Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Members of Team Tommys finish their last obstacle May 7 here during Marriage Adventure...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Sitting atop a six-foot-high wall of logs Capt. John Yanikov reached down to lend a hand to his teammates as they scaled the obstacle in front of them.
“Good job, Babe,” he said as he helped his wife, Liane, reach the top.
Alongside their spouses, Yanikov and 13 other soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment “Tomahawks”, literally overcame obstacles together and learned to “laugh their way to a better marriage” during Marriage Adventure Quest, May 7, at the North Fort Chapel and Field Leader’s Reaction Course here.
"The goal of Marriage Adventure Quest is to build strong and ready families, better prepared to meet the challenges of deployment, redeployment, and military life," said Capt. Chester Olson, chaplain. "We wanted to give couples a fun, adventurous team-building activity and make a relevant connection to the challenges of marriage in the military."
After the 14 couples separated into three groups, Team Tommys (short for “Tomahawks”), Team Beat the Tommys, and Team Awesome, they attempted to conquer all four obstacles of the event.
Each obstacle taught couples the lesson of working together to solve problems.
"The Secret Device” obstacle involved a team transporting a box across a balance beam using only a plank of wood. The catch? If a spouse was on the beam and the other on the ground, they could only communicate with each other and they had to use pet names.
"I think [it's my favorite] because we were all working together and we actually had to be on one page in order for us to make it through to the other side," said Shamira Blockmon, who participated in the event at the side of her husband, 1st Lt. Raymond Blockmon.
Raymond also appreciated the team effort needed to complete the obstacle.
“This is all based off of teamwork, so once you get that foundation ... you can trust your partner in every aspect [such as] suggestions, ideas, even working together to meet that common goal," said the fire support officer with Company B, 2nd Bn., 23rd Inf. Regt. "It just reinforces that marriage bond."
Trust was a major part of the day as spouses put their safety in the hands of their significant other and the other couples in their group.
During the obstacle “Overhang,” teams had to get all members to the other side of a pit using a rope looped over a suspended beam attached to two trees.
They tried “Tarzaning” their way over and creating a V-shape over the beam then climbing up one end and shimmying down the other with only the support of their teammates holding onto the ends of the rope as their safety.
The Blockmons, who've been married eight years and have four children, said that the event could also positively affect other marriages by watching and learning from strong couples, which is exactly what newlyweds Pfc. TJ Mertz and his wife, Makenzie, did.
"I felt like it was an opportunity for me to work as a team with my wife in a way that I haven't done before ... and even maybe in some ways better the way we work together just by seeing how other people handle the situation," TJ, the battalion commander’s driver, said.
Makenzie said she enjoyed "The Gorge of Doom," which had teams building a footbridge over hanging ropes, because she didn't have to "heave herself over anything."
Meanwhile, John Yanikov favored the obstacle because of the element of surprise behind it.
"It was the first obstacle," he said. "You don't know what to expect then all of a sudden you're stacking logs and walking across balance beams and stuff."
His wife, Liane liked "Early Warning Device" where her husband helped her over the six-foot wall of logs using a longer board as a teeter-totter.
"I think that one our team worked really, really well on, and because we did work well on it, it made it more rewarding when we finished it," she said.
After finishing every obstacle, the couples reunited with their teams at the North Fort Chapel to find out which team was victorious that day and take part in a marriage workshop.
Olson went over a book about marriage and showed a comedic video on the truths of marriage.
“The video teaches that although men and women are different, it's good to have a sense of humor and have fun in a marriage," he said.
The day paved the way for new experiences for the couples and allowed the spouses a peek inside the worlds of their military husbands.
“From my point of view, being a stay-at-home mom, we just think that mainly he gets to go out and relax with his soldiers,” Shamira explained, “but this has actually shown me that there's more to it than sitting at a desk or going to the motor pool.”
TJ said events like Marriage Adventure Quest help make his marriage stronger, which leads to something all soldiers should have.
“What I live by is in order to be a strong soldier, you have to have strong home front," he said. "For my wife to create a strong home front she kind of has to get an idea of what I go through and then she understands and she can better support me when she's not right there beside me.”
For John and wife Liane, they took away irreplaceable memories.
“This is one of those things that we can always look back [and say] 'Hey do you remember hanging on for dear life on the ropes and getting ready to slide across the obstacle? That was pretty cool wasn't it?” said John.
Throughout the day the wives stood their ground beside their husbands and proved that any obstacles or challenge can be faced when teamwork and cooperation are involved.
Even though many of them had never done anything like the obstacle courses, wives such as Makenzie were more than willing to go back out and work right beside her soldier, under one condition.
"I want to do it again," she said; "Just let my bruises heal first."
| Date Taken: | 05.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.18.2011 13:09 |
| Story ID: | 70604 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 296 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Soldiers, spouses overcome obstacles, build bonds, by Kimberly Hackbarth, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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