COLORADO SPRING, COLO. – The 68th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Division Sustainment Brigade, hosted a Building Strong and Ready Teams marriage event for Soldiers and their spouses on Feb. 15, 2023 at the Great Wolf Lodge and Resort in Colorado Springs, Colo. The event was hosted by 68th DSSB Chaplain,(Capt.) David Gooding, and was attended by Soldiers from across the Battalion, to strengthen their relationship skills.
“The goal of these kinds of events is really to equip couples and individuals with relationship skills, specifically, communication skills, which is one of our biggest things for which couples come in for counseling,” said Gooding. “But it's more than just communicating well. We also want to help them develop stronger core values and a greater sense of identity of who they are as an individual so that they can enter into relationships better.”
The event consisted of a three-hour seminar consisting of discussion, quizzes, and team-building exercises, followed by a sweetheart couples’ dinner. The curriculum of the seminar was on the Five Love Languages, a concept created by Baptist pastor Gary Chapman.
The main idea behind the Five Love Languages is that people express and experience love differently and by understanding how your partner shows and appreciates love you’re better able to understand them. The attendees took quizzes to discover what each other's love language is and discussed how to better express and receive love depending on the language..
Couples of all kinds attend, from newlyweds to couples that have been together for several years. From lower enlisted to officers. One couple that attended was Sgt. Poricia Kellenbenz assigned to C. Company, 68th DSSB and Pfc. Justin Kellenbenz assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-12 Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, a dual Army couple. The couple have been married for a year and a half. But, due to recent deployments they have only been able to spend six months of married life together. By attending the event they were able to discover new things about their relationship dynamics.
Justin Kellenbenz, said he would recommend a Building Strong and Ready Teams event for newlyweds and couples that have been together for several years. Even if it’s outside of your comfort zone, the insight and chance to learn new things about your partner to help build a better relationship is worth it.
“I wasn’t surprised that his (love language) was ‘acts of service’,” said Poricia Kellenbenz, "but he was surprised that mine was ‘quality time’.”
Building Strong and Ready Teams is an Army program that hosts events for Soldiers that are both married and single. It’s a command-directed program with the Chaplain taking the lead and partnering with the community to strengthen the spiritual readiness of Soldiers and their families.
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| Date Taken: | 02.15.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.20.2024 18:09 |
| Story ID: | 464310 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 63 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, DSSB hosts Couples Build Strong & Ready Team Event, by SGT Matthew Connor, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
