Air Force photograph by Jet FabaraNancy Koch-Castillo, new 412th Test Wing community support coordinator, met with Louis Zamperini during the Edwards Wingman Day Dec. 10, 2012.
Amid a challenging fiscal and personnel climate, the Air Force recently created a Community Support Coordinator position at 71 Air Force installations to help Airmen and their families withstand, recover from and grow in the face of stressors and changing demands.
The position was developed to operationalize the four pillars of Comprehensive Airmen Fitness–mental, physical, social and spiritual. In response to the follow-on report from the Fort Hood, Texas, incident in 2009 where 13 people were killed and 29 others were injured, the Air Force wanted to create a focal point for installation resilience programs.
“I’m here to ensure the four pillars are being met for every one of our base personnel,” said Nancy Koch-Castillo, Edwards CSC. “I hope that having a centralized focal point for everything concerning resiliency will make it easier for people to find the information they need.”
The primary responsibilities of the CSC are to serve as the executive director of the installation Community Action Information Board, chair of the Integrated Delivery System, and act as focal point for Comprehensive Airman Fitness to include all things resilience.
The objective of the CAIB is to identify and resolve issues impacting the readiness of the Air Force members, civilians and their families. The primary focus is to promote a positive way of life while enhancing the ability to function as productive Air Force community members. Top leadership chairs the CAIB (vice commanders at Air Force and MAJCOM; wing commanders at installation level), allowing for high visibility and the capability to maintain well-informed perspectives on a multitude of human factors affecting the Air Force environment. The IDS is the working group formed as the action arm of the CAIB. These two structures exist at the Air Force, MAJCOM and installation levels, drawing together a multidisciplinary team working in collaboration to resolve and impact readiness issues.
As part of Comprehensive Airman Fitness efforts, each installation will send a team of four to Master Resilience Training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.
Once qualified as Master Resilience Trainers, the team will in turn train Resilience Training Assistants from each unit on a base, according to Jennifer Treat, Air Force Materiel Command’s CSC. The number of RTAs trained in each unit will depend on the unit’s size, though the recommended number from Air Force is four per unit.
“Installation CSCs will be a tremendous asset to Airmen and their families,” Treat said. “But the RTAs serve as a familiar face, right from your own unit, trained and ready to help.”
