Sgt. Justin Haggerty, a military policeman, adopts the dog he deployed with after their return.  The bomb-sniffing dog was medically retired after he was diagnosed with PTSD.

For more than 140 years, America remembers it’s fallen heroes on Memorial Day.

“Starting Strong,” a 10- week, unscripted, backstage pass to Army life, premieres on FOX affiliates in 16 markets and on goarmy.com’s YouTube channel, June 2, 2013. (Photo courtesy the Army Marketing and Research Group)

With the number of pre-recording services and commercial-free media options, traditional television commercials no longer reach key audiences as they did in the past, according to Mark S. Davis, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for marketing. In addition, research has shown that the Army’s recruiting demographic of 18-24-year-olds uses media differently.

Given that challenge, the Army Marketing and Research Group began exploring new and innovative ways to engage prospects and their influencers with content that realistically portrays the Army, Army life and the benefits of service.

“We have always known that our Soldiers are the best advertisement for our Army,” Davis said. “But it is difficult to show the lifelong benefits of joining the Army team while countering the many myths about our Army in a 30-second commercial. We needed a new approach that allowed a deeper and unscripted discussion with our key audiences.”

Starting June 2, viewers will be able to see the result. “Starting Strong,” a 10-episode, long-form commercial, will be broadcast in 16 markets and available nationwide on goarmy.com’s YouTube channel.

“Starting Strong” gives civilians interested in becoming Soldiers the chance to live and breathe a military occupational specialty for a week with an Army mentor and actual Soldiers, to determine if Army life is for them. At the conclusion of each episode, the prospect is asked if he or she wants to join the Army.

“Starting Strong” will air Sunday mornings, June 2-Aug. 4, on FOX affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Tampa, Minneapolis, Orlando, Austin, Memphis and Gainesville. Check local listings for times.

After each airing, full episodes will be at www.youtube.com/goarmyvideos, while five-minute webisodes will be available on the goarmy.com “Starting Strong” page.

Members of the 63rd Civil Support Team, Oklahoma National Guard, conduct search and rescue operations in Moore, Okla., in response to the May 20, 2013, EF-5 tornado that ripped through the center of town. (Photo by Oklahoma National Guard)

MOORE, Okla., May 22, 2013 – Oklahoma National Guard Soldiers are assisting law enforcement officials and other responders in the wake of a deadly tornado that killed 24 people and flattened part of this Oklahoma City suburb, May 20.

The Oklahoma Guard’s 63rd Civil Support Team’s 22 Soldiers specialize in search and rescue operations, atmospheric monitoring for hazardous materials and searching for physical hazards such as live downed electrical lines. Many of the unit members have previously deployed and have responded to other natural disasters, including the search and rescue mission following a tornado in Piedmont, Okla., nearly two years ago.

But this mission has special meaning, as many of the Soldiers know people who have been directly affected by this disaster and some even live in the path of the tornado that struck here.

“We get to serve our community at home,” said Army Sgt. Warren Williams, a member of the 63rd CST. “There are a lot of other agencies coming from other locations, but this is personal for us. These are people we know. There are people in the unit who have been affected by this personally, so it’s satisfying to be out here helping our fellow neighbors.”

First responders from across the country have converged on Oklahoma City and Moore to assist with the search and recovery effort. The efforts of the Soldiers and first responders have resulted in more than 100 survivors being rescued from storm shelters where they sought refuge from the tornado.

Although the mission for the 63rd CST is far from complete, the commitment of service to community that has been demonstrated by the Oklahoma National Guard has greatly affected the success in the joint operation between military and local law enforcement officials here.

“We work with the National Guard all of the time; it’s a really good pairing,” said Dr. Joe Holley, head of Tennessee Task Force 1 and an emergency medical services physician. “The military is great at the logistics part of a mission, and we have some special capabilities … that tie together in order to get the job done.”

Oklahoma National Guard Soldiers secure a perimeter around the Plaza Tower Elementary School which was destroyed May 20th by a Tornado near Oklahoma City.

