This episode features an interview with COL Nick Gist, Head of the Department of Physical Education at West Point, class of 1994, and Dr. Jesse Germain, Director of Kinesiology at West Point, class of 1987. In this episode, COL Gist and Dr. Germain talk about changes in the culture of physical education over time, the importance of the Physical Program Assessment Plan, and how cadets can manage dealing with mental toughness in servitude.
This episode features an interview with COL Nick Gist, Head of the Department of Physical Education at West Point, class of 1994, and Dr. Jesse Germain, Director of Kinesiology at West Point, class of 1987.
COL Nick Gist is a bronze star recipient, serves as the Master of the Sword at West Point, and holds a PhD in Exercise Physiology.
Dr. Jesse Germain is a retired Colonel. He holds a PhD in Health and Human Performance and is an Academy Professor.
In this episode, COL Gist and COL(R) Dr. Germain talk about changes in the culture of physical education over time, the importance of the Physical Program Assessment Plan, and how cadets can manage dealing with mental toughness in servitude.
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Key Quotes
“We have five domains under the H2F concept that the Army's provided us now. And I'll leave physical readiness off to the side for a second. The other four non-physical domains are mental, nutritional, sleep, and spiritual. And so I think those form the foundation of our readiness. If that foundation is strong, then the physical readiness will follow. I hope that can make sense for folk, but if we can define our purpose through spiritual readiness and commit to our values, if we can commit to a strong nutritional plan that fuels us for what our requirements are, both cognitively and physically, if we can engage in activities in connectedness through relationships that enhance our mental readiness, that foundation. And of course now I’ve left out maybe the most important, sleep readiness. If we can commit to the discipline and the sleep hygiene that leads us to a proper recovery, then we can place on top of that a pretty intense physicality that leads us to a readiness and lethality across our force where we can achieve greater things across any formation of any size.” - COL Nick Gist
“West Point remains a very, very special place with very, very special people. Like any organization or institution, we have our challenges, but I think your listeners can rest assured that their military academy continues to produce really, really strong, young leaders who are gonna go out to our army and do really special things.” - Dr. Jesse Germain
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Episode Timestamps
(01:19) USMA DPE’s mission, vision, and core values
(06:42) About the kinesiology major at the academy
(10:51) Changes in the culture of physical education
(13:11) West Point H2F program
(17:59) Dealing with mental toughness
(21:00) Army Physical Program Assessment Plan
(28:07) Fitness education culture at USMA
(30:04) The future of the physical education at West Point
(33:58) Reach out to the DPE!
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Links
MAJ Nargis Kabiri
West Point Association of Graduates
Narrator: Hello, and welcome to the WPAOG Podcast. This episode features an interview with Colonel Nick Gist, Head of the Department of Physical Education at West Point, class of 1994, and Dr. Jesse Germain, Director of Kinesiology at West Point, class of 1987. Colonel Nick Gist is a Bronze Star recipient.
Serves as the Master of the Sword at West Point and holds a PhD in Exercise Physiology. Dr. Jesse Germain is a Retired Colonel. He holds a PhD in Health and Human Performance and is an Academy Professor.
In this episode, Colonel Gist and Dr. Germain talk about changes in the culture of physical education over time, the importance of the physical program assessment plan and how cadets can manage dealing with mental toughness in servitude.
Now please enjoy this interview between Colonel Nick Gist, West Point class of 1994, Dr. Jesse Germain, West Point, class of 1987, and your host, Major Nargis Kabiri, West Point class of 2010.
[00:01:11] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Good morning everyone. Welcome. Today I am joined by Colonel Gist and Dr. Germain, and we are going to talk about the Department of Physical Education, Colonel Gist, please tell us a little bit about DPE, core values, mission and vision.
[00:01:24] COL Nick Gist: Nargis, thanks for that question because it's actually at the forefront of most of the discussions I have with either anyone new to our organization or with those who aren't familiar with the organization.
So I'll start with our vision. And it's what we aspire to, and that is to cultivate a culture of physical fitness excellence. Simple aspirational. I would like to think fairly well known. So that's what we're gonna continue to strive for. Ask Cadets to strive for, have our faculty and staff strive for our values are what we believe and what is kind of the foundation for our behaviors.
They're threefold. I'm grateful for those that came before me, that established these at the core of who we are, and that is respect and dignity, communication and trust, one team, one mission, one standard, and those really are what we stand for, both within our relationships and the department. Our external relationships with the core of cadets, and then of course, any partnerships we have here at West Point and beyond.
Um, and then finally our mission, and I won't, I won't read the whole mission, but I wanna highlight our mission as it is at, at West Point, is to develop leaders of character. For our army and our case, we wanna develop leaders of character who are specifically physically fit and mentally tough. And so that's what we focus on each day when we come to work.
