Holy Joe's: Coffee with a Spoon of Resiliency

Photo By Staff Sgt. Connie Jones | Holy Joe's, a resilency center at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, has books, video games, and coffee for Soldiers who need a break, May 20, 2019. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Connie Jones)  

CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT

05.20.2019

Story by Sgt. Connie Jones 

184th Sustainment Command

At Camp Arifjan, nested in the 450th Transportation Battalion and 300th Sustainment Brigade's headquarters area, is Holy Joe's - a coffee spot with restorative qualities.

“The tent began a long time ago, 2010 or 11, it was one of my first deployments. I came back here in 2018 and it reopened in March of this year. It reopened as a resiliency tent,” said Capt. Amy Justice, 300th Sustainment Command chaplain, who helped to restore the tent.

“The point of this resiliency tent is to give people a break from their offices. A lot of people here in this area, they have very small areas and they work closely to each other. It’s a breather for people to come in, relax, there’s nothing that they have to do here.”

It includes a coffee area, a game center, and rooms for all sorts of functions, she said.

Often, resiliency is associated with combat. However, there are different stressors associated with working in offices.

“When I came to this kind of unit, Special Troops Battalion, I very soon realized, after my fifth counseling in two days, that resiliency is needed here. There reason that even noncombat Soldiers need it because they deal with people,” she said. “People in combat have to deal with their differences a lot quicker than people who are working in offices. The people here don’t really have time to deal with their differences and build trust the way that combat units do and so there is a lot of friction that happens.”

But Holy Joe's isn’t just for people who work near it. It’s open to all who need relief.

“This tent is for everybody, not just for the STB, not just the brigade, it is for everybody on Camp Arifjan. Anytime, anybody is welcome to come in and take any movie, take any games, whatever they like to do. I just want to make it available for everybody.”

• Date Taken: 05.20.2019
• Date Posted: 05.24.2019 07:32
• Story ID: 323208
• Location: CAMP ARIFJAN, KW