Courtesy Photo | Soldiers and families of the 5th Armored Brigade fill Sage Hall for the brigade’s...... read more read more
By Capt. John A. Brimley
5th Armored Brigade Public Affairs
FORT BLISS, Texas – Soldiers and families from 5th Armored Brigade, Division West, filled Sage Hall here Feb. 25, for the brigade’s first ever Ready and Resilient Family Symposium.
Family members got an opportunity to get up close and personal to see many of the resources available to them and their soldiers.
The symposium was a representation of agencies across Fort Bliss such as Army Career and Alumni Program, Child Youth Services, The Center for Integrative Medicine, Behavioral Health and many others.
“The military stresses collective. What a better way for a soldier to have the essential health of mind and body to perform than to provide his or her family the benefit of various agencies represented,” said Sharon Brewer, wife of Lt. Col. Blake Brewer, 5th AR deputy commander.
Each task force within the brigade carries a tight training schedule that at times require 24-hour manning, but leadership saw a window and took advantage of the gap in the training schedule.
“Right now with our mob load, we have time to focus on this (resilience) and bringing families in only strengthens our soldiers,” said Col. Raul Gonzalez, 5th Armored Brigade commander.
The brigade will begin to see a surge in troops mobilizing here for deployment in the spring, and that will drastically cut down on the opportunities for this kind of training.
“During the time of the surge, our soldiers will technically be on a deployment because when they’re not working, they’ll be resting for work,” said Gonzalez.
The approach to exposing families and spouses to the available resources was, by design, beyond just sitting them down for the mandatory deployment reintegration briefs or the pamphlets hanging in the unit facilities.
“The more reliable and resilient I can make a family, the more the soldier can focus on his job,” said Gonzalez.
The symposium also absolved soldiers from the responsibility of regurgitating this information to spouses and bringing home pamphlets.
“As soldiers, we know all of the services available,” said Maj. Dean Alexander, 5th Armored Brigade human resources officer-in-charge. “We don’t always do a good job of relaying this information to our spouses and families.”
At times, soldiers have in their mind what the priorities are for themselves and the family, and exposing spouses to these organizations and resources give the family options they may not have known existed.
“A spouse has priorities. soldier has other priorities, and spouses being present bring another element,” said Gonzalez. “They see things from a different perspective that I can’t relate to because I’m soldier every day.”
But in all of the attendance of soldiers and family members, the proof will be in the use of those services offered by the agencies present.
“Many of the tables got a lot attention during the breakout sessions,” said Gonzalez. “The ACS (Army Community Service) representative said she got more attention at the symposium than she normally gets.”
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2014 14:04 |
| Story ID: | 122178 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 57 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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