It's what we do, it's what we're proud of, and it's a privilege to do that here in the Department of Physical Education.
[00:02:43] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Thank you for that. That's truly inspirational and just aspiring. So how does D P E promote holistic health and optimal physical performance?
[00:02:50] COL Nick Gist: Yeah, so I didn't read our mission statement, but in our mission statement we talk about promoting holistic health and optimal physical performance.
And how we do that here in the department is establishing that culture right away during cadet basic training, or Beast Barracks as it's been called for many, many years. And that is through our, the first thing we do every day after we count our people and do accountability is we do physical readiness training.
And it may not be the most important thing we do every day, but we do it every day. And I'd like to think we do it pretty well during cadet basic training led by cadets. And so that's the initial sort of acculturation to who we are, the physicality of our profession, and we can attach to that all the other elements and attributes that are important, such as your presence, uh, your bearing, your discipline, your commitment to an ethos.
And then throughout the 47 month exp. Each cadet takes seven physical education classes, and these aren't maybe the traditional PE classes that most would think of. Certainly our graduates are familiar with them. Courses such as boxing, combatives, survival, swimming, a military movement. Course, which at its core is gymnastic, but it's really about movement lethality as we progress across the 47 months.
And then we have a few courses that more specifically focus on holistic health and fitness through elements of exercise physiology. Healthy behaviors and then the practical application of those behaviors in a fitness setting, either as an individual, small teams or larger teams. And then I would add to that we do frequent fitness assessments.
Uh, one of those is of course the Army's combat fitness tests, which each cadet and everyone in uniform takes twice per year. It's relatively new. Um, and then the indoor obstacle course test, which all graduates are very familiar with, it's an incredible assessment of not just physical fitness and all of its components, but also mental toughness, grit, resiliency.
And then finally, every cadet at West Point is an athlete. And what that means is everyone participates in one of three levels of athletics, whether that's core squad or intercollegiate at the club squad level. Or the company athletics level, which is essentially intramurals. So those are the three prime functions.
Physical education, curriculum, fitness testing, and then competitive sports.
[00:05:05] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Wow, thank you very much. So you mentioned a couple of our cognitive classes, Dr. Germain, can you please go into what does that look like and what is the overall implementation to help with the learning domains?
[00:05:18] Dr. Jesse Germain: First of all, thanks for having me, Argus.
I appreciate the opportunity to join you. Our PE cognitive courses, uh, that colonel Gus alluded to are fundamentals of personal fitness and the Army Fitness Development Course. The personal fitness course focuses on an individual's ability to assess his or her readiness in each of the H two F domains, consider his or her strengths and weaknesses, and then.
Self prescribe a plan to address some shortcomings that he or she may see to move toward more optimal performance. The other cognitive course is Army fitness Development, and that's geared more toward preparing our emerging lieutenants for their roles as fitness leaders by equipping them with some of the knowledge.
To plan and implement and ultimately assess unit physical training in various environments that they might find themselves as young lieutenants. Both of the courses prepare cadets not only to become, uh, a warrior athlete, that colonel gets addressed. Themselves, but also they prepare 'em to lead their subordinates toward more optimal physical performance.
So I think the cognitive courses that Colonel Gist has implemented through his course, directors are doing a really good job of meeting that mission that he talked about in terms of developing physical fitness and mental toughness.
[00:06:30] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Thank you for that. That's just absolutely amazing. As the director of kinesiology, let's go into that major a little bit.
So from what, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was established in 2013. How was the need determined and how has it grown over the last decade?
[00:06:44] Dr. Jesse Germain: Yeah, that's a great question. We actually, um, received academic board for approval of the major in 2007. We started the major in 2008, and we graduated our first class in May of 2010.
The genesis of the program really started with Brigadier General Jim Anderson, who was a longtime director of D P E and Master of the Sword, and he was really a visionary, who back in the early seventies, saw the need for a sport science major at West Point, and that's when he first broached the idea with the academic.
Board once academic majors were introduced at West Point more than a decade later, it still took almost 20 years for uh, D P E to get the kinesiology major approved. And Greg Daniels, Brigadier General, Greg Daniels ultimately got that approved. You convinced the academic board back in 2007 to add the kinesiology major.
And while it hasn't really grown since its inception due to an imposed cap and some resource constraints under which we find ourselves at the academy, um, Colonel Gist has implemented a number of changes since the beginning that's firmly established kinesiology as what I would consider one of West Point's most sought after academic majors.
We have a culture of hard work, respect, communication, and trust. Some of the core values in D P E, and I think that's really personified or manifested in the kinesiology majors and even other cadets in the core, referring to the program as the Knn family. So we've been in existence for about 13 years now, since we graduated that first class of 2010, and we're looking forward to continuing to execute the program
[00:08:23] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: for the core.
