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Being an active member of the military takes more than just physical and mental strength, which is why there is a special program at Malmstrom Air Force Base to keep airmen and their families healthy.

Malmstrom's deputy civil engineer John Hale knows that staying healthy is more than just being physically active; he noted, "I had some elevated levels of cholesterol, and some signs that I might be doing some things wrong."

So he enrolled in a cholesterol program offered at Malmstrom's Health & Wellness Center.

Kirk Clark, the base exercise physiologist, explained, "The program is designed to look at the medications people are taking for cholesterol, we look at people's diet, how they can modify their diet in order to improve their cholesterol. We also look at physiological changes we can make through physical training in order to modify their cholesterol program."

Hale said, "You talk about diet a lot and how that diet affects cholesterol, and a lot of fancy things like triglycerides and that (stuff), but really it talks about some lifestyle changes you can make. And if you do make those, what effects it can have in your life."

Clark noted how overall health of the airmen is critical to mission success both at home and when they are deployed, stating, "I want them to be fit, I don't want them to deploy into the theatre with any type of health risk factor that might create a problem for them once they are in theatre. So what we do here at Malmstrom, is make sure that those personnel are healthy, fit and ready to make that deployment to defend our country."