The Life of a Warrior initiative encourages healthier way of life Published Oct. 2, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev., -- Military service members, friends and family participated in a warrior trained fitness workout event at the Warrior Fitness Center here Sept. 26. The warrior trained fitness event launched the Life of a Warrior initiative, which is a concept developed by Col. Barry Cornish, 99th Air Base Wing commander, to challenge Airmen to seek excellence in the four pillars of resiliency - physical, mental, spiritual and social. The idea is to have Airmen make the choice to invest in positive growth rather than choose a destructive lifestyle. Fifteen hand-picked Airmen acted as Life of a Warrior cadre for the warrior trained fitness workout. They helped ensure the Airmen participating in the workout pushed themselves to complete the exercises. "Today was more of a shock and awe, an initiation for everybody who came out today," said Master Sgt. Dana Vaughan, 99th Air Base Wing community planner and warrior trained fitness cadre. "Everyone out here was breathing hard and sweating hard as well." The workouts weren't only about personal success but also included the need for good teamwork and trust. "There are individual events on the stations and partner events so not only are you working hard for yourself, but you have to work for your partner on the other side of you as well," Vaughan said. Vaughan sees events like warrior trained fitness as a way to help instill good habits in Airmen, fortifying the four pillars of resiliency that are at the core of the Life of a Warrior initiative. "If [Airmen] have good practices in nutrition, habits or lifestyle, they are living the [Life of a Warrior] concept," Vaughan said. "It's about a lifestyle change, not a fitness improvement. It's an adaptation of what you are doing both on and off-duty, your personal time and your professional time. It all results in an Airman, uniform or not." The workout was conducted in five high intensity interval training stations each designed with a different set of workouts incorporating cardio and strength training with minimal rest time in between. "It's so quick and powerful that you should be pushing out as hard as you can for 20 seconds because you do get a rest," said Missy Cornish, warrior trained fitness instructor and wife the 99th ABW commander. "The first 10 seconds of rest you are saying, 'alright this is really long.' The second 10 seconds of rest you are saying, 'OK this is pretty good.' By the third and fourth time, when you move to the next station, you're [exhausted]." Staff Sgt. Daniel Cox, 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintenance craftsman and warrior trained fitness cadre aid the event offered more than a typical physical training session. "[Warrior trained fitness] gives people an alternative and shows Airmen that you can have fun when working out," Cox said. "It's not always just mandatory fun." Sixty Airmen here have been nominated by their commanders to represent and help develop the Life of a Warrior campaign and support future events. "These [Life of a Warrior cadre] all came forward and are at the core of [the initiative]," the 99th ABW commander said. "These are [Airmen] that live this way every single day. We have some tremendously talented Airmen that are doing all of the right things and live the life of a warrior every day." The colonel defines a warrior as someone who strives to achieve his or her maximum potential. "The Life of a Warrior is a mindset. It's everyday getting up and thinking about how to improve in your physical strength, mental focus, spiritual connectedness and social adjustment," he said. "'How do I do things to strengthen myself in all of those attributes?' That's part of the core of who we are and what we do." The Life of a Warrior initiative will be included in future events from October through March 2014. The next warrior trained fitness session is scheduled for Oct. 16 at the Warrior Fitness Center. For more information on future warrior trained fitness sessions, call the Warrior Fitness Center at 702-652-4891.
