How Sergeant Majors Use MRT to Help Soldiers Cope with Stress

Introduction

Master Resilience Training (MRT) allows officers in the U.S. Army to learn how to promote resilience among soldiers using positive psychology. The goal of the program is ultimately to help soldiers cope with stress, anxiety, PTSD, and other adverse situations that soldiers might experience in their units — from sexual assault to domestic violence to substance abuse and more. Originally developed at the end of the 20th century by the University of Pennsylvania for its Resilience Program, MRT was quickly adopted by the Army as a way to help boost resilience in the battlefield. Today it is taught to non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in a 10-day program that includes education in the methods NCOs can use to communicate resiliency to their soldiers (Reivich, Seligman & McBride, 2011). The MRT program is meant not only to improve soldiers' ability to cope with stress but also to improve their cognitive processes (Cornum, Matthews & Seligman, 2011). This paper explains how Sergeant Majors can use positive psychology and MRT specifically to overcome leadership challenges related to traumatic experiences suffered by their soldiers.

The Need for MRT in Military Leadership

Sergeant Majors are in a position to lead their soldiers both by example and by teaching. However, with PTSD impacting literally hundreds of thousands of soldiers in today's military (Kang et al., 2015), the ability of leaders to create a positive impression on soldiers is made challenging by the psychological trauma that many soldiers are likely to have experienced — whether on the battlefield or as a result of home life situations, alcohol or drug dependencies, sexual abuse, or depression (Vogt et al., 2017). One way to overcome these challenges is to train Sergeant Majors in the use of positive psychology, particularly MRT. Griffith and West (2013) showed that 97% of the respondents in their survey attested to using the skills they learned in MRT. The positive changes that resulted from applying those MRT skills included "increased self-awareness and strength of character, including improved optimism, mental agility, and connection with others" (Griffith & West, 2013, p. 140).

MRT is not just useful for dealing with challenges posed by trauma-related issues; it also helps to create a buffer effect for soldiers, which in turn enables them to reduce the amount of stress they absorb and carry. The MRT training achieves these successes by breaking the program down into individual modules that focus on building resiliency, increasing mental toughness, identifying character strengths so that individuals can boost their confidence and know where their power lies, and strengthening relationships so that support systems can be put in place (Positive Psychology Program, 2018). As Reivich et al. (2011) note, MRT can serve as the "backbone of a cultural transformation of the U.S. Army in which a psychologically fit army will have equal standing with a physically fit army" (p. 33).

Applying Positive Psychology Principles

Put simply and best, positive psychology is the study of understanding that which "makes life worth living" (Peterson, 2008). Its core principles include the following:

• Happiness matters: when people are happy, they tend to succeed more — and most people have the ability to be happy.
• Resilience matters: when people are able to bounce back from adversity, they can achieve more and overcome obstacles instead of giving up — and most people have the ability to be resilient.
• Religion matters: when people have guidance or teaching that gives them a strong moral framework, they tend to make right decisions more often than wrong ones.
• The heart has to be educated — more than the head in many cases.
• The "good life" is something that can be taught (Peterson, 2008).

These principles have been incorporated into the Army's MRT training in a variety of ways. By focusing on these principles in their interactions with soldiers, NCOs can develop a positive culture in their units that reaffirms life's great purposes, provides soldiers with ideals that can give them encouragement even in the face of great adversity or personal struggles, and lifts them out of the gloom of depression. Positive psychology shows that individuals who are overly stressed, depressed, or suffering from trauma — whether from sexual abuse or domestic violence — need a guiding light that can help them realize life does not have to be defined by its negatives, troubles, or defeats.

This is where a religious or cultural viewpoint can be particularly effective, as it can help the individual see that life has a spiritual purpose. NCOs are certainly not required to preach religion, but they can help promote a positive culture in their units by focusing on higher purposes in life and teaching their soldiers that when they hold onto these ideals, life truly does become worth living — no matter what has happened in the past. The point that sergeants must make, however, is that the good life takes hard work and effort: it does not come for free. One has to admit to oneself that it can be attained, trust in the process, and commit to the course of action that will lead to it. Showing this to his soldiers is the best way the sergeant can use positive psychology to strengthen his unit and overcome the myriad challenges of leadership.

Conclusion

To help soldiers cope with stress, sergeant majors can utilize positive psychology and specifically MRT to develop the mental toughness and resilience of their soldiers. Positive psychology focuses on the principles that help one attain the good life and stay motivated to succeed. This approach feeds into the promotion of the Warrior Ethos that soldiers need in order to avoid falling into bad mental, emotional, and behavioral habits. The leader can help soldiers deal with trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, or any other negative factor by providing a personal example of the good life and demonstrating that it is possible to attain through discipline and commitment to the ideals represented by the Army.

References

Cornum, R., Matthews, M. D., & Seligman, M. E. (2011). Comprehensive soldier fitness: Building resilience in a challenging institutional context. American Psychologist, 66(1), 4.

Griffith, J., & West, C. (2013). Master resilience training and its relationship to individual well-being and stress buffering among Army National Guard soldiers. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 40(2), 140–155.

Kang, H. K., Bullman, T. A., Smolenski, D. J., Skopp, N. A., Gahm, G. A., & Reger, M. A. (2015). Suicide risk among 1.3 million veterans who were on active duty during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Annals of Epidemiology, 25(2), 96–100.

Peterson, C. (2008). What is positive psychology, and what is it not. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-psychology-and-what-is-it-not

Positive Psychology Program. (2018). MRT in the U.S. Army. Retrieved from https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/master-resilience-training-mrt/

Reivich, K. J., Seligman, M. E., & McBride, S. (2011). Master resilience training in the US Army. American Psychologist, 66(1), 25.

Vogt, D., Smith, B. N., Fox, A. B., Amoroso, T., Taverna, E., & Schnurr, P. P. (2017). Consequences of PTSD for the work and family quality of life of female and male US Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 52(3), 341–352.