At Fort Hood, general wages war against stress

At Fort Hood, general wages war against stress

By Sig Christenson - Express-News
FORT HOOD — Staff Sgt. David Shores spent a sunny, hot Saturday in Killeen barbecuing chicken at a friend's house, his four kids splashing with delight in the swimming pool.

In other years between tours of Iraq, he might have worked on occasional weekends or been in the office weekdays after dark.

“We actually have family time and it's still daylight when you get home, you still have time in the evening to get stuff done,” said Shores, 29, of Frederick, Md. “I feel more relaxed because of it.”

That's the idea these days at Fort Hood, where soldiers have been going to war and coming home for years now.

Well aware of the strain brought on by two seemingly endless wars and an alarming rise in suicides, Fort Hood's commander has taken a novel approach by launching a war on work — or in this case, too much work.

“Honestly, what's happened here is our Army is under stress,” Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch told the San Antonio Express-News. “So anything you can do to reduce stress is going to help prevent suicides. That is my fundamental theme.”

How to do that? GIs have spent at least as much time at war these past six years as at home. Up to seven months of “dwell” time, as the Pentagon calls it, have been spent in training for the next deployment. Aware of the cycle, Lynch has put the spotlight on improving the quality of dwell time.

One simple solution is cutting the hours soldiers work. On Thursdays, GIs have to be out of the office by 3 p.m. They're en route home by 6 p.m. every other day of the week. No training is allowed on weekends or holidays without Lynch's permission.
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At Fort Hood, general wages war against stress