Intro

Please click the "follow" button in the Supporter section below (you can register just with your initials) if you support the development of free fitness programs for military families overseas. The FamFit proposal spells out one way of achieving that aim, and provides examples of where family fitness programs are currently operational and effective. The FamFit proposal is currently being reviewed by the office of the Secretary of Defense, Armed Forces leadership, and Congress (see their letters in the "Blog Contents" section below). Please help us show grass-roots support!

The following was a summary of the FamFit issue which I submitted as a topic for inclusion in the 2010 European Quality of Life Conference. If approved, the FamFit proposal & issue will be featured and discussed by Europe's military commanders there:

DESCRIPTION OF THE ISSUE:
The Military Family Fitness (FamFit) Proposal proposes unrivalled quality of support to military families through free fitness programming, and is well-worth the government's investment to offer all families living overseas. Military families overseas need more programs they can depend on to provide reliable and quantifiable support. The adage "We recruit Soldiers but we retain families" attests the inseparability of a healthy family relationship and the overall effectiveness and long-term retention likelihood of the military Soldier. Keeping military families constructively engaged and socially connected will help insure their Soldier counterparts maintain focus and drive, on the battlefield or with loved ones at home. In the KMC, Stuttgart, Grafenwoehr, Vicenza, and Aviano are now nearly 10 volunteers, all professionally certified, who simultaneously yet completely unbeknownst from one another felt obliged to volunteer hundreds of free hours of their professional fitness training services to benefit military spouses and families. No single action could serve to more demonstratively prove the military community's dire need for such services. These critical services should never have to depend on volunteerism to survive.

Key characteristics of FamFit (The entire proposal can be found here):
1. Involves at onset only the twelve largest overseas Army/Air Force Installations. FamFit's success in significantly reducing costs associated with issues such as obesity, depression, divorce, illicit drug use, gambling, and illness, and its success in significantly improving overall community fitness levels, will justify its implementation in domestic or smaller installations.

2. Proposes hiring two additional GS-11 Health Educators within Health and Wellness Centers supporting overseas Army/Air Force Installations. The Health Educators will, within 20 working days of employment, research and justify whether to outsource their installation's fitness training to a civilian agency, or to create NAF positions for trainers (Additional hiring provides more employment options for overseas military spouses). Health Educators will recommend a programming structure they believe will prove most effective in building fitness levels of their installation's military families, and can include any combination of certifications in their Trainers. Health Educators will be responsible for periodic completion of fitness progress assessments, and for formal submission back to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports detailing strengths, weaknesses, and lessons learned, prior to fiscal year close. This will enforce Health Educators' accountability, will stimulate pursuit of excellence through competition between U.S. Forces Installations, and will allow mutually beneficial knowledge-sharing of optimal fitness programming after the Council posts fitness programs' details online. Installations exhibiting superior fitness programming get recognized & rewarded.

3. Limits each installation's fitness contracts to a one-year trial in order to eliminate any perception that the Department of Defense endorses any one fitness program or contracted organization. At the close of each fiscal year, contracts will be at the mercy of free market; any employee holding any particular mix of fitness certifications and any organization who can contract fitness training services is eligible for a one-year trial. Quality programs and quality certifications will rise to the top but will be forced to stay competitive. The military family stands to benefit the most from such a programming concept.

FamFit can also be expanded to involve Warrior Transition Units (WTUs). A separate paper proposing FamFit's integration with WTUs is found here. WTU soldiers crave the consistency and security of a daily exercise regimen and the certainty of long-range fitness programming provision. Personalized attention and progressive fitness programs increase morale, enhance positive lifestyle outlook, and improve individual perceptions of care, inspiring soldiers to invest more in their recovery and accelerate comprehensive success. The opportunity to lower long-term care costs and improve standards of living for these soldiers should motivate the government to directly address and prioritize provision of quality fitness training.

In recommending designation of 2009 as the Year of the Military Family, Congress sent a clear message that the nation recognizes the extraordinary challenges and sacrifice of its military families. FamFit gives the government an economically viable method of paying them back. Giving military parents more options for healthy choices and supporting the provision of healthy activities for their families satisfies two of the four objectives of First Lady Obama's "Let's Move" Task Force on Childhood Obesity. No other program or service with such so nominal a price tag could deliver as qualitatively comparable a measure of improvement on self-esteem, health, social support, and mental stability for the military family as free Family Fitness Programming.

APPROACHES THAT HAVE BOTH SUCCEEDED AND FAILED:

Have to address happenings in the KMC only, because regrettably I don't have the time required to research and present family-friendly fitness programs which have been popping up over the European theatre (Note Stuttgart's family fitness program recently featured in the media).

True Family Fitness courses* currently running and succeeding, except where otherwise noted:

1. KMC Classes which currently allow the presence of kids:
CoreFit at Ramstein CYS
Stroller Strides at Ramstein CYS
Prenatal at Ramstein CYS

2. KMC Classes urging participation of parents with kids:
Mom Pop & Tots in Landstuhl


Failures of Family Fitness courses in the KMC

Family fitness courses need command support, influence, and defence. Renee Champagne taught fitness classes for an extended period of time at Vogelweh Youth Center, but did not feel supported by her chain of command. She moved her classes to Ramstein.

