Rapid Ascent: Resilience Published Aug. 15, 2024 By Dr. Amber Batura Wild Blue Yonder--Maxwell AFB -- In 1948, the AFM 35-15 Air Force Leadership set out principles and techniques for early Cold War commanders to build cohesive and efficient organization to face the challenges of the post World War II security landscape. Its values are timeless, but it was aimed at an audience familiar with references and examples that no longer reflect the experiences of a 21st century Department of the Air Force. Its preface, by CSAF General Hoyt Vandenburg, insists “leadership techniques must change as the habits and thinking of the people comprising our units change,” so we created an updated resource with our contemporary context in mind. At the suggestion of Air University leadership, we drew upon the expertise of AU faculty to offer a quick primer on six foundational concepts of the Human Domain. This is the sixth in a six part series. The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” Within the Air Force, resilience is “the ability to adapt and recover after adversity or stress. To maintain a sense of well-being and sustained performance while evolving through change.” In other words, resilience is the process and ability of an individual, a unit, or an organization to adapt, persevere, and recover from internal or external stressors and demands. Finding the opportunities for growth, control, or modification in these stressful scenarios is resilience. Resilience is a necessary skill to cultivate in individual Airmen, families, and the organization to address issues associated with recruitment, retention, and readjustment. Further, resilience is a key factor in developing successful Airmen and guaranteeing mission readiness and unit cohesion among the calls for Multi-Capable Airmen in the current and developing security environment. One significant source of stress is the demanding nature of the military profession itself. The USAF's personnel often face high- stakes situations, including combat missions, which can lead to intense pressure and anxiety. Frequent deployments and extended periods away from family and loved ones can strain personal relationships and contribute to stress. Bureaucratic complexities and hierarchical structures within the military can also generate friction. The Chain of Command, coupled with necessary regulations and protocols, can sometimes slow innovation and cause frustration among service members. Additionally, the constant need for adapting to evolving technologies and tactics can lead to high workloads, adding to the stress burden. Financial concerns are another significant source of stress for USAF personnel. Despite a competitive benefits package, military salaries may not always match the demands of the job, especially for those supporting families. Furthermore, the uncertainty associated with military life, including frequent relocations and potential deployments, can disrupt personal and professional stability. My Maw-Maw used to say, “If you want to stop experiencing burnout, stop treating everything like a fire” and I heard her words ring true one night sitting at my work desk at 11:45 pm staring at my to-do list. My husband was at home, patiently waiting for me to come home and I realized I was not where I needed to be. The reality was that whatever could be completed at nearly midnight could surely wait until 0700. From then on, I promised myself that when I feel those early signs, I need to take a step back. Maybe that’s a day of leave to re-energize or simply phoning a friend for some sound advice. –SMSgt Ashley T. Strong Building resilience can help individuals cope and adapt to adversity and stressors in their daily lives. Personal resilience can be cultivated by building several internal skills, such as developing more adaptive and positive views and engagements with the world; building, maintaining, and sustaining meaningful social connections and a sense of belonging; and learning adaptive coping strategies. Adopting adaptive and positive views toward circumstances is not toxic positivity, which often encourages ignoring or suppressing “negative” emotions, feelings, reactions, or experiences. Negative emotions, such as anger, fear, resentment, depression, loneliness, or sadness, are important and natural emotions to experience. They provide data about the current environment and situation. To help build resilience, it is important to learn to recognize, acknowledge, and accept both positive and negative emotions, identify what is causing the emotion, and take action to address the situation. In stressful circumstances, being mindful and finding positive or neutral views of the circumstance can help individuals feel empowered to act or address the situation and build resilience. Maintaining optimism, learning to accept change, and keeping perspective by challenging catastrophic thinking further builds resiliency and allows clearer decision-making and faster identification of actionable steps to take in crisis or stressful circumstances. One of the primary aspects of building resiliency is social support and a sense of belonging and community. Studies indicate that social relationships can help reduce physical stress reactions and depression, and supportive relationships can foster trust, create a sense of alliance and worth, and provide reassurance and encouragement. Prioritizing healthy relationships is crucial in developing resiliency. The Air Force’s Spectrum of Resilience highlights the type of connections that can help provide support and community including family and friends, mentors, religious groups, hobby clubs, professional or organizational networks, sports teams, and coworkers. Therapy, counseling, volunteering, and other social activities can also create this social connection which further provides a sense of purpose, worth, and direction. These social networks provide a support system, guidance, mentoring, and the feeling of connection and belonging counters the isolation and loneliness that often occurs during stressful and crisis situations. Adaptive coping strategies, or the behaviors and activities adopted to deal with daily issues, can help individuals recover from stress and trauma. Self-care is important to help the body recover from the physical toll stress can have. Maintaining healthy nutrition, sleep, and exercise routines are vital to overall physical and mental well-being. Practices such as journaling, yoga, prayer, or meditation can help develop mindfulness and assist in developing the ability to recognize and accept difficult emotions and