The Walter Reed Bethesda Race Across America Cycling Team trains for the upcoming 3,000 mile race that begins in Oceanside, Calif., June 13 and ends in Annapolis, Md.

Union re-enactors fire a volley against Confederate re-enactors as the Union line begins to crumble during a re-enactment of the Battle of Chancellorsville. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle. (DOD photo by Sgt. 1st Class Raymond J. Piper, Soldiers Live)

The years have changed the battlefield. While there is still much wilderness where the Battle of Chancellorsville took place, the battlefield now is nestled between two highways in Spotsylvania County, Va. Where once only trees and brush covered the land, neighborhoods and homes have grown. Over the weekend of May 1, 2013, on the very soil where soldiers fought and died 150 years ago, re-enactors, spectators and county officials worked to keep the memories of the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Civil War alive.

Civil War historians have called the battle Gen. Robert E. Lee’s “perfect victory.” Outnumbered by a force more than twice the size of his, Lee made decisions that went against conventional military tactics of the time, which benefitted from the timid decisions made by Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The campaign began April 30, 1863, as Union soldiers began to cross Virginia’s Rappahannock River in an attempt to flank the Confederate army.

Hooker believed Lee would retreat before his superior numbers rather than fight, but if Lee did not, Hooker would fight defensively, using his superior numbers to his advantage. Lee, however, opted to attack while Union forces were still in the tangled, brush-choked thickets that covered the area – about 70 square miles – on May 1.

The armies collided at 11:20 a.m. along the two main roads that led into the region, the Orange Turnpike and the Orange Plank Road. The initial Confederate attack pushed back Union troops, but they quickly rallied. The Army of the Potomac continued to gain ground, and two divisions following the River Road neared their objective at Bank’s Ford. Before they could reach it, however, Hooker ordered his units to retreat to the wilderness. Although Union forces had the advantage, they were outnumbered in that area, about 48,000 Confederates to their 30,000 men. The area near the Zoan Church, basically a small clearing in the wilderness, wouldn’t allow for easy movement into battle lines. In addition, Hooker’s other units were too far away to effectively supply reinforcements.

Hooker’s subordinates were surprised and outraged by this change in the plans.

Darrell Cochran, a re-enactor who portrayed a Union soldier with the 3rd Infantry Regiment, said regular army soldiers from the regiment fought on the first day and were in the advance of the Union army. “When the order was given to withdraw, they were, to say the least, disappointed,” he explained, “They had the Confederate army on the run for one of the first times of the war, and they were required to give up the advantage they had gained. Of course, what transpired over the next two days was just another in a long series of defeats that they experienced.”

Through Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s scouting, Lee learned that the right flank of the Union army wasn’t as fortified as the main force and had no support troops. If troops could be positioned to attack that weak area, Lee believed it would seriously disrupt the Union line. Lee then conferred with Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson to develop a plan that would take advantage of this weakness.

Al Stone, who portrayed Lee at the re-enactment, explained in character that “Gen. Jackson had approximately 28,000 troops in his corps, and I asked him how many did he need and he said, ‘I’ll just take all 28,000.’”

For the plan to work, troops would have to travel 12 miles while remaining undetected by Union forces. A recently constructed road aided in shielding marchers from observation by the Union pickets.

Early on May 2, Jackson and his soldiers began the march to flank the Federal Eleventh Corps, leaving Lee with about 15,000 troops. Lee harassed the Union’s main force throughout the day, waiting for the right opportunity to launch the main attack.

“We positioned them as to keep our front opposite Gen. Hooker’s front,” Stone said. “We were just waiting for some action to be reported from Gen. Jackson.”

Ed Mann, who portrayed Jackson, said in character that as they came up to the Union’s right flank, it was clear that Hooker’s troops had no knowledge that the Confederate forces were massing to attack.

