Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Michael Davis | One-hundred-and-forty-seven service members and their family attended a Maryland Army...... read more read more
BALTIMORE - Maryland Army National Guard chaplains led a Strong Bonds event at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore on Feb. 26-28.
Approximately 147 service members and their family took advantage of the weekend-long event to learn resiliency skills through relationships, to gain family readiness education, and to just have a fun and relaxing time.
The chaplain team offered different classes to people based on their marital status: two tracks for married couples and one track for singles, said Col. William S. Lee, the Joint Force Headquarters chaplain for the Maryland National Guard.
“We call it a triple play,” Lee said. “For singles, we teach them how to pick a good spouse. For married couples, we teach them skills on how to continue relating well with each other despite the stresses of deployment and military service.”
Lee said this was not the first time he had organized a ‘triple play’ Strong Bonds event, but this was the largest number of people he has seen attend.
The classes included in the event were the Five Love Languages led by Lee; a Singles Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge class taught by Capt. Brian Campbell, chaplain, from the 629th Military Intelligence Battalion; and a Couples LINKS class led by 1st Lt. Amor Woolsey, chaplain candidate, from the 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.
“The Army realizes that the military puts a strain on people, so we try to invest in people so they can stay in the military and stay in their family relationships,” Lee said.
Spc. Aaron Foreman from the 1297th CSSB knows all about staying in a family relationship, having been married to his wife Toni for more than 20 years.
However, even though Aaron Foreman has been married for so long, he said he still learned a few things from the Couples LINKS class and from Woolsey in particular.
“When she touched on knowing your spouse, that kind of opened my eyes,” Aaron Foreman said. “You may know them in one capacity, but as your family evolves and life evolves, you have to get to know them in a new capacity.”
Toni Foreman also said she learned a few things from the class.
“Despite being married for 20 years, there still was some information put out that is still good to use,” she said. “There are some areas where you always can improve in your marriage and help it grow and flourish.”
While teaching ways a relationship can flourish, Woolsey emphasized how a marriage takes work for the growth to take place, whether a couple is in the military or not.
“If your marriage is strong and you have that trust and commitment within your marriage, you’re not worried about what’s going on back home if you’re in the field or deployed,” Woolsey said.
However, just as important as it is to work on a marriage, being single and looking for a spouse requires a lot of work too, Campbell said about the singles class.
“If you know how to establish a healthy relationship or how to look for positive matches before you get married, you can avoid some of the pitfalls people get into when they get married,” Campbell said. “The better you are at taking care of yourself and dealing with your own issues first, the better you will be at having an effective relationship.”
Whether single or married, soldiers can benefit from the main mission of Strong Bonds. That mission is to increase soldier and family readiness through relationship education and skills training. In turn, healthy relationships contribute to a healthy Army and a secure future force.
The Foremans were glad they attended.
“I think it’s definitely worth the weekend,” Aaron Foreman said. “The accommodations have been great, the food has been great, and the Army has really taken care of its soldiers.”
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.04.2016 11:52 |
| Story ID: | 191128 |
| Location: | BALTIMORE, MD, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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