Optimal Response Initiative (ORI) Military Version

Day to day service is demading and rewarding. It's even more rewarding when you have the support you need. All too often, however, I know this is not the case. In the name of being Hoo-Ah and tough and able to endure and always adapt and overcome, one is not invited, nor do they feel compelled, to discuss any of their difficulties. During service, we are taught how to lock and load, fire, and clean our weapons. We are taught how to run hard and run fast. We are trained to survive when the stakes are high! However, we are not necessarily taught to thrive during our active duty days or the days that follow. Three times as many service members who have been killed at war are ending their lives when they return home. Why is it that our best men and women are serving - and serving well, only to return home to an overwhelming sense of hoplessness, doubt, and loneliness? I believe it is, in part, because Warriors are trained to fight for freedom, but Warriors are not trained to fight for their own lives and thrive upon their return. Therefore, ORI is written for all of you - active duty service members and veterans in order that you would receive the tools required to survive and thrive during your active duty career and beyond! I wrote ORI to provide some tools and create a structure from which a foundation of stability can be experienced within. It's a book full of ways to cope: ways to think, manage pressure and respond in optimal ways - even in and especially in the least optimal situations of life. "Leave no man or woman behind" starts with you - today. Hoo-Ah Kristia Seymour, Psy.D. (USAF 199-1995) Wife of a Ranger (12-93)