“They must have thought we had retreated somewhere. They were sitting around having rations to eat,” he explained. “It appeared that they were having a fun time, maybe even playing cards. It was fairly easy to come around to that right flank. It was just very amazing that Gen. Hooker’s people were so unaware that we were that close.”

Soon after 5 p.m., with nearly 20,000 Confederate soldiers in position, Jackson began the attack that would take the Union army completely by surprise. In fact, the first sign to soldiers of the XI Corps that something was amiss was a rush of wild animals fleeing from the Confederates’ approach. Then emerging from the thicket, letting loose with the “rebel yell,” 20,000 Confederate soldiers descended on the Union forces. The surprise was so complete that most of the soldiers fled rather than fight the charging Rebels. In the waning hours of daylight, the soldiers rampaged eastward toward Wilderness Church and beyond. Any Union resistance was quickly overwhelmed in a grey tide.

Stone said Confederate forces could hear the sound of weapon fire from what they believed was the Union’s right flank and began to attack Hooker’s front line in earnest.

“The purpose of this was, of course, to make certain Hooker didn’t reposition some of his troops from the front over toward where Jackson is. If we demonstrated here, it would keep those troops here,” Stone said.

The Confederate route of Union forces was so complete that they were pushed back two miles. Surprise broke the Union line and once it began to crumble, southern pressure maintained the momentum. A Confederate soldier from Huntsville, Ala., in a letter home described the Union rout: “The enemy fled like chaff before the wind.”

“I think it was such a bold plan that they never believed we would even consider doing it, which helped make it work,” said Bill Frueh, who portrayed Stuart.

Stone explained that it’s generally not the best idea to separate your forces because if the enemy finds out about it, “They can annihilate this portion, then this portion, and pretty soon you’re without an army altogether.”

The rush of the victory was short-lived. Jackson returned from scouting the Union line and was wounded by his own sentries after they mistook him for a Union soldier. He would die a week later of pneumonia, which was unrelated to the bullet wounds, although the wounds took him out for the rest of the fighting.

Civil War muskets are as accurate and can shoot just as far as modern rifles, said Paul Stier, who portrayed the first sergeant of Company K, 3rd Inf. Regt. The only problem is that the weapon is a single shot, and it takes at least 30 seconds to reload it while standing up. The power and effectiveness of the musket would be leveraged against formations with soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, often 10-20 meters from each other as they closed into range to use their bayonets.

“It makes you wonder what made guys in their late teens, early 20s do that,” Cochran said. “In fact, by the end of the war, they were learning how to dig in and entrench because they realized (it was) better for dirt and logs to stop bullets then their own bodies.”

There were no sneaky or complicated flanking maneuvers on May 3. Instead, the battle became a slugging match in the woods surrounding Chancellorsville. Hooker continued to order his troops to fall back, allowing Confederate cannons to emplace on a key hilltop that supported the Confederate infantry’s push forward. By midmorning, southern forces had defeated the final Union resistance and united in the Chancellorsville clearing. Hooker’s units fell back toward the Rapahannock River to regroup and reform their lines.

The Confederate celebration was interrupted with news of a second Union force approaching from Fredericksburg, Va., after Maj. Gen. John Sedgewick’s units had overwhelmed the defenders at Fredericksburg and opened the road to Chancellorsville.

Stuart, now in charge of Jackson’s corps, and his men stopped the Union advance at Salem Church. When Lee realized Hooker had no plans to attack, he diverted troops to bolster Stuart’s corps on May 5. With the additional troops, Lee was able to defeat Sedgewick and his forces, forcing them to retreat across the Rappahannock River.

Although Hooker decided to retreat, the majority of his generals wanted to continue the fight. By May 6, all of the surviving Union troops had crossed the river.

From May 1 to May 6, about 60,000 Confederate soldiers would defeat nearly 100,000 Union troops, but at a high price for both sides. With only 60,000 men engaged, Lee suffered 13,303 casualties (1,665 killed, 9,081 wounded, 2,018 missing), losing some 22 percent of his force in the campaign, as well as his most aggressive field commander, Stonewall Jackson.

