Army Master Resilience Training (A guide)
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This blog explains in detail the Army Masters Training Program.
This program has been offered in the United States since 2009 for training soldiers, dev family members, and of the Army civilians.
As much as 55000 us soldiers have attended this program and authorized for training resilience to other soldiers.
The army masters training program is run by the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program under the Army Resilience Directorate.
The army master resilience program is a 10-day training program that gives a face to face resilience training two Army Soldiers.
This training program is one of the parts of the basic structures of the comprehensive soldier fitness program.
It teaches resilience to Army members and enables them to train this program to other soldiers.
The syllabus for the army master resilience training program is developed by the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn Resilience Program (PRP), and other research work in the field of positive psychology.
Fighting spirit is also taught to people who want to join the army, or even to the ones who are planning to take par in sports like boxing.
Now let’s review the Army master resilience training program in detail.
What is MRT?
As we discussed earlier, the army master resilience training program is a 10-day long program that teaches resilience to Army members, and it initiated in the United States in 2009.
This program consists of three components. These three components include preparation, sustainment, and enhancement.
Army master resilience training program was introduced as a result of the combined effort of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and the United States Military Academy at the West Point who developed preparation component, sustainment component, and enhancement component respectively.
This program aims to teach army officers’ essential skills to enhance their resilience and enables them to teach these skills further to other soldiers.
The foundations of the army master resilience training program are partly rooted in the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Resilience Program, which was developed in the 1990s with the purpose of preventing depression.
In the first two years of development of this program, over 2000 non-commissioned US army officers were trained at the University of Pennsylvania (Cornum et al., 2011).
The History of Military Resiliency Training
The concept of resilience is being studied since the 1970s.
Empirical evidence has shown that resilience, which is referred to as the ability of an individual to bounce back in the times of adversities, can be trained to individuals.
Therefore in 1990 positive psychologists developed Penn Resilience Program (PRP) at the University of Pennsylvania on the basis of the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy with an aim of helping people prevent depression by teaching them depression prevention skills as well as resilience skills to children and adolescence.
It was found that the Penn Resilience Prevention program was effective in treating and preventing mental illnesses including anxiety, depression, and adjustment issues.
Furthermore, when Master Resilience Trainers Course was introduced by the positive psychology center and the comprehensive soldier fitness program in the first half of 2009, the majority of the training was revamped from that program.
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7 Modules of the Trainer Course
The army master resilience training program lasts for 10 days and it includes training based on 5 modules for teaching preparation and one each module for sustainment and enhancement components.
Thus, there are a total of 7 modules required for completing the army master resilience training program.
The names of these 7 modules along with their time duration are mentioned in the table below:
| Module | Time Duration |
| Resilience | Two and a half days |
| Building mental toughness | Two and a half days |
| Identifying character strengths | One day |
| Strengthening relationships | One day |
| Concluding preparation module | Half a day |
| Sustainment module | One day |
| Enhancement module | One day |
The first five modules based on the preparation component are influenced by positive psychology.
The five modules were introduced by the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Centre.
The first module explains in detail the concept of resilience, the factors which contribute to resilience that as self-awareness and optimism, and other topics related to resilience.
The second module emphasizes how to develop psychological factors that help develop resilience enhancing problem-solving skills and gratitude among other things.
The third module help individuals identify their character strengths and those of others.
The fourth module emphasizes strengthening relationships between the soldiers and the relationship between soldiers and their family members, relatives, or other soldiers.
The fifth module is the last module of the preparation component.
Hence it concludes the previous for modules and focuses on teaching resilience skills to soldiers.
District module with is based on the sustainment component emphasizes training resilience skills to military personnel and teaching them how to apply these skills with respect to certain situations.
This module was developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
The seventh and the last module, which is based on an enhancement component focuses on teaching key skills set as trained by sports psychologists such as building confidence, goal setting, attention control, energy management, and imagery.
This component was developed by the Army Centre for Enhancement Performance.
As a matter of fact, only the sixth module is completely applicable to the military setting.
No doubt the rest of the six models are also helpful for military members but they can also be taught to people other than those related to the army.
It was already presumed because the 5 modules were developed by the Positive Psychology Centre at the University of Pennsylvania while only two of them were developed by the army.
Nonetheless, it reveals that army master resilience training can be applied to not Army settings.
This training can be completed and the person is able to train other people, the resilience skills he learned, easily.
Recommended Books
The following is the list of some of the best books on army training.
These books are a helpful source of increasing knowledge about military training.
All of these books are easily accessible on google books.
Just click your favorite book and you will be redirected to the page from where you can access it.
- Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification by Christopher Peterson, Martin E. P. Seligman – 2004
- AR 350-1 Army Training and Leader Development – Page 188 by Headquarters Department of the Army – 2018
- AR 350-1 08/19/2014 ARMY TRAINING AND LEADER DEVELOPMENT, Survival Ebooks by Us Department Of Defense, www.survivalebooks.com, Department of Defense – Preview
- Promoting Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Military by Lisa S. Meredith, Cathy D Sherbourne, Sarah J Gaillot – 2011
- Military Psychologists’ Desk Reference – Page 97 by Bret A. Moore, Jeffrey E. Barnett – 2013
What is Army master resilience training?
Army master resilience training (MRT) is a program for training resilience to army personnel.
This program is offered by the United States Army with the goal of teaching resilience to miliary members and training officers to enable them to teach resilience to other soldiers.
How do I become a master resilience trainer?
To become a master resilience trainer you have to complete the Transform program.
Then you have to complete Trainer Skills Intensive (TSI).
Next, you have to complete at least six hours of mentorship either in-person or telementoring along with a master certified resilience trainer.
What are the six competencies of resilience?
The six competencies of resilience include self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, mental agility, strengths of character, and connection.
These six competencies of resilience are the constituents for promoting resilience in an individual.
Can resilience be trained?
Yes, resilience can be trained. Resilience training is given by helping individuals focus on the positive aspects of their life.
This helps them increase resilience, improve their quality of life, and reduce negative emotions such as stress and anxiety by enabling them to view changes in life as new challenges or opportunities.
How long is master resilience training?
Master resilience training is 10 days long. In this 10 day program, army personnel is taught resilience skills.
This program is being offered in the United States Army since 2009.
What do Master Resilience Trainers do?
Master resilience training is a 10-day long program that teaches resilience to Army personnel.
The master resilience training program graduates are recognized as licensed trainers for training master resilience to other soldiers.
The master resilience training program emphasizes on protective factors such as optimism, emotional awareness, and self-efficacy.
This blog aimed to provide you information on the army master resilience training program.
The blog explained in detail the army master resilience training program, its history, and a brief overview of the 7 modules covered in this Army master resilience training program.
If you have any queries or questions regarding this blog, let us know through your comments.
We will be glad to assist you.
References
Master Resilience Training (MRT) in the US Army: PowerPoint & Interview by Joaquín Selva (2020)
Resilience Training for the Army | Positive Psychology Center
Master resilience training in the U.S. Army. – APA PsycNet
Military Resiliency Training – GoodTherapy
Google books
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