.