Of the 133,000 Union men engaged, 17,197 were casualties (1,606 killed, 9,672 wounded, 5,919 missing), a percentage much lower than Lee’s, partly because it includes 4,000 men of the XI Corps who were captured on May 2.

Such sacrifice made by the soldiers on both sides inspires re-enactors to bring the history of the Civil War to life, so they can educate others, honor the soldiers who fought and died and help keep the memory of the war alive.

Mann, who had two relatives from Petersburg, Va., who fought in the 12th Virginia Infantry, said recreating the battles didn’t really appeal to him, but creating living history and educating people did.

“I can get to young people and older and tell them the true history of the ‘War Between the States,’” he said. “I just felt that this was a great way of portraying and honoring my ancestors, others’ ancestors and veterans in general.”

Frueh’s journey to portray Stuart began with a book. He said he had always been a World War II historian, and when he had surgery on his knee, he decided to learn more about the Civil War. The book he found at the library was “Warriors with Jeb Stuart” by Lt. Col. William Willis Blackford, which inspired him. “When you read a book about the Civil War, a lot of time you will read about battles and horrible stories, but this book was all about the relationships between Stuart and all of his staff members.

“The two things that impressed me … was, first of all, Stuart was never the kind of guy who said go here and do this; it was ‘follow me boys,’” Frueh explained. “He was always at the front. The other thing was the jovial attitude he went about everything. He looked at war as just another game. He loved playing it. From just those two characteristics, I thought that this guy would be a lot of fun to portray.”

Stier finds that re-enacting allows him to see history from a different perspective: “Some folks, if they want to learn, they’ll read a book, some might even go to a battle site and visit it, some might watch a movie to try to understand what took place. This is just the next step in learning about history – full immersion.”

In the end, to Cochran, recreating the battlefield is about helping people understand what the years 1860 to 1865 meant to the United States.

“It took us,” he said, “from being a country of two sections with two different economic systems to being a united nation.”

To watch video features on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Chancellorsville, visit http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOtW_ZDVtiw4gmUNts3INbYZf7LINTRml.

Officially an Army family: 9-year-old Kyle Perry, then-Spc. Andrea Perry, Wayne Perry and 11-month-old Quinn Perry pose on the day of Andrea’s graduation from basic training. She went on to become a combat medic and deploy to Afghanistan, an experience that was especially hard on Wayne. Not only did he fear for his wife, as an Army husband, he had trouble finding the same support network as Army wives and eventually built his own. (Photo courtesy Wayne Perry)

You may have seen him at playgroup or at a spouse club meeting. Maybe he looks a little lost, a bit overwhelmed and very, very lonely. You ignore him at first, but then start to wonder: Who is he? Why is this random guy showing up at events with a bunch of women? So you finally talk to him. He’s a male military spouse, a stay-at-home dad. His wife recently deployed, leaving him alone with their baby for the first time. He’s terrified for his wife’s safety, so scared he can’t sleep at night. He’s also isolated at a new installation, far from family and friends — trapped at home with the kids as a single parent without any babysitters or child care options.

Unlike his female counterparts, he can’t turn to the army of other spouses in the command, spouses who are there to provide an understanding ear or a reassuring hug, who babysit each other’s children, meet up for birthday parties, relax with a group over wine on Saturday nights, or spend an afternoon shopping. He doesn’t have that. There simply aren’t enough male military spouses, and of the few who are on post, he’s the only one who actually goes to the spouse group meetings. He doesn’t always feel welcome, and other than being a parent and being married to a Soldier, he doesn’t have much in common with the group.

