Stanley, E. A. & Jha, A. P. (2009). Mind fitness: Increasing operational effectiveness and building warrior resilience. Joint Force Quarterly, 55(3), 144-151.  (full text pdf)

ABSTRACT:  Today’s complex, fluid, and unpredictable operational environment both demands more from the military in terms of mission requirements and exposes troops to more stressors and potential trauma than ever before.  This article outlines the harmful effects of stress, introduces the idea of mind fitness as the basis of stress resilience, and explores working memory capacity as an important correlate to mind fitness.  We describe a new training program for both improving operational effectiveness and building resilience to the stressors of deployment:  Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT)™.  This program includes techniques and exercises which previous research in civilians has demonstrated to be effective at enhancing the capacities central to mind fitness, such as mental agility, emotion regulation, attention and situational awareness.  This article explores the possibility that these exercises achieve improvements in mind fitness by changing brain structure and increasing neural efficiency.  We summarize the results of a pilot study of MMFT with U.S. Marines Reservists.

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