Thank you very much, sir. And, and it's extremely competitive on my side from admissions. I get cadet candidates constantly asking about the major and, and I let 'em know, Hey, you can do it, but it's competitive. Colonel, guess sir, please tell us how does DPE balance the demands of producing leaders of character who are physically fit and mentally tough, as well as having the kinesiology major?
[00:08:46] COL Nick Gist: I mean, I think it's, it's primarily balanced by the people, right? The people. The most important part of our organization here in the Department of Physical Education, and we're at our core. We continue to focus on movement and education and the intellectually based aspects of our, as Dr. Germain referred to our cognitive courses, we also can achieve disciplinary depth in a very relevant human performance based academic major.
And so our physical education program kind of goes broad. Of course, it's a part of the core curriculum. All cadets take those courses and then we can balance that with a very relevant, militarily relevant, performance-based academic major that looks in depth at performance psychology, physiology, nutrition, and those aspects of readiness as they relate to soldiers athletes.
But really all of us, right? Everybody has a body. Meaning we all have to move, we all have to be efficient. We all have to perform those activities of daily living. But of course in our profession we want tactical athletes that, that it can do that at a lethal level. And so I think combining physical education and kinesiology makes it obviously makes sense cuz we've done it.
But it's also where, where many schools across our nation, and this isn't a hit on them, I suppose, have gone away from physical education. We've maintained that balance of having that basic physical activity. So, Course load while also being able to achieve intellectually deep and broad in our aspects of kinesiology.
So, uh, we do it through our people, we do it through expertise, we do it through practical experience, be that operational experience for those that have served in uniform, but also for those that have, have achieved high levels of education, completed research, and combining those ele all of those elements into, you know, every aspect of our program brings the strength that we have today.
[00:10:36] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Wow. Yeah, I really like that every body has a body and where there is people, there's culture. So sir, since your time in the Army, can you explain how the culture of physical fitness has changed and how. We've implemented those changes into the D P E curriculum to help prepare the future leaders
[00:10:55] COL Nick Gist: of character for many, many, many years.
The essential elements of our program have to maintain a scientific basis and a military relevance, and so as. Warfare evolves. As the army evolves and its program demands, its requirements, uh, we've continued to evolve again while keeping the essential elements of our foundation in place continuing to evolve.
Whether that's through appropriate risk mitigation measures or through, uh, changing elements of our fitness assessments or bringing into play more of what we learned through the science of human movement and human behavior. Although it hasn't changed a great deal, uh, we've been able to add components, one of which is through the holistic health and fitness concept that the Army's brought in, but also through our curricular changes, not so much in scope.
And not so much in our objectives, but in terms of, you know, how we deliver, what experiences we provide cadets so that those experiences lead them to a place where their knowledge and the practical application here at West Point puts them in a best position to, uh, initially lead platoons. And so, so what changes have occurred in culture over my 29 years?
I think the biggest, if I go, you know, way back to the beginning when I first arrived at West Point, and I think about where we are now is. We naturally tend to train for the test, right? And although I'm not a believer in training for the test for many years, I think it was since 1980, the Army Physical Fitness Test communicated what was important.
So, In a lot of ways, not in all ways, but in a lot of ways. Um, and so it was somewhat limited in its scope and there were incredible leaders in our army and in with whom I served, where we did many other things to broaden our fitness perspective and our elements of our performance. But now with the Army Combat Fitness test and more holistically, H two F, of course it's in the name.
We have a broader perspective on fitness, whereas if someone were to just focus on that army combat fitness test, the majority, if not near all elements and components of fitness are there. So training for the test would lead us closer to the high physical demands. Of our military occupational specialties, our branches, our areas of concentration such that we have a better fitness culture.
Now add to that, and so here, I'll just, I'll jump right to H two F right now if that's okay. Cuz really H two F is about changing culture. Uh, and that is, We have five domains under the H two F concept that the Army's provided us now, and I'll leave physical readiness off to the side for a second. The other four non-physical domains are mental, nutritional, sleep, and spiritual.
And so I think those form the foundation of our readiness. If that foundation is strong, then the physical readiness will follow. I hope that can make sense for folks, but if we can define our purpose through spiritual readiness and commit to our values, if we can commit to a strong nutritional plan that fuels us for what our requirements are, both cognitively and physically, If we can engage in activities and in connectedness through relationships that enhance our mental readiness, that foundation, and of course I'm now, I left out maybe the most important sleep readiness.
If we can commit to the discipline and the sleep hygiene that leaves us to a proper recovery, then we can. Place on top of that, a, a pretty intense physicality that leads us to, uh, readiness and lethality across our force where we can achieve, you know, greater things across any formation of any size. Wow.