It is a failure for the organization when only one instructor is handling an overload of fitness classes, attempting to meet the community's need and experiencing some degree of burnout. There is a huge demand for True Family Fitness courses in the KMC, and besides the one exception Moms Pop & Tots course in Landstuhl (offered through SkiesUnlimited USAG Kaiserslautern), Renee Champagne is the only qualified instructor available. Her command should be scrambling now: They need to increase the amount they are willing to pay qualified instructors who teach family fitness related courses. They need to pay to send some of their employees to family fitness certifications so that someone (or perhaps a group of people) can seamlessly take over Renee's clientele following her imminent departure. Identical scenarios occur frequently at military posts all over Europe, and this is why FamFit proposes full-time positions for qualified instructors. It is the military family that suffers when they are left with no fitness instructor, a cancelled course notice, and no other options.



*The KMC also offers many fitness (gymnastics, dance, martial arts, yogakids) and sports groups exclusively for kids at a nominal price. These aren't considered true family fitness courses for the FamFit proposal's purposes, but certainly are needed and appreciated by the community, and I didn't want to give the impression I am overlooking them.


RECOMMENDATION FOR CONTINUED HANDLING OF OVERSEAS MILITARY FAMILY FITNESS COURSES:

Introduce more economically feasible family-friendly fitness programs for overseas military families through implementation of FamFit. More programs are needed which allow parents to exercise in the presence of children or in conjunction with their child. Family friendly fitness programs are working tremendously in the KMC, drawing crowds of participants, and even changing lives (we have testimonials from participants). But KMC family fitness courses still need expansion and leveraging to insure their continued success. Military families stationed overseas need cost-free family fitness programs. The FamFit proposal is certainly not the only (nor even perhaps the best) way of achieving that end, but should serve instead as a red alert that we need to be speeding toward fulfillment of that end!


Ginger Sladky, Certified Fitness Trainer, FamFit Author


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Recent Updates
Employees at the Aviano AB fitness facility have a free Moms and Tots course that is taught by a volunteer. Aviano also offers a free spinning class for family members which is also taught by a volunteer - it allows its participants to exercise with their kids on the other side of a short wall, insuring constant observation and child safety. Aviano had a stroller aerobics class in the past, it was also organized and run by a volunteer, but they are currently looking for a trainer for that course. Interestingly at Aviano, when volunteers have issues making it to class, their training is taken over by enlisted soldier staff at the fitness facility. SGT Robinson, who works at the Aviano gym, claimed that he personally intended to provide this free training for the stroller aerobics class, and mentioned that he was also considering introducing a prenatal/postnatal fitness program for spouses but that it wouldn't allow toddlers/infants in tow.

It seems to be a workable solution when enlisted personnel employed at fitness centers are involved in the free training of military families. Enlisted soldiers working at fitness centers for the most part hold a fitness-training-inclusive Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). When they are reassigned, their "slot" (job position) theoretically is overlapped/filled by a replacement soldier with the same MOS and training background. Fitness training gets continuity. More soldiers with that fitness-related MOS could conceivably be assigned should a family fitness program become more popular than existing assigned soldiers can handle on top of their other duties and responsibilities.

Local Ramstein Air Force Base Services Division management has been extremely supportive in allowing Military Family-Friendly Fitness Programs to be offered at Ramstein Air Force Base. Services Division now offers fitness programs (yoga, prenatal, and core-strength), which allow participants to bring their kids (currently ranging in age from 3 months to 5 years) with them to class. Details concerning these programs are another recent update to the FamFit proposal (See Section III, Point 2,B). Unfortunately participants are charged a fee in all cases.
There is progress, however, and clear examples not only that Family Fitness programs work for military overseas families, but that they are in high demand. By all early indications, family fitness programs are capable of being safe for all involved, are feasible for overseas implementation, are enormously effective in enhancing participant fitness levels, and by all accounts (see testimonials) impact entire families' perspectives regarding fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

At Ramstein Air Force Base Southside gym, FREE indoor cycling classes (currently 9 with 3 more planned for January), body sculpt classes (2), ab/core classes (2), a step class and a kickbox class (with 2 more planned in January) are currently offered. But all instructors are volunteers, and none of them receives funding for their certifications, music, clothing, or personal childcare. Childcare is not provided for class participants; children are prohibited from being in the facility during a class (although a separate parent room is provided, it is unsupervised).

Although it is commendable that most military fitness facilities, at least in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, offer a room containing exercise equipment (normally a treadmill and an elliptical machine, sometimes a bike) equipped with toys and sometimes a TV for childrens' entertainment, more can be done and needs to be done for military overseas families. Many family-centered fitness programs are already offered free to stateside-based military families. In October 2008, DoD contracted the Armed Services YMCA to offer free "family" memberships with free child watch programs at local YMCAs to many military families living stateside (32,000 of which already actively participate in the program). Now it is time to provide the same free services to Military families stationed overseas who arguably stand to gain far more in health and wellness benefits (read proposal for detailed explanation of the overseas military community need for such services).