HARTFORD, Conn. – The Connecticut Army National Guard’s Fitness Improvement Program (FIP), run by 2nd Lt. Jeremy Suren and Staff Sergeant Ashton Christopher, aims to revitalize the Army’s fitness culture and improve the overall health of National Guard members.
In the past, soldiers who had fitness issues or failed physical fitness tests that denied them reenlistment or other career advancement opportunities were given a one-size-fits-all training plan. These one-size-fits-all plans rarely worked. With this new program, the FIP team gets to know the soldier, identifies the causes of their shortcomings and works with them to address the issues.
The team will look at soldiers’ nutrition, mental health and risk factors that may negatively impact their health.
“What we really focus on is focus,” Christopher said, “focusing on each individual Soldier, utilizing motivational interviewing and helping them develop a unique plan based on their life and their circumstances.”
After FIP staff mentors the Soldiers, they are assigned to work groups with other Soldiers to train and inspire each other.
Sergeant Isaac Rodriguez, 1048th Medium Transport Company, joined the seven-person work group on Oct. 18, 2021. After being barred from reenlisting for six years and not receiving a bonus, he needed to participate in the FIP to continue serving.
“It was during the height of the COVID pandemic,” Rodriguez said. “Things were just getting worse and worse. It was a really low point in my life.”
Rodriguez was so disheartened that he nearly dropped out of the course when he heard he would have to take a preliminary height and weight test and the Army Physical Fitness Test, the Army’s standard test at the time. If a soldier fails either test, he is discharged and cannot be promoted, awarded, or reenlisted. If he fails a second time, the Army discharges him.
“He almost went off course at first because he didn’t want to get flagged and probably separated,” Christopher recalled, “but he stuck it out until the end.”
Rodriguez failed a preliminary fitness test, which was one of his final setbacks before things started to get smooth sailing. He took the program seriously, losing 4.4 pounds in two weeks and 7.2 pounds about a month after starting. By the time he finished the three-month program in January 2022, Rodriguez had lost 42.2 pounds, the most of any participant in the program.
Rodriguez also found solace in talking to his instructor.
“I was coming out of a pretty bad relationship. I had put everything in the back seat. It was a break that I needed,” he said. “It really felt good to talk to them. I didn’t have much of an outlet back home. They really understood.”
Rodriguez was so inspired that he made it his goal to become a nutritional health coach and help others the way the FIP team had helped him. He signed up for the Institute of Integrative Nutrition’s (IIN) Nutritional Health Coaching class.
“I wanted to help individuals holistically, because it’s not just about eating right and exercising, but understanding how to spend your days,” Rodriguez said. “There’s the schedule and structure of the program, and of course the nutrition and exercise pieces, but there’s also a big mental health component: resilience, positive self-talk, the importance of sleep, dealing with stress.”
Those extra skills quickly came in handy: Shortly after completing the program, his cousin committed suicide.
Rodriguez persevered, and now he’s helping his fellow Soldiers. After graduating from IIN, he’s part of the FIP team and has been teaching two classes since January.
“As an instructor, he understands what the students are going through,” Christopher said. “He knows how to talk to them because he’s been through it himself.”
This combination of training and experience has already proven invaluable: Rodriguez has been able to help the physical, emotional and mental health of other Soldiers in the program.
“Soldiers would come to me and ask to talk to me offline. They were also going through some issues,” Rodriguez explained. “I’m resilient and I lost a cousin to suicide, so I was able to say the right words, the right words of empathy, to help them in that situation. After we finished talking, I got them to do an exercise with me and asked if they wanted to talk to BH (Behavioral Health). They went to BH the next day and talked and got help.”
For Rodriguez, making a difference is important.
“It’s inspiring,” Rodriguez explained, “and just knowing that you’re a part of changing someone’s life warms my heart.”
Suren and Christopher are proactively working to build relationships with Connecticut Army National Guard Soldiers who are enlisting as part of the Recruit Retention Program (RSP) and Soldiers who are attending Officer Candidate School and who will be the future leaders of the Connecticut Army National Guard.