[00:14:28] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Yes. Thank you so much for that, sir. H two F has become a huge program since its inception of in 20. So Dr. Germain, just kind of a two-part question. How has the D P E curriculum changed due to H two F, if at all? And then also just overall, how has the curriculum changed since you've been in the department?
And please tell our audience a little bit about your history and, and your longevity with the department as well.
[00:14:52] Dr. Jesse Germain: Sure. So my history department started in 1983 when I came here as a 17 year old. Plebe continued on as a young rotating military officer in the, uh, mid nineties. Uh, and then I was fortunate enough to come back to d P E as a more senior officer.
In the early two thousands, I guess I would say, the curriculum. How's the curriculum changed due to H two F? The primary change from my perspective, and Colonel Gus alluded to this just a bit a moment ago, involve our two cognitive courses that I spoke about earlier, PE two 15 and PE four 50 under Colonel Gus's leadership.
And guidance. The course directors for those particular courses have done a really terrific job implementing the readiness domains that Colonel Gus talked about into both lecture content, which is obviously important for, you know, coursework. But I think perhaps more importantly in terms of the self-reflective assignments for the cadets in the core, the psychomotor and especially affective elements of our curriculum are best addressed.
In some of our instructional courses, um, but our basic instructional courses including like survival, swimming, boxing, and combatives. But those courses don't really get to some of the other H two F domains, and I think the se self-reflective nature of the course. Director changes that they've implemented to those cognitive courses.
Really force cadets to do that reflection, to recognize and acknowledges the weaknesses that they may face, especially as it relates to that affective domain. And then to make the changes accordingly to improve performance as it relates to DPS curriculum and how it's changed really throughout the.
Course of my tenure. I think the primary change has to do with the military relevancy that Colonel Gifts talked about just a few minutes ago. When I came here in the early eighties and even long before that, for our more experienced graduates, we remember a, a curriculum that was focused. Primarily on three things.
Aerobic capacities, anaerobic capacities in developing mental toughness. And what I think we have now is a much greater emphasis placed on the functional fitness skills that are relevant to the warrior tasks and individual soldier requirements that are necessary on the 21st century battlefield. And I think some of those examples are manifested in the changes.
And again, some of our experienced graduates will remember. Courses like gymnastics courses, like basic swimming courses like wrestling, and those courses have now evolved into what we call military movement combat water survival, and combatives. And so I suggest respectfully that the primary change has been that significant shift toward a more military relevant curriculum as opposed to one that was initially focused or previously focused.
I would suggest on aerobic anaerobic, Capacities as well as mental toughness.
[00:17:40] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Yeah, absolutely. And just on a personal level, I had the most mental growth in d p e anywhere from, um, used to having a fear of heights and water or, you know, even potentially getting punched in the face. Um, that's what we do. We face adversity, we face fear, and we become mentally tough.
So let's just say I am a cadet and I'm struggling with the element of mental toughness. What would be the best advice you'd have for me? First as a cadet and then maybe as a parent of a cadet?
[00:18:11] Dr. Jesse Germain: Excellent question. And first, let me, uh, recognize to our listeners that Nagas might have initially had some fear, but she ultimately became an elite boxer who was nationally ranked and recognized across the country.
I would suggest respectfully nagas that mental toughness is really, it's largely a subjective construct. And it's very, very difficult to measure. I think the best way for cadets to address it is through that consistent self-reflection that I mentioned. We've now implemented in some of our cognitive courses, and specifically a self-reflection on their performance with an honest consideration of what they were experiencing emotionally as they got into the boxing ring, what they were feeling as they negotiated the tasks at hand in survival, swimming or in military movement.
Whether they were, again, in the boxing ring, on the combatives mat, or doing. One of the survival swim gates with increased repetitions and with the faculty involvement and interventions, what ultimately is gonna happen is that those feelings of fear and those emotions of self-doubt, they're inevitably gonna start to wane, right?
And the cadets Grit Cadet's, perseverance, that Tenacity Colonel gis talked about, and an ability to exercise a more mentally. Tough postures ultimately going to emerge. So for our cadets coming in, our new cadets coming in that you're welcoming in the admissions department, I would encourage you to encourage them to be self-reflective, to recognize that we all come in with respective strengths and respective weaknesses.
But it's that self-awareness through self-reflection and that consistent addressing of the emotions and the feelings that we experience that will ultimately lead us forward. To, you know, that grit, that perseverance, that mental toughness that Colonel gis talked about in the outset, that's included in d p's mission.
[00:19:58] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Thank you for that, sir. And I'm very humbled by your words, so thank you for that. Criminal guests. So explain the physical program assessment plan and how it enhances the curriculum continuously.