“I don’t want to play Bunko,” Wayne Perry quipped to a group of Army spouses (all women) who were gathered for a meeting in Washington, D.C. “And I sure don’t want to do it in my pajamas.” Perry writes a blog, The Army Wife (Dude), and runs a Facebook support page for male military spouses, MANning the Homefront. After his wife, Andrea, a sergeant and a combat medic, joined the Army three years ago, Perry dedicated himself to bringing Army husbands together. He estimates that there are about 20,000 civilian “man spouses,” as he likes to call them, in the Army. With the military set to open additional military occupational specialties to women, Perry said that number can only go up, so maintaining healthy marriages and families is vitally important. In fact, Army leaders have echoed this sentiment countless times, saying strong Army families are the foundation of a strong force.

Wayne Perry and his wife, then-Spc. Andrea Perry, pose on Fort Riley, Kan., on the day she was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January 2011. (The deployment was delayed for two days due to the snow.) Wayne had trouble sleeping and suffered from depression and anxiety while she was deployed, an experience that was especially hard because, as a male military spouse, he had trouble finding a support network. He’s since made it his mission to bring “man spouses” together. (Photo courtesy Wayne Perry)

“We know that resiliency in the Army is key,” he said. “We understand battle buddies, which green-suiters have. You have your battle buddy. Military spouses, military wives, have their battle buddies. They’ve embraced that. We don’t have that. We’re kind of just left out there. But we know that resiliency is key to making a successful marriage work in the military. We make up nine percent of the marriages in the military, but we make up 34 percent of the divorces. That’s a staggering number to me. I can’t wrap my head around it.

“I want to put it a different way: Imagine you have two battalions that are identical. They both have a thousand Soldiers. One battalion is receiving 20 casualties. One battalion is receiving 80 casualties, and there’s no answer for why. That’s what we’re seeing in the marriages of our female service members. This isn’t really about the male military spouse. It’s about our service members and their families.”

Andrea enlisted after they were already married, when their son was nine months old. (Perry also has a now-12-year-old son from a previous relationship who lives with them.) After more than a decade in landscaping, Perry had hurt his back and could no longer work, so Andrea had to find a way to support them. The Army seemed like a natural, obvious choice.

“We thought it would work out great because it would give me an opportunity to stay with the kids and she could do what she wanted to do. We’re not your typical man and woman, so it’s kind of fitting for us for her to be at work and for me to be the one taking care of the kids,” Perry said in an interview. “I hate to put it like this, but she’s a man and I’m a woman as far as our mentalities and our emotions. It’s quite unique the way we’re wired, I guess you could say.”

He was excited at the opportunities that would unfold for her, he freely admits, excited about becoming a member of the Army family, but he was utterly unprepared for what it would mean for him. “There was no one to really talk to. We had family and friends and stuff, but I went from being able to go play poker with the guys on Saturday night to now I’ve got two kids at home and nobody to watch them, so I can’t play poker. I can’t go fishing. I can’t do the things that I enjoy doing. It was Dad on duty all the time. That challenge – I wasn’t prepared for it.”

Between basic and advanced training and a deployment, Andrea was gone for 18 months straight and the loneliness and the worry were crushing for Perry. He even moved to San Antonio for a few months when Andrea was at AIT, just so he and the boys could see her for a few hours once a week. She didn’t want him to come, she said, she wouldn’t be able to see him more than an hour or two a week, but he did it anyway. He missed her too much. And she ended up seeing their son’s first steps, something she would have missed had he stayed home.

Then Andrea deployed to Afghanistan in January 2011. Perry had imagined her staying and working on a large forward operating base, with little exposure to actual combat. Instead, Andrea served much of her tour on an all-female cultural support team. She was not only going out among the villagers, she was assigned to a small outpost in the middle of an Afghan village with little outside communications. The only phones were in a common area, so she and her husband couldn’t even have a private conversation. Perry talked and she mostly listened. He had a hard time talking about his deepest fears, though. He worried he would never see her again, but more than that, he worried she’d be raped. Although Andrea says it never even crossed her mind, the remote possibility kept Perry up at night. All night. Every night. Even three sleeping pills a night didn’t help. He was her husband. He was supposed to protect her, and he couldn’t.

