OPERATIONALIZING PEOPLE FIRST IN THE 101ST
EAGLE DAY
Eagle Day provides another recurring opportunity for junior leaders to build cohesive teams that are strong in both their ethics and relationships. When achieved, these squads and family units become Tribes. Tribes are resistant, both to suicide and to harmful behaviors. Furthermore, they are more lethal when faced with the adversity of Large Scale Combat Operations. Eagle Day is resourced at the DIV/Installation level and managed by Brigades. The driving force behind the training are the squad and platoon leaders, who best know what their units need in order to become Tribes.
Monthly Eagle Day provides Commanders at echelon with the time necessary to allow their junior leaders to build cohesive squads and families. When achieved, these squads and family units become Tribes. Tribes are both resistant to suicide and harmful behaviors and more lethal when faced with the adversity of Large Scale Combat Operations. Eagle Day is resourced at the DIV/Installation level and managed by Brigades, BNs/SQDNs, and C/B/Ts. However, the driving force behind the training to be conducted on Eagle Days are the squad and platoon leaders who best know what their units require to become Tribes.
Examples of such training include, but are not limited to, the following:
People: Our Soldiers and Families
-Family/Soldier counseling
-Family strengthening events
-Strong Bonds/Marriage enrichment
-Communication training
-Ethics/Ethical decision making training
-Financial management training
Cohesive Teams: Closely united platoons, squads, and families where every person believes they matter to their Tribe and the Tribe matters to them.
-Soldier-Leader Counseling
-Squad bonding time/event
-Off-Post Physical Training Event
-Warrior Adventure Quest
-Squad and Family MWR Event
-Protecting the Tribe training
-Veteran speakers/mentors
-Squad PT competitions
Engaged Leaders: Leaders who know their Soldiers and are devoted to their success in every aspect of their lives.
-Counseling resources
-Squad/Family enrichment event
-Suicide prevention/intervention training
-Home/barracks visits
-Hospital Visits
EAGLE TRIBE TIME (ETT)
ETT is protected time for squad leaders to focus on improving team cohesion and individual wellness at the platoon and squad level within their formations and families. ETT will occur every Tuesday. 1/101, 3/101, and DIVARTY will conduct ETT on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. 2/101, CAB, and DSB will conduct ETT on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. If a unit has a competing training event on their designated Tuesday (i.e. FTX, range), there is no requirement to select an alternate DTG. BDE and BN Commanders can tailor execution dates based on their training calendars, although, it is not a requirement to make-up a specific Tuesday iteration.
Squad/Platoon leaders are responsible for planning the events and Battalion Commanders/Command Sergeant Majors are responsible for approving the training. The squad/platoon leader is free to propose whatever event or activity is most needed to build cohesion and holistic wellness within their squad and/or families at that time. However, to receive approval, the leader must demonstrate how the event supports the development of cohesive teams as it is defined by the CG.
On ETT days, no company or higher events will occur until 1000.
Examples of ETT events include, but are not limited to:
- having breakfast with your squad or family
- taking your children to school
- soldier-leader counseling
- off-post physical training
- squad and family MWR events
- veteran speakers/mentors
- squad PT competitions.
Leaders are encouraged to leverage their Master Resiliency Trainers, Master Fitness Trainers, Chaplains, H2F Teams, and resources from across the installation or off-post. For example, leaders can utilize Warrior Adventure Quest, Army Community Service, Outdoor Recreational Activities, or educational classes. Refer to the Eagle Tribe Cohesion Guide for resources and activities to support execution of Eagle Tribe Time, Eagle Day, and Screaming Eagle Family Time.
EAGLE FAMILY TIME
Predictable refit time is necessary to maintain a ready and resilient force and must be protected to the maximum extent possible, while maintaining readiness and executing our mission. To provide Soldiers time with their families, the 101st AAD will establish Eagle Family Time every Friday at 1500 hrs. Eagle Family Time will not shift to another day (i.e. Thursday) when a Friday is designated a Division Training Holiday/Day of No Scheduled Activity (DONSA).
**COL/O-6 Commanders will approve exceptions to Screaming Eagle Family Time.
NOTE 1: On-Post Military Troop Schools are exempt from Screaming Eagle Family Time in order to maintain Program of Instruction/Course Schedules
NOTE 2: Installation services will continue past 1500S hours on Fridays so that Soldiers can access them.
EAGLEWERX INNOVATION CENTER JUNIOR LEADER COHESION SENSING SESSIONS
Every Soldier must have a voice. Transformation initiatives require collaborative, diverse, bottom-up feedback in order to deliver more comprehensive approaches. The Building Cohesive Teams Design Workshop will use design thinking exercises to structure bottom-up input from diverse demographics, rank, and experience. Design thinking is an iterative approach to developing creative solutions. Design thinking revolves around understanding people and perspectives through hands-on, collaborative brainstorming and experimentation.
To accomplish this missions, Brigades will designate participants for the Building Cohesive Teams Design Workshop. Participants will represent diverse demographics, rank, and experience to inform and develop bottom-up approaches towards building a cohesive culture of dignity, health, and interconnectedness. Participants will attend the design workshop at the EagleWerx Applied Tactical Innovation Center (ATIC).
HISTORIC PEOPLE FIRST EAGLEWERX EVENTS
APRIL 2022: SUICIDE PREVENTION
Soldier Recommendations
1. PEOPLE FIRST BATTLE DRILLS: Consider a two phase operation.
Phase 1: Integrate the Ft. Campbell Holistic Health agencies into existing training events.
Phase 2: Integrate Holistic Health and emotional intelligence requirements/training into BLC/ALC schools in order to integrate the programs into the lowest echelon leader.
