The United States Air Force (USAF) is one of the three military sections of the Department of Defense. The strength of the military has always depended on the strength of soldiers within its ranks. The robustness enhances cognitive functioning and physician capability, which are critical to military resilience and health. Mindfulness represents a state of mind where an individual is considered attentive to the present moment without judgment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss mindfulness in United States Air Force.
Mindfulness training has been used by the military, where it has helped with relaxation, lowering blood pressure, becoming more focused and alert, and better sleeping. The practices enable the soldiers to tune their bodies for better performance and improve relationships with others. Additionally, mindfulness has helped reduce pain and strain related to post-traumatic stress disorder and post-deployment. According to (Stevenson, 2022), mindfulness has been proven to be a promising mental health intervention for soldiers to help them deal with the psychological toll that deployment imposes on their mental health. The soldier is psychologically prepared to face high-stress situations, danger, and high performance while also having to leave their loved ones behind at home.
The practice is done using meditation which may be done using a set time of at least ten minutes of uninterrupted time in a quiet place. Mindfulness meditation is best done after one wakes up, which is a good time since the mind is probably quiet now. It may also be done before bedtime so the military can know if the method helps them sleep better. After performing mindfulness for some time, one may realize some changes in their life. As days pass, one may notice that they will experience a sense of inner relaxation and calmness with regular practice (Stevenson, 2022). However, thinking about some things is completely normal during mindfulness as long as a person is aware of these thoughts and lets them pass without judgment. The more the soldiers practice, the more they can let unwanted thoughts pass without judgment which helps them lower stress and gain rewards from mindfulness.
United States Air Force is keen to assist its military personnel in improving their mental well-being. According to Champion et al. (2018), the person-unit of the USAF sought to help its military personnel to manage inevitable challenges brought about by military service by providing them with access to mindfulness training through Headspace. The goals of the USAF were to look for an innovative approach to support its service personnel with overall well-being and needed evidence to demonstrate potential solution impacts. Collaboration between Headspace and USAF was designed to execute an assessment of the impact of Headspace within special forces units. Service members involved in headspace intervention enjoyed several positive outcomes in their well-being and mental health over the assessment. Members involved in mindfulness meditation reported sleeping an additional 16 minutes per night (Champion et al., 2018). The soldiers indicated having more energy throughout the day, felt social interactions were less affected by negative emotions and stress, and enjoyed enhanced focus at work.
Mindfulness training benefited soldiers with working memory, attention, and mood after the sessions. Just as physical fitness is essential for overall body health, mental exercise is essential for overall brain fitness. A mentally fit person can recover from stressful situations quicker, solve complex challenges, and handle highly demanding environments (Vermetten et al., 2020). The soldier benefits by becoming active-duty military, training their minds, and helping better prepare for high-stress combat situations.
Mindfulness can be helpful in military environments in several ways and is recommended throughout the military experience for various reasons. Mindfulness during training helps the soldier stay safe when learning new tactics and skills. It enables them to have better memory to recall difficult qualifications and tests (Bostock et al., 2019). The soldiers must be able to block out distractions in tune with their physiology to perform best in their shooting tasks for weapon qualifications. Management of their mind and body experience of performance anxiety during evaluation stages is critical to be able to fire a weapon consistently and accurately. Mindfulness in theatre is essential as it enhances awareness in a combat environment. Judging experiences and mind wandering can create unnecessary stimuli that may interfere with the soldier’s ability to connect with the resources they need to accomplish their task, respond to a crisis, and avert disaster. Soldiers are less resourceful and lethal in combat when their minds wander around, and they cannot focus fully in certain situations.
Mindfulness helps in garrison, where military personnel can build stronger relationships with friends and family to recover and restore their energy. The practice helps minimize tough emotions and make it easier in their ways of communication and intimacy, as this is essential to help them heal. During the transition from military work to civilian life, there may be difficulty in coping with the changes leading to stress. Such problems may influence how soldiers communicate, which may shift their focus and attention from friends and family members. However, practicing mindfulness can help them to be more attentive to their family and can understand when there is a problem with communication in the family.
In conclusion, combat environments are mostly characterized as uncertain volatile, ambiguous, and complex, which can easily lead to sensory overload. Better tolerance is gathered with mindfulness allowing one to hone their skills of attending to the right stimuli at the right time. Mindfulness is used in the United States Air Force to improve the mental well-being of its service members. Mindfulness is recommended by the soldered during military training, in the theatre, in garrison, and during the transition from military environs to home life.
References
Bostock, S., Crosswell, A. D., Prather, A. A., & Steptoe, A. (2019). Mindfulness on-the-go: Effects of a mindfulness meditation app on work stress and well-being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24(1), 127. Web.
Champion, L., Economides, M., & Chandler, C. (2018). The efficacy of a brief app-based mindfulness intervention on psychosocial outcomes in healthy adults: A pilot randomized controlled trial. PloS One, 13(12), e0209482. Web.
Stevenson, R. M. (2022). Brief mindfulness training for Canadian public safety personnel well-being. Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being, 7(3), 88-92. Web.
Vermetten, E., Granek, J., Boland, H., Berge, E. T., Binsch, O., Carmi, L., & Jetly, R. (2020). Leveraging technology to improve military mental health: Novel uses of smartphone apps. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, 6(S1), 36-43. Web.