“That was always on my mind. I think that’s something that guys think about a little more often than the female military spouses do,” he said. “You know, your wife is out there. …  It got really bad, really dark (and I dealt with) a lot of mental health issues. … I’ve been learning to cope with it. … That was something I did and continue to do, you know, getting on medication, trying to work through anxiety and depression, talk therapy – counseling – going through that, really just anything and everything. The resources are available, just utilizing them.”

And then Andrea returned, and like any Army family after a deployment, they had adjustments to make. Actually, as Andrea admitted, Perry had to do the most adjusting. He said that’s another major difference between male and female military spouses: When his wife came home, it was to immediately take up her mantle as wife and mother. Even though Perry had been home with the kids for the past year, he didn’t feel as if he could contradict her parenting decisions. She let him continue to discipline the kids, but “she’s got that maternal instinct. She comes home and ‘This is how we’re going to do it,’ and as a guy, you really can’t (object) because you’re telling Mama Bear how to take care of her cubs. That just doesn’t go over well,” he said. Perry, for example, had his younger son in bed every night at seven. After Andrea came home, she let their toddler stay up with her until nine, until he fell asleep on the couch. Now, he won’t go to sleep in his own bed.

During Andrea’s deployment, Perry had started playing video games to keep him occupied during the day. It also helped when he finally found more male spouses at Fort Riley, Kan. At first, all the other spouses (all wives) in his son’s playgroup ignored him. But they gradually opened up and then someone from the USO introduced him to another male military spouse.

“We all decided, you know, let’s go ahead and try to do this,” Perry said. “And then with my knowledge of social media, I just started reaching out to more and more guys

Male military spouses from Fort Riley, Kan., tour the Tallgrass Brewery in Manhattan, Kan., in March 2011. It was the first time the men had gotten together after Wayne Perry (fourth from left) created MANning the Homefront, a Facebook support group for military husbands. Perry said man spouses, as he likes to call them, don’t fit in with Soldiers and they don’t fit in with Army wives, so they need to band together. (Photo courtesy the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley)

and started finding them by the boatloads. (There were actually 502 of them at Fort Riley in July 2011.) It was quite quick that I went from ‘Am I the only one?’ to ‘Holy cow. There’s tons of us.’

“Most guys (are like) ‘I don’t need a battle buddy. I can do this. I’m a tough guy.’ Deep down, we do need that. We need other guys to go to the park with, to grab a burger and a beer with, to go to a ballgame, just to have somebody who can share our sentiments: You know, ‘I’m struggling that my wife is gone.’ ‘You too?’ ‘Me too. I didn’t know other people did that.’ We get our support in different ways than women.

“We see guys getting together to brew beer, to play golf, to grab a burger, to go to a ballgame. That’s what we’re finding. That’s the community. That’s the resiliency. You don’t necessarily get the counseling from another guy by sitting down and having a heart-to-heart conversation. Maybe it’s on the way to the ballgame. Maybe it’s at the ballgame. This is the first time that male military spouses have had a voice on a large stage,” he continued, noting that male spouses have another new online community named Macho Spouse, and that the 2012 Military Spouse of the Year was actually an Air Force husband named Jeremy Hilton.

Although having that community of other male spouses has made a huge difference, Perry has recently had to step back from his blog and the Facebook site a bit as his family prepares to move to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. He’s already been in touch with the spouses’ club on Lewis, however, and plans to get back in the thick of things as soon as they settle in.

“I’ve proposed to them creating a subgroup within their spouses’ club for guys,” he said. “Just let the guys go to dinner once a month. It will be sponsored by the spouses’ club, but the spouses’ club doesn’t do anything except get numbers out of it. They don’t pay for anything. The guys just go to dinner. But you get that word out and then you have the leadership from the spouses’ club.”

“It makes it easier on both of us,” Andrea said, “for him, to be able to make contacts and ask questions and kind of know people before we get out there, and then I don’t feel as much pressure because I know he’s already talking to people. I know he feels better, so it makes me feel better.” Perry and other military husbands have made a lot of progress, she continued, but she still wishes more men would come forward. “In the Army, women have come a lot farther than the men at home have come.”

