Resilience: More than just a buzzword

  • Published
  • By George Woodward
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AFB, Texas --  

For Erich Lofton, it came after responding to a head-on collision as a volunteer firefighter.

“It was pretty routine at first. We put the fire out and started putting the gear away. Then the chief came over and asked for volunteers to pull the body out of the car,” he said, as the memory showed in his expression. We had to peel off the door so I could climb in and get to her…

“It took me months to deal with that,” Lofton said.

That was the day “resilience” became something more to him than just another Air Force program or buzzword.

“The resiliency skills I learned in the Air Force saved my life,” he insisted.

It’s an experience that drives him in his role as a master resiliency trainer.

“I know first-hand that regardless of what you’re going through, you have a choice. You can choose to get help, to take care of yourself. If you don’t choose that, then not only are you going to suffer, your family’s going to suffer and the mission is going to suffer.”

Lofton became a master resiliency trainer last year after completing a course offered by an Air Force mobile training team.

“It’s not like any other Air Force training,” Lofton said. “You can’t just sit there quietly and collect your certificate at the end. They’re not just training you -- they’re watching you, evaluating you. Not everyone who completes the training gets selected to become an MRT.”

Lofton was selected, though, which he said is one of the proudest moments of his career. His enthusiasm for the job is impossible to ignore.

As a former “dirt boy” -- a civil engineering heavy equipment operator -- Lofton is well aware of the cultural resistance to more Air Force “programs.”

“Of course there are times you have to dig in and just get the job done,” he said. “But in the military we have this thing about never wanting to seem ‘broken,’ so we don’t look for help until things really are broken.”

The point of resiliency training, according to Lofton, is to change that mindset.

“It’s about creating a culture where it’s not just‘okay’ to get help, but where it’s just the right and normal thing to do. Where we think of getting help not as a sign of being ‘broken,’ but as a sign of a healthy Airman who’s working to become a better person, to improve their performance and achieve their goals.”

For Sheppard Violence Prevention Specialist Jessica Ditson, who recently completed a refresher training offered by Lofton, it’s not so much a matter of learning something new, but developing skills we already have.

“The things we learn from people like Erich are practical skills most of us have used before at one time or another, even if we didn’t realize it. The point of the training is to make us more mindful about using them, so that we are more proactive and effective at helping ourselves and those around us live better, happier lives.”

For Lofton, being an MRT at Sheppard offers a unique opportunity develop these skills in our youngest Airmen, and through them shape the future culture of the Air Force.

“We’re working to become a bigger asset in the training environment,” he said. “If we can develop instructors and military training leaders who understand and model these principles, they will in turn shape the attitudes and skills of the Airmen we deliver to the rest of the force.

“If we can do that successfully, we’ll help build an Air Force culture where resilience is not a program so much as just the way things are,” he said.

For information about becoming a master resilience training or resilience training assistant, contact Sheri Ward, the Sheppard Community Support Coordinator, at 676-5413 or sheri.ward@us.af.mil. An Air Force mobile training team will visit Sheppard Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 to conduct additional MRT training.