You might not think of “leadership development” when you enter a chapel vestibule on an American military post in Germany. However, some of USAG Stuttgart’s more intriguing work is currently taking place there. The garrison has subtly changed how it approaches resilience and mental preparedness, eschewing the kind of conference-room meetings that soldiers endure and eventually forget by Thursday in favor of something more intentional, intimate, and, to be honest, more difficult to plan.
What Stuttgart currently refers to as the Building Spiritual Relational Trust program, or BSRT, is at the heart of the change. It took the place of the previous “Strong Bonds” program, which had advantages but had also grown a little formulaic over time. Chaplain-led and purposefully off-site, the BSRT concept envisions staff rides to memorial sites and scheduled retreats focused on real connection rather than teambuilding boxes to tick. It’s probably still up for debate whether or not it consistently fulfills that promise. However, the design concept is more realistic about what soldiers and their families truly require: time, space, and a structure that allows communication without being constrained by rank.
This is more important than it may appear on the surface. Stressors that civilians never consider are faced by military communities throughout Europe, including Stuttgart. frequent moves that deprive couples of local friendships and professional networks. deployments with little communication that take place across several months. kids who switch schools every two or three years. In locations where they might not understand the language, military families constantly repair the social fabric that ordinary people gradually create over a ten-year period. Cumulative stress like that doesn’t necessarily manifest as a mental health issue. Frequently, it just appears as stress, distance, and tiredness.
The clinical infrastructure supporting these programs has been under increased pressure from the Department of Defense at the same time. Instead of being housed in a separate facility that soldiers associate with stigma and paperwork, the Stuttgart Army Health Clinic now employs embedded Internal Mental Health Consultants, who are clinicians stationed directly within units.
The Army Substance Abuse Program’s Employee Assistance Program and the SUDCC complete the local picture, and the Military Health System just published new Mental Health Guidebooks that are intended to make asking for help less intimidating. In contrast, the My Army Post App provides locals with a direct route to nearby resources without requiring them to know who to contact or where to go.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that the military is reaching conclusions that civilian healthcare systems have been battling for years: that people won’t use services they don’t trust or don’t know how to get, and that access is only half the issue. Going off-site, issuing plain-language manuals, and integrating consultants are not startling developments. However, these are significant advancements over the previous state of affairs, and they are taking place in a society where the demand is strong and persistent.
There is still a useful gap that has to be acknowledged. Residents of Stuttgart must travel three hours to U.S. Army Hospital Landstuhl for true emergencies, such as acute psychiatric crises or inpatient care. When anything is urgent, that’s a long way. It’s important to keep an eye on how the garrison handles the transitional period between a crisis requiring inpatient care and a check-in at the health clinic. The geography is real, but so are the program modifications.
Stuttgart’s actions seem to indicate a change in the military’s overall understanding of readiness. The Department of Defense has been stating more and more clearly that psychological fitness is just as important to the mission as physical fitness. That argument has previously been advanced, usually following a poor statistical year. Now, instead just laminating a new poster for the hallway, some installations are really rebuilding their programs around it. Stuttgart seems to be among them.