[00:20:09] COL Nick Gist: There's no doubt assessment is part of everything we do here on a daily basis. You know, and I could maybe loosely define it or correlate it to the Army's tactical, operational, and strategic levels, right?
And so at the tactical level, We're constantly assessing ourselves through reflection. We're also assessing ourselves through mentorship programs and teaching improvement programs. You know, we team teach a lot in dp, so having more senior or even more junior faculty provide feedback is an essential part of our, I guess, tactical level assessment or our daily assessment.
And at the operational level, of course, we're assessing cadets through grades. That's an essential part of education and certainly of higher education. So we're assessing them through grades. And it's not just a, B, C, D, F grades, it's also the verbal feedback they receive, the tactile feedback they receive.
The emotional feedback they receive. Uh, that's so much a very real part of our courses in physical education and that effective domain. And then of course, each year, annually, at the end of the year, we do assessments of injury rates, injury types, and how we mitigate risk. Uh, we assess each class. Each course director reports an assessment of each class reports relative strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities and challenges that we have, and that results in.
You know, could be relatively minor, quick changes to a course, quick changes to how we teach. And then at a more strategic level, uh, we examine our program learning outcomes, and we have four of those in our entire program. So very quickly go through that. And the first one focuses on the expertise in our department.
The second is the content and experiences we provide cadets. And then third is the, the delivery, how we do that and where we deliver it. So our facilities. And then last would just be the pursuit of excellence, and I highlight the pursuit of excellence here at the end as our final. Uh, program learning outcome.
Cause it's really that pursuit of excellence. Where we can examine our strengths and weaknesses, how we can sustain strengths and look at mitigating those weaknesses or bringing those weaknesses up to levels where they're no longer weaknesses. And that's more of a strategic challenge. And, and we do that through each of our functions in the program.
And so an assessment plan, I think, when properly implemented, has elements at each of those levels and is a constant effort. And really falls under a bigger effort here at the academy and its overall assessment program as part of our accreditation process.
[00:22:41] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Absolutely. And sir, you mentioned something about the mentorship programs.
For me personally, I had so many mentors in D P E when I was a cadet, which really, you know, aspired me to apply for D P E post command, but not just as cadet when I was on the staff. There's also, as you mentioned, the mentorship programs for staff and faculty. So can you go into a little bit more of the mentorship programs and what is all available and out there?
[00:23:06] COL Nick Gist: Sure. And I think mentorship programs in any setting have both informality and formality, right? So from a, at an informal level, you know, our staff and faculty of 71 folks, I would offer to you, and you know, this Nagas, having served in the department, and of course Dr. Germain led this department for so many years, is that we have both confident.
And humble teammates everywhere you look and through their humility, their selfless servants, and through their confidence, they can share their experiences, their expertise. And so there's a lot of informality of course, in mentorship. But the more formal, we have a teaching assessment and improvement program where a member of our faculty reaches out to another member of the faculty and requests their examination and assessment of their teaching.
And that can be. Very focused or can be more general, and we really permit a lot of leeway in that program, both in the selection of that mentor or that facilitator, as well as the elements that could be examined from round to round or from term to term. So there's a lot of flexibility in, of course, in the informal portion, but there's a, we also allow flexibility in the formal portion.
And then I think there's a natural mentorship that takes place with, you know, our senior permanent military faculty and the junior rotating faculty. And then of course, in the diversity of our Title 10 civilian faculty. You know, we have folks that have been here and they're, that are in their 33rd, 34th, 35th years, and then we have.
A newer portion of our faculty that are in their first decade of service to the military academy and to dp. And so I think there are many ways to establish those relationships that can enhance our ability to deliver the curriculum and our ability to continue to develop leaders of character.
[00:24:50] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Thank you, sir.
And you had also mentioned one of the learning objectives being expertise. Dr. Germain, can you go into what is that expertise and knowledge base that the cadets come out with after their 47th month experience and what soldiers can expect from their future platoon leaders?
[00:25:06] Dr. Jesse Germain: Sure. I, I think the, uh, the essence of the expertise they come out with, um, from a physical program perspective, this is not withstanding obviously the academic excellence and the character excellence and the military excellence that they derived from the other programs at West Point.
But from a physical program perspective, I think what they come out with is an ability not only to self-assess and adjust. Their own physical performance, whether that's, uh, health related skills, uh, or perhaps more importantly from a military standpoint, the functional fitness skills necessary to complete those warrior tasks we talked about.
But also, and perhaps more importantly, their ability to convey that information down to their subordinate soldiers so that they too can improve their own personal physical performance. I don't think it's any secret now that societally across the United States were less fit, were less active. Were less engaged in some of the physical activities, um, that you and I and Colonel Gist and your listeners perhaps engaged when they were younger.