experiences. Breathing exercises and short walks are tools that can calm immediate physical responses to stress to allow clearer thinking. Recent research indicates that humor is also a positive coping mechanism that often predicates higher resiliency. Avoiding maladaptive coping skills like substance abuse, emotional and behavioral disengagement, and denial also increases an individual’s resiliency. Adaptive coping mechanisms combined with a sense of belonging and developing a healthier, more optimistic worldview can help individuals recover from stress and trauma. Balance, which is unique to each Airman. My family understands the requirements of my position, primarily because I explain it to them. I believe that many of our Airmen don’t take the time to explain their role to their families which only exacerbates an already tenuous situation. I speak with my family about the importance of the work I do which elicits their support rather than feelings of competition. It’s not a dichotomy. Generational theory poses a shift from Baby Boomers wanting work-life separation to Generation X wanting work-life balance and today’s Airmen wanting work- life integration. So, I strive for this and to provide the same to my team. That means taking advantage of the VPN on laptops or any other technological advantage that promotes remote work, whenever possible. Sure, most of my job requires me to be in a physical location, but if it does not, I can earn points with the family by catching up on administrative duties from a work laptop while at home. Striving to meld your work family with your actual family is also helpful.--- CMSgt Evan Serpa The Air Force has focused on building individual resilience through multiple agencies and programs, as well as promoting a cultural shift with Comprehensive Airman Fitness (CAF). Viewing fitness holistically, CAF encourages mental, physical, social, and spiritual wellness to help build resiliency. This shift indicates progression towards mental, emotional, and physical health for Airmen and their families, but much of the focus from the Air Force’s programs has been centered on developing individual, personal resilience. However, current recruitment and retention struggles indicate that the Air Force also needs to focus on developing organizational resiliency to help mitigate some of the systems that compound adverse and stressful experiences for service members. Physical, mental, and emotional injury, the separation from friends and family, deployments, the lack of choice in location, and the chance of sexual assault or harassment are among some of the highest reasons that youth do not want to join the service. Simultaneously, family planning, dependent care, and quality of life along with deployments, job dissatisfaction, organizational culture, and work schedules negatively affect retention of qualified Airmen in the service. Adopting and expanding organizational resiliency within the service would help alleviate the stress and adverse impacts of some of these issues on the force. Organizational resiliency can also be practiced and built at various unit levels within the Air Force. Like personal resilience, organizational resiliency is about recovering from stressful or adverse situations and still growing. It is “the ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to incremental change and sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper.” As the service responds to more complex security concerns around the world, demanding more from its Airmen, the Air Force must build organizational resiliency to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness for mission readiness. Positive Engagement by supervisors at all levels is very important. Communication and trust go a long way in building and sustaining morale. Conflicts, complaints, silence, and lack of enthusiasm are early signs of low individual morale, while high turnover and low-quality production are indicators of the whole organization. I am a firm believer in Climate and Culture surveys, but the results have to be shared and addressed in a professional manner to show that the inputs and opinions of employees matter, and they have a voice. Addressing the concerns of employees can increase a sense of social cohesion and increase morale.– Brian Hastings, Col., USAF (ret.) Primary to a resilient organization is providing a sense of purpose and empowering and connecting its members. It is incumbent upon senior leaders to create a sense of connectedness and belonging within units, building trust, cohesion, and psychological safety for their Airmen to be successful. Strong, engaged, and active leaders who demonstrate compassion and empathy to their unit’s diffuse disengagement, stress, and anxiety, allowing for more productivity from its members. Some ways leaders can build social connectedness within their units are through meaningful conversations that demonstrate a greater interest in their people, developing a sense of value and investment in the team and organization. Leaders should also provide transparent and clear communication to the team defining purpose, vision, and mission. Resiliency requires a sense of purpose, and though Airmen often understand the overall mission, units frequently fail to create a sense of buy-in at all levels, clearly articulating and reinforcing how every member contributes to mission success. Beyond communicating the unit’s vision and providing a sense of purpose, leaders should also recognize and acknowledge risk, promote diverse approaches and innovative solutions, and accept failure as a step toward progress. Mission command principles encourage leaders to provide intent and guidance to empower Airmen to execute the mission. As members feel psychological safety and support, they experience less stress, anxiety, and burnout in stressful and changing environments. This frees cognitive space for faster, better decision-making both at work and at home. Resilient organizations are also dependent upon their performance and ability to adapt. In a resilient Air Force, units are constantly motivated to improve skills, enhance effectiveness, and exploit current technologies and methodologies to achieve mission readiness and success. I would be lying if I said no—I have experienced burnout as a CC. It is a huge responsibility—you are taking care of the mission and all those Airmen—they expect so much of you. When you recognize the signs, don’t ignore them. The signs are stress—not sleeping, constantly thinking of work, skipping meals, losing weight. It happens. A CC should have a wingman too—all squadron CCs should look out for one another. Get breakfast together, go bowling at lunch, have something to get out of the office and establish camaraderie with your teammates. They should be looked at as teammates and not competition for a stratification. That is hard for some to grasp. In the end, it is about accomplishing the mission and taking care of the Airmen—not if you are the #1.