Photo By Troy Darr | (Right to left) Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Craig Johnson, Maj. Jeremy Austin and Cpl....... read more read more
SEMBACH, Germany – At U.S. Army NATO’s headquarters here the Command Chaplain’s Office hosts a monthly Soul Food event to facilitate camaraderie and esprit de corps.
“Team building is one of the critical tasks for the Army, as we operate as a team of teams in accomplishing our mission,” said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Craig Johnson. “Meals always help to bring people together! There’s something very social about eating.”
The Chaplain Corps’ mission is to provide religious support and advise commanders on matters of spirituality and religion to build strong, ready teams to deploy, fight, and win the nation’s wars in joint and multidomain operations.
“My goal for these lunches is to start the discussion of how each of us deals with the speed bumps of life,” said Johnson. “The lunch is meant to be a conversation among colleagues as we share our ideas and answers to the difficult situations we all face from time to time.”
While the Army lines of effort occasionally vary, the Army Chaplain Corps’ focus on people remains constant as they strive to build spiritual readiness by investing in people, connecting them in spirit, and cultivating a sense of community.
“The lunches not only allow us to learn from each other but also show that no one’s problems are really that unique; we all struggle with various things,” said Johnson. “They also serve as a reminder that we always have others we can turn to for answers or reassurance; seeking help doesn’t have to be a formal thing like an appointment with the chaplain or behavioral health; it can be as easy as sharing with a neighbor, friend, or co-worker.”
Johnson said he designs the lunches around major religious festivals. For example, the most recent Soul Food event, held on April 8, had an Easter theme.
“We discussed the importance of new beginnings in life, even as Jesus died and came back to life, as the earth does with the changing of the seasons,” said Johnson. “I think it’s important that we all have such markers in our lives to commemorate significant passages: when we overcome adversity, when we finish a goal due to our dedication and hard work; when we say goodbye to one phase and open a new door to our future.”
“The function of most major religious occasions can serve as reminders for us to do just that; for those who don’t follow a religion, they can create their own ‘holidays’ to serve as markers for their own accomplishments and those of their families.”
While the Army has placed a lot of emphasis on building physical, mental and spiritual resilience in Soldiers and in their families, Johnson said that people develop resilience throughout their lives.
“It takes resilience to adapt to new situations, and that is what growing up is all about: moving from one school to another; losing a grandparent or older relative; graduation, first jobs, relationships changing, etc.
“We all are always calling upon our internal resilience when we make it through any change in life,” said Johnson. “Resilience is certainly stretched when we hit a particularly difficult or stressful occurrence, such as a combat deployment or a major life change, but the fundamentals of coming through such extreme experiences are essentially the same as those we have built all through life.
“Being resilient doesn’t mean that we don’t experience negative emotions when we hit a hard patch; we can still feel stressed, fearful, or emotional. It does mean that we don’t take a hard stop at these feelings, but we stay firm in the knowledge that as we overcame in the past, so we will in the future, whatever life throws at us.”
Johnson’s number one tip for building resilience whether spiritual, physical or mental is don’t be afraid to ask for help.
“No one person has all of the answers,” said Johnson. “All of us need to be ready to go to others when it comes to the harder moments of life.
“Isolating yourself, deciding that you should be able to solve all your own problems, none of this is helpful. Finding connections, not the superficial kind, but real, person-to-person connections is the answer to building real resiliency.
Family, friends, co-workers who know the same struggles we do, mentors who have been there before, all of these are what we all need.
The kind of group dynamic I am trying to build in these lunches is a good start,” said Johnson. “Often, we can find these resilience builders in the most ordinary ways, through groups we already know."
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.14.2025 10:39 |
| Story ID: | 495242 |
| Location: | SEMBACH, RHEINLAND-PFALZ, DE |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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