And so that's a challenge that Colonel Gist and his faculty face every day. As, as each new successive class comes in, we face additional challenges in terms of some of the nutritional requirements, some of the activity requirements, some of the mental toughness requirements. And so I think that kind of loops it back into the H two F initiative that the Army had has recently.
Introduced, it speaks to some of the changes that Colonel Gist has directed here in the department relative to not only even our cognitive courses, but even our basic instructional program courses that will address where we talk a little bit about, Hey, how do we eat right? How do we do the things from a nutritional standpoint that will fuel us for optimal performance on the battlefield?
How do we ensure that we get the sleep? What do we do? What are some of the strategies that we can employ to ensure that social media of our soldiers is. Turned off and they're getting the right amount of sleep. And perhaps maybe most importantly, how do we address that spiritual component? And spirituality is a very challenging aspect.
Each domain in H two F has its own challenges. Um, s spirituality, uh, spiritual readiness, if you will, is probably the most. Difficult to address with our students and to on which we might mentor to them. And I think that's because things like physical readiness, mental readiness, sleep readiness, nutritional readiness, they're somewhat objective in the nature of the metrics with which we, we look at those things.
But spirituality uniquely belongs to each person individually. And so there's no generally accept. Its standard or threshold for success. What I think D P E can do and does, I think effectively is not only addresses some of those other aspects of H two F, but I think we also help cadets find a way toward figuring out how to optimize their performance through each of those domains to include the challenging domain of spirituality.
[00:28:01] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Absolutely, sir. That's, um, such a, an important element and we, you know, we talk about the nonphysical aspects and you know, with that, what has been your experience with the fitness education culture at Mont? How has that grown or developed? Over the past years,
[00:28:18] Dr. Jesse Germain: I think we've done a great job, a really fantastic job, and Colonel gis talked about this at length earlier in the podcast, but I think we've done a really good job of recognizing the importance of more than simply an ability to do pushups, do sit-ups and run two miles.
The implementation of H two F, I think what it's done is it's helped us to understand as an army, as a larger army, but certainly here at West. Point and even down to the physical program, it's helped us to understand that we not only have to address the muscular and cardiovascular systems, but we also have to look at the other overall aspects of health of our soldiers as well.
Um, and the importance of, you know, some of those other domains that we looked at are critical not only for the individual soldier, but remember the mission of West Point is. Develop leaders of character who are gonna go out and lead soldiers and fight our nation's wars. And so that increased emphasis on some of those other domains, maybe.
Most saliently now the mental health aspect, not only for our active force but for our veterans as well, um, has been a critical evolution from my perspective in terms of how our fitness education has changed here at West Point and even in the larger army and is servicing our cadets and our soldiers and really our veterans in a more effective
[00:29:34] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: and efficient Absolutely, and, and thank you very much for that.
Resources that we have at West Point tied in with dpe, but not necessarily under d p's umbrella is, um, the center of enhanced performance. When I was a cadet, that was generally just for core squad athletes, but now it's, it's open to all cadets, all, uh, as we say, every cadet is an athlete and as well as our mini chaplains.
West Point has 13 chaplains, and so that also hits the spiritual domain. So that's, uh, right on. And so I think what the audience is also thinking, what is the future of D P E? Anything from resources, curriculum, personnel, where, where do you see it going in the future? And this is a question for both of
[00:30:15] COL Nick Gist: you.
Yeah. So the, what's the future of D P E? So, uh, that's something that's constantly on my mind and probably if you could see my desk or my whiteboard, you would see elements of that focus on the future all the time. So first and foremost, it's always gonna be on the people here in the department. And we all can't serve forever.
So within N D P developing leaders and developing the subject subject matter expertise and providing opportunities for growth, uh, we absolutely need to continue to do that. And I think I would go back to, you know, the larger domain of physical education our country has changed over the last several decades.
And so the folks that may be positioned to jump into the profession of physical education here at West Point has also changed. And so we want to continue to both amass the talent here in the department, uh, generate leaders within the department and continue to build the team. From a facility standpoint, we want to continue to modernize, um, what we have.
Arvin Cadet Physical Development Center is fantastic. Uh, generally speaking, the fields, the spaces we're able to use outside are fantastic, although there's not a lot of flat space available at West Point, I guess you can go vertical, but. There's not a lot of flat space here in the mid Hudson Valley on at the, the West Point on the Hudson River.
That's certainly a challenge and, and something we continue to examine and, and have addressed. And then I think our curriculum, as I said before, through our assessment, we're always examining ways in which we can maintain a strong scientific basis and also maintain a military relevancy. And so, I think the strength in the future, there is always the, the generation of fresh ex operational experiences through our rotating military officers.