-- Anonymous Lt. Col. Empowered Airmen are also encouraged to explore unknown or innovative new approaches and technologies to achieve the mission more efficiently. As job dissatisfaction remains one of the contributing factors to retention issues, embracing a culture of creativity and allowing new approaches to current practices could mitigate the sense of frustration and stagnation that may contribute to dissatisfaction. The ability to adapt and transform in adverse circumstances is a skill all Airmen can develop and grow overtime by adopting more positive and adaptive approaches to the world; seeking out and maintaining meaningful social connections and a sense of belonging; and practicing adaptive coping strategies. Not only does personal resilience safeguard Airmen from the traumatic and stressful experiences in day- to-day life, but building organizational resilience can help the Air Force respond to organizational challenges threatening mission readiness and mission success. Fostering social connections within units diminishes negative experiences with deployments and PCS cycles; empowering and encouraging performance and creativity amongst Airmen can build job satisfaction and a sense of responsibility and ownership; and a more transparent and open organization can work to address the issues Airmen face within and outside of the service. Resiliency is a key factor for maintaining an operational force. In the United States Air Force (USAF), it is evident that maintaining the successful function of both individuals and organizations is not only the right thing to do but also a highly efficient and effective approach. The investment in the development and well-being of existing team members and organizations pays dividends in terms of expertise, experience, and cohesion. First and foremost, retaining experienced personnel is cost-effective. Training new recruits from scratch demands significant time and resources, whereas seasoned individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and skills that are invaluable. These seasoned service members understand the intricacies of their roles, the organization's culture, and its mission. This familiarity allows them to perform at a high level with less time and resources required for onboarding. You can absolutely recover from mistakes. I have helped guide and mentor many SNCO’s working through personal life challenges as well as career challenges to include Article 15’s that assumed their careers were over. I am proud to say every single one of them is still serving today and by last count they had all been promoted again. Life is going to punch you in the mouth…the true test of who you are is not what you did, but what you do next.-- CMSgt Steve Cornelius Furthermore, maintaining a cohesive team enhances efficiency. Experienced teams have established working relationships, effective communication channels, and a shared sense of mission. The disruption caused by constantly replacing team members can hinder productivity and cohesion. By nurturing existing talent and promoting a positive working environment, the USAF can capitalize on the synergies that come with well-functioning teams. The USAF recognizes that preserving the success of its individuals and organizations is not only a moral imperative but also a pragmatic one. It's more efficient and effective to invest in the development and well-being of existing team members and organizations than to constantly rebuild from scratch. Building not only resilient Airmen, but a resilient organization leads to a stronger, more proficient Air Force ready to meet the nation's defense needs. Sources: 152nd Airlift Wing, Comprehensive Airman Fitness Program. Air Force Instruction 90-5001, Integrated Resilience. American Psychological Association, Building Your Resilience, (2020) Denyer, Davis, Organizational Resilience: A Summary of Academic Evidence, Business Insights and New Thinking (Cranfield, UK: BSI and Cranfield School of Management, 2017) Department of the Air Force Integrated Resilience, https://www.resilience.af.mil/Resilience/ Government Accountability Office, DOD Active-Duty Recruitment and Retention Challenges, March 2023. Isacco, Col. John J., Leadership Through Connection: A Squadron Commander Model for Developing Resilience, Air War College, AU, Resilience Research Task Force, April 5, 2023. Meredith, Lisa, et al, Promoting Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Military, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2011. Suttie, Jill, “Four Ways Social Support Makes You More Resilient”, Greater Good Magazine, November 13, 2017: Dr. Amber B. Batura is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies at Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB. She served as the Deputy Course Director of the Leadership and Profession of Arms Course and teaches courses in National Security, Airpower, Leadership, Military Theory, and War and Gender. Dr. Batura received her Ph.D. in military and gender history from Texas Tech University in 2018. Her research focuses on the intersectionality of war, gender, culture, community and identity. She has published in the Journal of American-East Asian Relations, the New York Times, and contributed to volumes on the Vietnam War. She is currently working on her manuscript entitled Playboy's Vietnam. Textbox quotes from individual Air Force personnel collected and edited by Dr. Paul J. Springer as part of his study of leadership during the tenure of General David L. Goldfein. Many thanks to the volunteer participants whose comments and experiences helped to shape the contours of this project: Air University’s ACTS “Disciples” Lt. Col. Lyndsey Banks, CMSgt Jason Blair, TSgt Zachary Bennett, Col. Stephanie Boger, Lt. Col. Jose Crespo, Lt. Col. Christy Cruz Peeler, Col. Jerry Davisson, MSgt Ashley Evans, Lt. Col. Mitchell Foy, Maj. Ray Funke, CMSgt Steven Hart, Dr. Robert Hinck, Dr. John Hinck, CMSgt Joshua Lackey, Mr. Mark Logan, Lt. Col. William Mendel, Capt. Denny Miller, Ms. Rhonda Miller, TSgt Israel Navarro, Lt. Col. Amber Ortiz, SMSgt Joshua Penery, Lt. Col. Don Salvatore, Col. Eltressa Spencer, Dr. Susan Steen and the AY24 AU Resilience Research Task Force, Maj. Jonathan Tolman