Summit kicks off Comprehensive Airman Fitness for Space Command

  • Published
  • By Maj. Vanessa Hillman
  • Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Members from around Air Force Space Command gathered Sept. 20 to 23 at Peterson Air Force Base to make final preparations for the Command's Comprehensive Airman Fitness campaign.

"Comprehensive Airman Fitness is really targeting our most important weapon system and that's our folks, our young Airmen and their families," said Jean Michel, Air Combat Command Community Action Information Board executive director.

"The goal of much of what we're doing is to give them the skills so they can navigate through all their challenges and come out on the other end even stronger."

Comprehensive Airman Fitness is comprised of four pillars of fitness; physical, social, mental and spiritual.

"We chose these four pillars to capture our focus," Michel said.

"Bottom line is there is more to being fit than just being physically fit. All of these pillars contribute to our overall fitness. "

"The importance of having resilient Airmen is to provide the necessary tools and resources to assist our Airmen in handling any type of stress or adversity," said Col. Donnalee Sykes, AFSPC deputy surgeon general.

Sykes explained that Comprehensive Airman Fitness takes care of the entire force, is not just military members on active duty.

"When we think of Airmen, we think of the 'big A' so it is our Airmen, their families, civilians and our folks that work with us day-to-day," she said.

"Our family members are key supporters of our active duty, Reserve, National Guard and civilian workforces. While they may not deploy, they are the ones who hold everything together on the home front to allow our Airmen to forward deploy in support of our national interests," Sykes said.

"Additionally, focus is being put forth to specifically address issues encountered by our family members while their spouse is deploying. Simply put, an Airman can't do their job effectively at home station or deployed if their family is not being taken care of."

Comprehensive Airman Fitness is an umbrella that pulls together programs from all the different agencies on a base such as the fitness centers, Airman Family and Readiness Centers, chapels, medical facilities to provide one-stop shopping to develop critical life skills people need to achieve balance.

"We have asked our bases to consolidate all marketing and advertising using an online application," said Nancy Brewer, chief, Airman, Family and Quality of Life Branch.

"We hope that people will use this one link to learn about classes and programs being offered at their installation and to take advantage of registering for classes and receiving timely reminders. More information will be coming out soon as bases implement this process," she said.

For AFSPC members, they'll start seeing more Comprehensive Airman Fitness information come out at their work centers in the near future.

"Starting in January 2012, we'll deliberately focus on one of the Four Pillars of Fitness every quarter," Brewer said.

"We'll celebrate the Physical Pillar from January to March, the Social Pillar from April to June, the Mental Pillar from July to September and the last but not least the Spiritual Pillar will wrap up the year from October to December. Headquarters AFSPC will provide suggested activities, a quarterly video, talking points and articles as it pertains to each pillar."

 

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