Approximately 60% of the faculty here overall at West Point are those rotating military officers who are fresh off of a master's degree. They're fresh out of company command. They're fresh out of. That operational part of the army. And, and so bringing that back here on a consistent basis, 5, 6, 7 officers at a time each year for the Department of Physical Education ensures that our future remains relevant from a people and facilities standpoint.
And I think our deputy often talks about, uh, force and facilities and functions, the three Fs. Uh, I actually like how she says that it makes it easier to remember, um, that we're always examining the future of the Department of Physical Education.
[00:32:35] Dr. Jesse Germain: I would simply say attend to the old saying, the more things change, the more do they stay the same, you know, for our listeners, I think sometimes, uh, graduates more recent than even older graduates may start to feel a little bit of angst about, you know, where is D P E going?
Where is the academy going? But, you know, past this prologue, and I think what the future holds for d p E is precisely what it's held in the past. Tremendous rotating military officers like yourself, like Captain Nicholas Gus, who was here, you know, many, many years ago and like other great RMOs that we've had in the past and that we currently have now.
Fantastic. Title 10 civilians, strong Leadership and Mentorship toward Physical Fitness and Mental Toughness. I think that, um, we can rest. Easy knowing that Colonel Gist and his leadership team are doing what they're doing, not only in terms of the infrastructure and the footprint and the modernization of facilities and things of that nature, but perhaps more importantly in the delivery of the physical program curriculum to our cadets that are producing.
Warrior leaders of character who are physically fit and mentally tough. So again, I've been called the eternal optimist, but I think, you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And d p E continues to produce spectacularly just like we did with you and your cohort when you were A D P E R O, uh, a number of years back.
Thank you very
[00:33:58] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: much, Sarah. So if someone wanted to join the organization and contribute to the mission producing warrior leaders, either as a rotating military officer, even as a civilian, what steps should they
[00:34:08] COL Nick Gist: take? Uh, I think the first step is reach out to us. Um, we're readily available through you.
Can you look@westpoint.edu and, and find the Department of Physical Education. Reach out to us, tell us who you are, and then explore the opportunities more specifically for our army officers. And West Point graduates are aware of the Department of Physical Education. But of course for those that that didn't go to school here and that make up a large portion of our young officer population, you know, we're gonna query them based on, uh, an undergraduate degree.
We're gonna query them based on a year group. Cuz there's a very specific timeline, generally speaking, that officers, uh, have and coming back here to serve in this and broadening assignment. But ultimately, um, those rotating military officers and, and I describe them as kinda the core of the faculty here at West Point, uh, they can reach out to us.
We can assist them through the application process that it is all done, uh, online Now. It's, it's fairly simple, straightforward and communicate to us why it is they wanna work here, what talents match, what they want to do here, where they are in their careers, and we'll assist them with the process. And then it's a competitive.
Selection process to actually bring them back here. And, but as part of that, the great thing is, uh, is a master's degree program at one of three primary schools will occur prior to coming here, and then a three-year utilization tour in the Department of Physical Education as a leader developer. And so it's a fantastic opportunity.
It's open to just about anyone. Again, timelines. The, is really the only restriction. And obviously we always get fantastic officers like you here. So right. A graduate, an army officer a, a Rocket and Cannon field artillery officer, a leader of character, a role model, uh, someone that. When we bring them here, cadets are gonna immediately look to them for answers to all of their questions, whether that be related to family profession, where they want to post what they want to do, who they want to be like for our Title 10 civilian faculty, which make about half of our faculty.
Like all other government jobs, USA jobs.gov is the place where we advertise, but we'll also advertise and communicate at the National Athletic Trainers Association Conference. Uh, we're generally available at the, uh, American College of Sports Medicine Conference, uh, and like I said, through our website and we we're, we're continuing to want to.
Find creative ways, innovative ways to, uh, expand our reach in terms of making people aware of the Department of Physical Education at West Point, cuz we are very unique. We have a very unique mission and we want to ensure that the talent that is aware of what we do, knows about us, can reach out to us and can explore those options.
I think the only downside is that we tend to have people that stay here. For a very long career. And so it's rare that we do have those opportunities for, uh, civilian faculty. And then additionally, I want to touch on our staff. We have a fantastic support staff here in Arvin Cadet Physical Development Center, uh, with an incredibly broad, uh, talent.
Pool totally committed to the mission. All of that comes together in a, in a fantastic, uh, team environment. Look, we're not perfect. We're always trying to find ways to get better, but I'm certainly proud of the diverse and effective team that we have here in the Department of Physical Education. So, uh, first and foremost to reach out to us, pretty easy to find us an easy online search of the Department of Physical Education at West Point.
We'll, we'll take you to a number of resources and, uh, you know, pick up the phone, give us a ring.
