Tunnel to Resiliency

Orlando, Fla.—An initiative at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., nicknamed “the Tunnel” is helping to improve airmen’s resiliency and their ability to make “a difference for each other” by sharing personal stories of challenge, said CMSAF James Cody on Thursday. The Tunnel uses first-hand experiences, storytelling, and open discussion to raise awareness on various subjects, said Cody in his address here at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium. He described the Tunnel as a series of rooms, each carrying a theme that addresses challenges airmen face today, such as bullying, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault. An airman who has had “personal experience and exposure” to a highlighted theme tells his or her story and leads the discussion, explained Cody. “What’s really powerful about this is [the story] becomes real for everybody in the room,” he said. It allows others to open up, Cody added, and they are “connecting and working through these difficult challenges.”