2. OPERATION HEAL EAGLE: Consider protecting time off work by building a CIR-like reporting threshold to contact Soldiers off work. Also, suggested to enforce the necessary thresholds to change training calendars which would increase the predictability of training events and lower the likelihood of continuous last-minute tasks.
3. OPERATION EAGLE UNDERSTANDING: Consider having senior leaders provide personal testimony on different Soldier holistic health subjects during different Eagle Tribe/Eagle Day events. Soldiers were really receptive to the CG's in-brief when he gave personal testimony about problems from his own life which lowered the perceived stigma and barrier to entry for them to seek help on their own accord.
4. TREAT MENTAL HEALTH LIKE PHYSICAL HEALTH: Consider educating Leaders and Soldiers about the recourses available through either in-person presentations or a centralized digital source. Also consider resourcing for mental health counselors that can facilitate walk-ins into the accessibility of on-post gyms for physical health.
OCTOBER 2021: COHESION SENSING SESSION
s Soldier Recommendations:
1. Eagle Day 2.0
Consider publishing a new Commander’s intent for Eagle Day and implementing new methods for measuring effectiveness by leveraging bottom-up feedback from individual Soldiers and companies.
Consider designating a quarterly Eagle Day topic in order to focus on better understanding a particular corrosive through small group activities, discussion, and cognitive exercises.
Consider routine opportunities for integrating families into Eagle Day to further integrate holistic wellbeing and community support. Family activities during the school year should be during times when children are out of school to better enable families to participate.
2. TLC: Teach and Train, Listen and Learn, Care and Commit
Consider experimenting with the integration of company-level holistic health coaches to provide junior leaders and Soldiers with activities that promote wellbeing, coaching, and education using data-driven research, and to audit effectiveness of holistic health efforts at the company level.
CG COHESION ROUNDTABLE
CG/DCSM 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and brigade command teams meet monthly to discuss the following objectives:
Objective 1: Recognize exemplary leaders at the squad/platoon level who are leading the way in designing and implementing People First initiatives. Each month, BDEs will nominate a junior leader whose innovative approach to People First deserves the recognition of briefing their event to the roundtable. DIV will select one brigade to present their best practices.
Objective 2: Discuss lessons learned from Eagle Day, Eagle Tribe Time, and Eagle Family Time.
Objective 3: Discuss resource shortcomings limiting success of People First Initiatives.
Objective 4: Discuss planned and potential future People First initiatives.
Objective 5: If time permits, there will be a deep dive presentation into a resiliency programs or Division/Garrison/BACH resource that is available to support leaders in building team cohesion.
EAGLE WELLNESS CHECKS
Leaders across the division will perform annual wellness checks with a Military Family Life Counselor (MFLC). The goal is to have every leader from DIV thru squad leader to have one wellness visit per year. These visits will be used to proactively support leader’s holistic wellness, decrease stigma, and improve the understanding of the MFLC resource.
EAGLE GUARDIAN PROGRAM
The Eagle Guardian Program, currently being piloted in DIVARTY, empowers junior Soldiers with the skills necessary to improve the holistic wellness of their peers and identify, prevent, and intervene against negative behaviors.
Commanders Intent: Promote an environment where peers hold each other accountable IAW the Warrior Ethos and Army values. Create a trained, motivated, and empowered group of Soldiers at the company-level to identify and address negative behaviors through collective efforts involving mentoring, resource advice, peer-to-peer accountability, and bystander intervention.
Concept of the Operation: Select and train junior enlisted volunteers to encourage positive peer-to-peer intervention; promote healthy relationships among peers; create a healthy community in which Soldiers feel safe, and assist in the integration and preservation of the Army values by supporting Equal Opportunity(EO), SHARP, Family Advocacy Program (FAP), ASAP, MRT, Behavioral Health Services (BH), and Ready and Resilient Integration (R2), Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) and the Staff Judge Advocate/Criminal Investigation Division.
EAGLE TRIBE COHESION GUIDE
To download the Eagle Tribe Cohesion Guide clinic HERE.
The Eagle Tribe Cohesion Guide serves as a resource to provide basic knowledge and resources to support the 6 domains or readiness (Mental, Physical, Social, Family/Relationship, Financial, and Spiritual). Although everyone could benefit from the information within the Cohesion Guide, it was created to aid platoon and squad leaders in developing cohesion activities during Eagle Day, Eagle Tribe Time, and Eagle Family Time.
Within the Cohesion Guide each readiness domain is broken into a chapter. The chapter starts with basic information about the readiness domain followed by all of the resources within your unit and on-post to support that specific domain. If you or the Soldiers in your squad need help in that specific domain the guide will help you learn more about it and then point you to the right resources that can support you.
Within the guide you will also find sample vignettes to help support discussion around SHARP, EO, Suicide, 101st Culture, and upholding the Army Values.
Check back frequently as the Cohesion Guide and the People First in the 101st Website will be updated as new resources are developed.
HOLISTIC HEALTH AND FITNESS (H2F)
The Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) System is the Army's primary investment in Soldier readiness and lethality, optimal physical and non-physical performance, reduced injury rates, improved rehabilitation after injury, and increased overall effectiveness of the Total Army. the system empowers and equips Soldiers to take charge of their health, fitness, and well-being in order to optimize individual performance, while preventing injury and disease.
Highly trained, discipline, and fit Soldiers build cohesive teams. Our teams are strongest when we ensure each individual Soldier's performance is optimized. To accomplish this, we are bringing a cultural change to Soldiers' perceptions of training for the demands of close combat. All Soldiers must view their health and fitness as a critical requirement for membership in the Profession of Arms.