Photo By Sgt. Joseph Knoch | Teams line up at the start/finish line receive a safety brief prior to The Amazing...... read more read more
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ANSBACH, Germany -- Hundreds of U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Ansbach community members joined together in support of suicide prevention and domestic violence awareness by participating in the third annual Amazing Race, Oct. 4, 2019, Ansbach, Germany.
Hosted by the Army Substance Abuse Program and Family Advocacy Program as a community-integrated resilience event, The Amazing Race is a community-wide event which serves to strengthen the resilience of Soldiers and their families, by bringing awareness to the five pillars of resilience: family wellness, social wellness, emotional wellness, spiritual wellness, and physical wellness.
“Today we are hosting a combined event, promoting resilience by recognizing September as National Suicide Prevention month and October as National Domestic Violence Awareness month.” Said Kathy Gavle, Deputy to the Garrison Commander, USAG Ansbach.
Gavle emphasized how important it is that Soldiers and their families know how much the Army offers to the USAG Ansbach community to help strengthen the five pillars of resilience within their personal lives, and wanted everyone to be aware of the many resources available to them.
“We need to have them build strong relationships, and not have domestic violence or suicidal ideations in their lives, we want our community to be strong and enjoy themselves here.” Gavle said. “It is the job of the USAG Ansbach team to enable the readiness of Soldiers in the community.
This year’s theme is “Be The One,” and that is the message which was given during the event’s opening ceremony.
“We challenge everyone to be the one to make a difference in the life of a domestic violence victim or survivor.” Said Lasundra Hursey, Family Advocacy Program Manager for USAG Ansbach.
During the opening ceremony, Hursey read the USAG Ansbach 2019 Installation Proclamation signed by Col. Steven M. Pierce, Garrison Commander, USAG Ansbach and Command Sgt. Mag. Philson Tavernier, Garrison Command Sergeant Major, USAG Ansbach. The following is an excerpt from that proclamation:
“Domestic violence is a pattern of control in an intimate relationship where one person uses coercion and violence to gain power and control over his or her partner… We can all do one thing to help end domestic violence and the harm that it causes.”
Everyone had a chance to take part in raising awareness through The Amazing Race. The event kicked off with a 5k walk/run portion during which community members and teams of Soldiers by unit affiliation cross the finish line at their own pace before proceeding to a series of five challenge stations aimed at strengthen the five pillars of resilience.
“I’m happy to have had the chance to come out today and show my support for suicide prevention and domestic violence awareness.” Said Spc. Corey Valles, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st place finisher in the 5k walk/run. “I think that events like this where we get out into the community together to do something good helps our Soldiers grow closer.”
Each challenge station was comprised of a group activity which was to be completed in five minutes.
The family wellness station hosted a helium hoop challenge in order to teach about family cohesion through trust, communication, and strategy. While at the social wellness station team members untangled themselves from a human knot in a test of their patience with one another to be a support structure through seasons of challenge and change.
Emotional intelligence was taught in silence through a game of charades centered around the identification of non verbal cues which are commonly overlooked in our day to day interactions. While at the spiritual wellness station principles of faith were taught by asking participants to select a guide and then while wearing blindfolds allow that person to guide their team through a maze.
The physical wellness station challenged teams to create and maintain a human inchworm as a test of their combined strength and stamina. Each of these events demonstrated this years theme “Be The One” by showing the positive effects that people have on one anther when they are unified by a common purpose.
“Strong Soldiers and strong families are an important part of Army readiness.” Gavle said. “Our Chief of Staff of the Army’s number one priority is people and we have no better way to focus on our people than to focus on their resilience.”
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2019 11:02 |
| Story ID: | 346577 |
| Location: | ANSBACH, DE |
| Web Views: | 158 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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