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    Single Marines, Sailors experience personal growth at weekend retreat

    MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, UNITED STATES

    08.26.2016

    Story by Sgt. Grace L. Waladkewics 

    Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point

    Fifty-five single Marines and Sailors from various units within 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point participated in the chaplain’s semi-annual Personal Growth and Development Retreat in New Bern, N.C., Aug. 19-20.

    The retreat was hosted by the 2nd MAW and MCAS Cherry Point chaplains as a way to build resiliency among service members, give them a chance to relax and to build relationships outside the work environment. The chaplains were assisted by Military and Family Life Counselors who co-facilitated life training for the service members and offered one-on-one counseling throughout the event.

    “When I heard about this retreat, I took the opportunity to come because I wanted to get a better understanding of how to cope with everyday events that happen in my life,” explained Lance Cpl. Angel R. Fernandez, an intermediate-level hydraulics and pneumonic mechanic with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 29. “It has been a great experience because the activities we do are putting us with people we wouldn’t usually meet or talk to and this has given me the opportunity to learn about what other people do and how their life is so I can better understand my peers and build relationships that I can take with my when I leave this retreat.”

    Fernandez said he would encourage other eligible service members to participate in the retreat in the future.

    The two-day retreat reinforced the Protect What You’ve Earned Initiative and was designed with the purpose of creating total force fitness through the discussion and examination of self-awareness, beliefs and appraisals, coping, decision making and engagement.

    “If you believe it, you can achieve it,” repeated Cmdr. Jeffrey S. Plummer, a Marine Aircraft Group 14 chaplain as he spoke about resilience and appraisals. “There is nothing you can’t do if you truly believe it because what we believe is what we put into action.”

    According to Lt. Cmdr. Calvin B. Gardner, a MAG-14 chaplain, the goal of the retreat was three-fold: First, to reduce stress in personal and professional relationships, second, to promote hope and optimism and third, to teach single Marines and Sailors how to grow through adversity.

    “It is inevitable that on your road to greatness, you will fail,” said Gardner. “But there is a lesson to be learned and your failures shape your character and your life. So although failure is inevitable, if you do not fail the right way and fall forward, you won’t succeed or continue moving past that point in your life.”

    During the retreat, the service members got several opportunities to share their thoughts and feelings on topics discussed, work through challenges and exercises as a group, build new relationships and strengthen pre-existing ones.

    “You have the capability, great talent and a history of great successes in your life,” said Plummer. “You can accomplish anything you set your mind to.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.26.2016
    Date Posted: 08.29.2016 15:52
    Story ID: 208281
    Location: MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC, US

    Web Views: 33
    Downloads: 1

    PUBLIC DOMAIN