[00:37:42] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Yes. Thank you for that, sir. And it was by far one of the most rewarding experience I had in my military career, and absolutely one of the hardest jobs to leave. So I wholeheartedly agree with that. And if our audience wanted to help contribute in any way anywhere from like the class of 1962 weight room.
To just smaller aspects of helping out with, uh, equipment resource facility. Who should they contact? Um, also our many clubs. I would be remiss if I didn't mention our clubs. Who should they contact and what route can they go about contributing to that effort?
[00:38:15] COL Nick Gist: Well, not to be evasive on this at all, but of, of course our association of graduates, right?
A fanta a fantastic partnership. That we, and that the Academy has with the Association of Graduates allows us to do things in that margin of excellence as we describe it here at West Point. That permits us to not only accomplish our mission, to provide cadets with incredible opportunities, enrichment experiences, great facilities.
And you pointed to one, the class of 62 rooms, and it's really two rooms separated by the class of 57 hallway. Uh, the class of 60 twos endowment there allows us to provide a world class facility for cadets. So that they can train, so that they can seek out ways to become their very best. Uh, we have, uh, a number of other facilities here in the Department of Physical Education that we can communicate requirements through our higher headquarters and to the association of graduates.
And then you, you mentioned the competitive clubs or, or the many clubs that exist here at West Point that are sponsored by various agencies, but primarily, Are run through the director of cadet activities and Colonel Jim Riley and his fantastic team. Again, permitting cadets to do things beyond what is minimally required, but allows them to seek, uh, opportunities for leadership and for building cohesive teams and.
Through competition beyond West Point and the, and the messaging, the strategic messaging that occurs there where we can share, you know, who we are, what we do, and, and how great the core of Cadets is. I would, you know, say the Association of Graduates are great partners in achieving that margin of excellence.
And so we communicate our requirements, they help us to communicate those requirements. And then we have an incredible, and I, I won't speak to all of them, but an incredible. Alumni base out there, right? Our primary listeners to this podcast that also can spread the word about what is great about, um, not just West Point, but what is great about our army and the opportunities that can provide young people and their families.
And so I, you know, I'm saying a lot here, but I'm gonna, again, Close with pointing to the Association of graduates and the tremendous reach that they have in communicating our requirements and then permitting and facilitating donor gifts that allow us to achieve that margin of excellence. Thank you very
[00:40:31] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: much for that, sir.
Well, gentlemen, I should both know I could talk for hours about holistic health. This is something I'm extremely passionate about. Unfortunately, our time is coming to an end. So is there any parting words that you would like to have for our audience?
[00:40:44] Dr. Jesse Germain: I would simply say that West Point remains a very, very special place with very, very special people.
Like any organization or institution, we have our challenges, but I think your listeners can rest assured that their military academy continues to produce really, really strong young leaders who are gonna go out to our army and do really special
[00:41:05] COL Nick Gist: things. Yeah, I suppose somewhat redundant, but I typically, when I'm talking to any external audience, I'll talk about the three things that I'm most proud about and privileged to do here at West Point.
And the first two of those three are the people, right? So the people here in the Department of Physical Education are fantastic, totally committed to the mission of developing leaders of character through the, in the physical domain. And then the other category of people, of course, the core of cadets.
4,400 of our nation's very best, who if committed to a growth mindset and the overwhelming majority of our committed to that growth mindset at the end of 47 months, they're more than ready to go out and lead our nation's sons and daughters and potentially in the crucible of ground combat. And then the third of those is our mission.
And I kind of already transitioned to that. It's an incredibly important mission, and it's not just that we produce approximately a thousand officers, leaders of character for Army every year, but it's what Rep Westpoint represents in terms of the wells wellspring of the officer profession. You know?
What makes Westpoint important? What makes it unique? What makes it valuable? It's the immersive environment with outstanding role models like. Both you, Nagas and Jesse and the many others that serve here at West Point, those outstanding role models, the immersive environment, the character development program, the athletic opportunities, the outstanding academic program, and it is absolutely fantastic.
The military program, which is second to none. We, we all know that and you can't really hear in the background cause we don't want to, but we can typically hear what's going on down the road at Camp Buckner throughout the summer. Just all of those elements are fantastic. And so the mission is incredibly important and that the people that are committed to that mission, uh, and ensuring that we have leaders of character for our army, uh, all of those things make this a place where I'm, um, very proud and privileged to serve. So thank you.
[00:42:56] MAJ Nargis Kabiri: Thank you very much, gentlemen. Every time I have a conversation with you both, I always leave feeling more motivated and more inspired, and just for our audience, as we like to say, live honorably, lead honorably, and demonstrate with excellence. Thank you all for joining us today.
[00:43:12] Narrator: This has been a production of the WPAOG Broadcast Network. Please take a moment to rate and review the show and join us each week for a new episode. Thank you for listening.