JUNE 16, 2017, MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan – Instructors with the Force Fitness Division from Quantico, Virginia visited Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan as part of a Fitness Road Show June 14, 2017.
The road show helped developers of Force Fitness Instruction course, or FFI, critique their former students’ teaching methods, the course and answer any questions the force fitness instructors or participants in FFI had.
“We are looking for coaching, the biomechanics, movement of the body of the people and we make sure they’re making corrections. That lets me know they’re moving in the right direction,” said U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Dimyas Perdue, staff noncommissioned officer in charge at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence in Quantico. “It’s one thing to be able to do it in a controlled environment back at the school house, but when you can get here and have a group of Marines out here and you see it going as well as it does at the school house, that’s what I like to see.”
FFI is a course designed to help Marines who participate in the Body Composition Program, Remedial Conditioning Program or Marine Appearance Program improve their fitness. The course builds morale and allows them to set goals.
“I’m here to cut weight and improve my PFT, CFT and my overall fitness,” said U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Austin Green, a reconfigurable transportable consolidated automated support system technician with Marine Aircraft Group 12. “It’s diverse and there’s always a different challenge. It gives me something to look forward to if I’m having a tough day.”
Green also said the course wasn’t what he expected when he joined a month ago, but as the class progressed on it surprised and challenged him.
FFI doesn’t just help Marines with their physical fitness, it also helps them cope with their emotions.
“This is my third cycle of the force fitness program. Three Marines have told me they were suicidal and they are no longer suicidal,” said U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charles London, the lead force fitness instructor at MCAS Iwakuni. “Fitness is not just physical. It means you’re improving something. You’re taking the time to challenge and improve yourself. Emotional fitness is being able to put yourself in the worse situations and control your emotions. Because of the comradery built in the class those Marines are no longer suicidal. They know that there is more to life than their problems. That’s why FFI is so important.”
The course’s development is constantly being improved and being able to recognize what FFI is about plays a key role in its progression.
“Today was very successful. He’s obviously had this group for quite some time and they understand force fitness,” said Perdue. “No matter where he would go, he’d be able to conduct this program successfully because of the way he has the program structured, from the information that he puts out to the way he does the demonstrations.”
By Lance Cpl. Gabriela Garcia-Herrera, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan