| Retreat Means Relationship
Refresher for Army Africa
Families |
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[3/21/2011] |
Source: Army News
Service
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By
Juliana McGraw, U.S. Army
Africa Public
Affairs
Enjoying
an afternoon of snow and sun,
laughing children and smiling
adults scatter along the
sledding slop, whizzing down the
hill or watching others go by in
Garmisch, Germany. On a recent
weekend 22 U.S. Army Africa
couples and their 42 children
went to Edelweiss Lodge and
Resort for a Strong Bonds
marriage retreat.
"This
weekend put our lives on pause
so we could breathe each other
in again," said Amiia Coffey,
whose husband recently returned
from deployment. "It let us step
away from our crazy lives to
focus on each other and how
different we
are."
Military couples
need the skills to effectively
communicate through the normal
challenges of marriage and
specific military challenges,
such as deployment, said
Chaplain (Col.) Jonathan McGraw.
This weekend was added after the
previous November session filled
within 24 hours and as an
addition to the budget was
funded by the command, not
Strong Bonds, said Chaplain (Lt.
Col.) Clyde Scott.
"Army
leaders feel it is very
important for Soldiers to have a
strong marital relations and
that's why they fund this
program," said McGraw.
Strong Bonds is a
chaplain-led, fully-funded,
Army-wide program training
couples, families and single
soldiers. As the instructor of
the weekend seminar McGraw
returned to familiar ground. He
was part of the team stationed
at Schofield Barracks in 1997
that pioneered the program,
Building Strong and Ready
Families, which functioned as
the blueprint for today's Strong
Bonds.
This was the
fourth seminar at which the
USARAF chaplains used Mark
Gungor's "Laugh Your Way to a
Better Marriage" as the center
of the training, said Scott. At
first he was skeptical of what
looked like just another DVD
seminar, but soon realized that
Gungor uses humor to open
discussion on taboo subjects
such as sex in an objective and
non-offensive way. Participants
enjoyed the use of humor to
discuss the topics of
communication, Scott
said.
"The guy spoke from
a neutral standpoint; he wasn't
just a man up there, he was
going after both men and women,"
said Sgt. Maj. Jon Matthews. "I
think that's the funny part.
When he's going on talking and
you look at your spouse and
think, 'That's you!'"
The
next USARAF couples retreat will
be April 15-17. Strong Bonds
programs are offered through the
unit's corresponding Chaplain's
office, said
McGraw.
"It's a
worthwhile experience," said
Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Davis. "You
go to a retreat and it doesn't
give you all the answers, but it
helps you continue. It's
training for how to get past the
rough spots you can't foresee."
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