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Expeditionary Center launches 'Ground Up Challenge'

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center
JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Visitors to the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center can expect to become more intimately familiar with "the ground" than they were expecting if they happen to be on the campus at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. or 4 p.m. respectively.

At those designated times, all military members within the Center, student or faculty, cease operations and hit the ground to perform either a one-minute set of push-ups or crunches, depending on the time of day.

"I was surprised at the enthusiasm that the students had," said Senior Master Sgt. Richard Woods, a maintenance course instructor here who has been incorporating the fitness routine into his classes since September. "I had expected a lot of grumbling," he added, noting that his course is routinely filled with senior noncommissioned officers in a classroom setting. "Perhaps it was that all the instructors were coming to the classroom to do the exercises as well with the students."

The initiative is called the "EC Ground Up Challenge," and is aimed at promoting a culture of superior fitness within the building, according to the organizers. According to Master Sgt. Jennifer Best, the program's point-of-contact, she was given five points of emphasis: Keep it simple, ensure the program impacts everyone, from "Excellent" to "Poor" scorers, make the program sustainable, change the culture of the organization to "The U.S. Air Force is Fit-to-Fight" and ensure that the mindset becomes ingrained within all EC members.

"I wanted to propose a program that would fit in with what we are already doing here at the EC without causing additional work and time on our staff," Sergeant Best said.

"Emphasis was placed on the four measurable items that we are already tested on: Run, Push-ups, Sit-ups and Abdominal Circumference."

Brig. Gen. Richard Devereaux, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center commander, spelled out the new policy in a letter distributed last month whose purpose was to not only focus Airmen on being "Fit to Fight," but also "promoting a culture of fitness excellence commensurate with our standing as the Air Force's center of excellence for expeditionary training and education," he said.

"We wanted to do something that would shake up our culture," noted General Devereaux, "I wanted a program that was both symbolic and substantive. The 'Ground Up Challenge' puts a focus on fitness throughout the duty day; it gets people talking and realize fitness is just part of being an Airmen."

In addition to the daily fitness challenges, the EC also has recognized Eagles scoring 95 or above on their fitness tests as part of a "Fitness Honor Roll" program as well as recognizing them at quarterly awards ceremonies. There is an organizational incentive for EC cadre to perform at their peak as well; an "Eagles Fitness Trophy" is awarded to the school or section within the EC achieving the highest fitness score, with no failures, during the previous quarter, according the general's policy letter.

Finally, as way of measuring the progress of the new program, all military members of the EC will participate in a quarterly mass practice fitness test to demonstrate the importance of fitness across the EC as well as offer individual Airmen and leaders a chance to assess their performance.

Though performance of the EC staff is used to quantify the results of the center's program, students attending the EC are also included in the initiative as a way to send the message of the importance of fitness within an expeditionary mind-set, according to Sergeant Best.

"I recently mentored in an Academic Instructor Course class where we had students from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and (the Expeditionary Center's Detachment 1) at Scott AFB, Ill.," Sergeant Best said. "They embraced the challenge and didn't hesitate to knock out their push-ups and sit-ups. Even the civilians in the class were participating. That speaks volumes considering they did not have to."