1st MARDIV activates force preservation team to foster resilience, readiness

U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, officially established a force preservation team as part of the division’s primary staff to foster resilience and to better support the 22,000 Marines and Sailors in the Blue Diamond.

Following a new division order, the force preservation section officially took charge of the effort earlier this year and will lead the way in supporting service members through some of the unique challenges of Marine Corps life.

“What we’re really doing is realigning existing functions to ensure the Marines and Sailors are getting the best possible support, as fast and as effectively as possible,” explained Lt. Col. Pat Holland, the division’s first assistant chief of staff for force preservation. “We already see successes in our working groups and in our feedback across the division.”

Marines and Sailors face challenges in every operation, exercise, and day-to-day task. Time away from family, physical and mental fatigue in the field, and constantly evolving operating environments take significant tolls on the bodies, brains, and hearts of service members. The old phrase, “no one promised you a rose garden” is truer today than ever before. The challenges of the Marine Corps are difficult, but also provide even more meaning to the mission of the nation’s premier crisis response force.

The evolving challenges Marines and Sailors face require evolving solutions, sometimes creative ones, and 1st MARDIV hopes to achieve success through the new force preservation team. The team, consisting of uniformed and civilian professionals, will support personnel across the division through a wide variety of resources and experience. The new team serves as a portal for unique support such as mental and behavioral health, personal counseling, safety, and other forms of resilience expertise.

The force preservation team will, “strengthen, educate, protect, and track and resource,” according to the new division order, and the section will “share best practices from across the division to facilitate success.”