Service with Honor Tour Visits Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard Stations San Francisco-   This past week Army Warrant Officer Jennifer Housholder visited Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco and Station Golden Gate.   As a part of the American300 Service with Honor series, the Warrant Officer shared her personal resiliency rich life story with coasties.   Not from a lectern, but instead up close and personal in the work place.  

"We're blessed to have commands that understand our logic and style of message delivery, the Coast Guard in particular really allows us to bring a guest on deck and have them simply embed with the various duty teams," says Robi Powers, the founder of the program, adding, "our volunteer guests have amazing life experiences that are best served up in a close connected setting."

Whether wounded in combat or training, having overcome disease or having suffered through years of internment the goal of the Service with Honor program is to allow for connectedness and hope to register in the hearts of those who come in contact with the program's guests.  The program also works to deliver guests who service members can relate to, learn from and share with.  

Warrant Officer Housholder, while on her first American300 tour is no stranger to talking about resiliency within the DoD.  She went through formal Master Resiliency Training with the Air Force several years ago and applies a mix of professional learning and personal experience with her message to troops. 

While lecture hall gatherings, power point presentations and computer based training have there place in educating and informing, American300 believes that a balance needs to be in place.  "With the right guest a day spent sharing experience can be more beneficial to a service member then hundreds of hours of computer based resiliency training," says Powers adding, "Warrant Officer Housholder did a fantastic job of keeping it real with the Coasties, based on their feedback we know her message and personal story of overcoming adversity had a profound impact on many and that's our number one goal."

American300, is quick to point out that today's military messaging on resiliency is spot on.

The nonprofit has researched and reviewed thousands of pages of DoD educational materials involved with resiliency training.  The direct result was the creation of this new series of special guest tours says Powers: "We have always brought guests to bases to allow for personal growth through connectedness.   The Service with Honor themed series is simply a natural progression towards bringing guests that are uniquely relevant to our service members. Not everyone is going to become a Wounded Warrior or Prisoner of War, but every Service Member I've ever run into will drop what they're doing to listen to a fellow Service Member that has lived through these types of experiences… and that allows the door to learning and growth to be blown wide open." 

For more on American300 visit:  www.American300.org

American300 is a all volunteer nonprofit dedicated to raising the resiliency of our Service Members, their Families and the Areas of Operation they live in around the world.  No federal endorsement of nonprofit or sponsors is ever intended or implied - American300.org