Army General Martin Demsey talks about well being of soldiers and families

JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN STRESSES TRUST
 By: Dennis E. “Mac” McGowan, author of “The Living Diet: Conquer stress in your life now!”

The image of trust is fundamental in the relationship that exists between our men and women in uniform and their society, emphasized the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman.

Speaking March 30 at the Mental and Physical Well-Being of Soldiers and their Families Conference in Washington, DC, U.S. Army General Martin Demsey said, “Very few of the problems that we’re facing are problems that we’re facing for the first time.”

The Defense Department and Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury hosted the Conference. Demsey pointed out the important role of the 750 military leaders and pay experts attending the conference. Their role included reviewing the required life skills, confidence building and hope that enhance the resilience of our military forces. “There is a band of trust promised” for both active duty and retired military, he said. “Each day is another opportunity that bonds us as a profession,” he added. Demsey continued, “If we lose that, it doesn’t matter how much money we throw at it.” General Demsey highlighted four focus areas.

 The first area was “achieving the objectives in our country’s current conflicts.” The military needs to “seek a deeper and richer understanding” of what has happened to our forces over the last 10 years. Secondly, he stated that the military needed to look into the future and “develop the Joint Force of 2020.” Demsey disclosed that his 37-year Army career began right after Vietnam.

He discussed the human conflict in our military services that occurred as a result of Vietnam. He mentioned that a major rethinking developed when the military “switched from a conscript to an all-volunteer military” force.

The next area of focus was the “profession of arms.” There was one word unique among all others – trust – that “separated our country from every other country in the world.” Demsey added that one significant goal of the conference participants was to generate proposals “to decide what we need to do and how best to do it. We need to remind ourselves that this is about people.” You want others to look back, in 10 years, and say about you: “That’s a country that got the people right.”

The final area that Demsey noted was the importance of “keeping faith with ourselves, our families and our commitments.” He associated this area with the trust this country promises for its military. The general encouraged attendees to “develop a list of priorities that produced benefits for families.” While he was a proponent of greater transparency for providing health care policy information to families, he acknowledged that goal was often “impeded by well meaning legislation that protected individual privacy.” His career convinced him that the resiliency of the military was due to it being a team sport. Activities at the ground level must be performed in the context of a team.

In response to a question, he commented that he was in favor of the different branches sharing generic data. However, he would not advocate joint medical sharing for all existing practices among the services. Demsey said, “The attribute that I have begun to value most is adaptability.” He was not convinced that “today’s attributes were appropriate for 2020.” The military’s biggest failure was in accurately predicting the way the military forces would be used in the future. Demsey believed that what made the military work was “the leader who can adapt.”

He talked about the significance of a leader taking something that was ill designed for the purpose intended, and successfully completing the mission. Demsey believed that if the military placed individuals in unfamiliar circumstances they would have the best chance for succeeding. Those enduring attributes – integrity, honor and courage – would rise to meet the challenges. Demsey concluded by emphasizing the importance of building adaptability in individuals by giving them the opportunity to face “change, failure and chaos” in the military’s training and education programs.