{"id":50196,"date":"2023-10-16T15:48:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/10\/16\/how-this-army-units-new-program-is-driving-down-bad-behavior\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:16:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:16:58","slug":"how-this-army-units-new-program-is-driving-down-bad-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2023\/10\/16\/how-this-army-units-new-program-is-driving-down-bad-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"How this Army unit\u2019s new program is driving down bad behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the harder puzzles to solve with the Army\u2019s new approach to total fitness<\/a> is how to improve spiritual fitness or identify a soldier\u2019s sense of meaning or purpose in their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That \u201cmeaning\u201d factor, leaders and social scientists say, drives how soldiers see their jobs, and their place in a unit and helps build cohesive teams \u2014 a major initiative for the service\u2019s new chief and sergeant major. It\u2019s also one of the pillars of the Army\u2019s Holistic Health and Fitness<\/a> program. The program focuses on physical, mental, nutritional, sleep and spiritual health. The spiritual part can mean religion for some, but often translates to higher purpose, meaning, or why you do what you do and why it matters, experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade may have found methods that help soldiers find their \u201cwhy\u201d and build good teams in the process. Early data shows that soldiers enrolled in the \u201cTough in Spirit\u201d program also showed lower reported numbers of behavioral incidents<\/a>, participating units saw reductions in alcohol-related problems, sexual assaults and other infractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data showed a 60% decrease in sexual assault reports, a 53% decrease in soldiers approaching chaplains for bad counseling incidents and an 83% reduction in the chance that a soldier will generate a Soldier Incident Report, Kloepper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The value quickly added up, as Kloepper cited Army data showing that an SIR equates to a 75% likelihood that soldier will be separated from the Army rather than reenlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Col. Michael Kloepper arrived at the brigade in 2021 and almost immediately set about solving a problem that was vital to his job as a commander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do we foster comprehensive soldier readiness and well-being to build cohesive, trained, disciplined and fit, trust-based teams of paratroopers willing to die for one another?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kloepper had faced his share of hardship, deploying multiple times to combat and serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment. He\u2019d seen what good, motivated teams could do under intense pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the colonel also knew what many see if they stick around the military long enough. Without a combat deployment on the horizon, it\u2019s easy for units to get complacent, to not take their training seriously, seeing their duties as unrelated to their daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kloepper did his homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only was he working with a new crop of soldiers who had been in grade school or younger when combat rotations were the norm, he was also seeing the first members of a new generation, Generation Z, one that\u2019s been described as \u201cdigital natives\u201d who, because of the self-esteem movement of the 1980s, are seen as more individualistic than their predecessors, risk-averse and emotionally fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as commander of a forward-deployed, combat-focused unit, he needed empathetic leaders who could build teams, accept prudent risk and inspire resiliency in their units.<\/p>\n\n\n\t