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                         October 4, 2002

USMA CEP officer helps train Army Stryker Brigade

Maj. Greg Burbelo, the executive officer of the U.S. Military Academy’s Center for Enhanced Performance held an outreach leader-training program recently at Fort Benning, Ga., for personnel from the Army’s newest Stryker Brigade, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.

The Stryker Brigade is the Army’s second medium brigade of wheeled armored vehicles which have been recently renamed Stryker.

The project started in early August, when Burbelo traveled to Fort Benning to hold performance enhancement instruction and hold a team-building exercise for 89 key leaders of the brigade, during their senior leader training conference.

Following that conference, in early September, Burbelo flew to Fort Lewis, Wash., where he conducted six hours of performance enhancement instruction for 220 leaders from three of the Brigade’s six battalions and one of five separate companies. To help change the process from a legacy force to an interim force, the unit-leadership, along with TRADOC, designed a "tactical leaders course."

Part of this course involved leader development training, focusing on the key mental skills for which the CEP is the Army’s subject matter expert.

Performance enhancement training consists of systematic mental training of concepts and skills for harnessing a winning mindset, Burbelo explained, which results in giving individuals the best chance for optimal performance.

"So much of what we do as warfighters requires mental and emotional strength and a warrior ethos, yet rarely do leaders ever get formal blocks of instruction on building mental toughness," Burbelo said. "The Stryker Brigade is making the investment of training in the intangible concepts of confidence, concentration and composure which not only lead to greater unit effectiveness but also a productive unit climate.

"The bottom line is we are teaching leaders the skills to maintain confidence despite setbacks, focus amidst distractions and thrive under pressure."