While Perry admits that he had his doubts about Army life during Andrea’s long deployment, he’s embraced it now, thanks, in part, to his newfound battle buddies. “It truly is an honor to be a military spouse,” he said. “I think just the community we live in, it’s remarkable. A lot of people take it for granted, but it’s an extremely awesome community to be a part of.”

(Editor’s note: For more information about male military spouses, visit The Army Wife (Dude) at http://thearmywifedude.blogspot.com/ and Macho Spouse at http://malemilspouse.com/.) 

A Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Master Resilience Trainer-Performance Expert uses biofeedback software to provide one-on-one performance enhancement training to a member of the Army’s 2013 Warrior Games shooting team. (U.S. Army photo by Brian B. Feeney, Ph.D., Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness)

“In shooting matches I used to shoot 40 rounds in 20 minutes, even though I had up to 75 minutes. It was just shoot and look at my placement, shoot again, look again. And when I had a bad shot, I had trouble getting over it and keeping my concentration,” said Maj. John Arbino, a member of the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Va., and of the Army’s shooting team competing in Warrior Games at Colorado Springs, Colo., May 11-16.

“Now I start with five minutes of slow breathing; every part of me has to relax before I start. Once my pulse is calm and my breathing is under control, I put a pellet in and take my first shot; then two more slow breaths, and with each subsequent shot I take two slow breaths before taking my finger off the trigger; reload, then two more breaths before I put my finger back on the trigger,” he continued.

Arbino learned this technique of using deliberate breathing to control his physiology from Lisa Hutchison, a Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Master Resilience Trainer-Performance Expert. She started working with the shooting team in October, and with Arbino in December. He is wheelchair-bound with secondary progressive Multiple Sclerosis, and is one of 10 active duty Soldiers from warrior transition units around the country who, along with two retirees, form Team Army’s Warrior Games shooting team.  Hutchison grew up shooting, received her master’s degree in sports psychology at the University of Tennessee, and then began working with CSF2.

“When I learned about performance enhancement at my first camp, I was skeptical,” Arbino recalled. “But I changed my mind when I saw Lisa teach the techniques in group sessions, then work with us individually during breaks to give us personal feedback and prepare us for the next match. … She even hooked us up to biofeedback software and I saw my breathing and pulse as waves on a screen while I shot. I could see exactly when I was breathing too hard and taught myself how to even it out. I became a much better marksman,” he explained.

“When I first started working with Lisa at (Fort) Benning, (Ga.), my scores were in the low 380s,” Arbino said. “At the last camp at Fort Bliss, (Texas), I had a personal best of 395. In competitive shooting, this is the difference between going home early and shooting in the medal round.”

Teaching the skills is about asking questions according to Hutchison.

“I ask the shooters to walk me through their thought process during the match, and I compare that to what they told me in the past. I may get: ‘I was doing great until I suddenly felt tired.’ That means the athlete needs to work on energy management. Or I may get: ‘I was distracted by people talking behind me.’ That means he needs to work on attention control,” she added.

If, as with Arbino, she hears: “I have trouble getting over a bad shot,” the answer is to refocus and concentrate on the process goal, not the result. “That means you prepare the same way you do for a good shot the next time,” Hutchison said. There’s no difference between your first shot and your last shot, you prepare for each shot the exact same way each time.”

With their big day of competition at Warrior Games upon them, Arbino said he and his fellow shooters are drawing upon CSF2’s Performance Enhancement training once again. “The competition … is just another day of shooting. I will put everything out of my mind and just shoot.”

To learn more about performance enhancement and other pillars of CSF2, visit http://csf2.army.mil/.

The retrograde of goods and equipment from Afghanistan is underway. Join Gail McCabe for a “Closer Look” at what it means to logisticians, when the U.S. Military says it’s “Moving Out.”