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With the understanding that the cycle of deployment and redeployment can place especially difficult burdens on Soldiers and their families, the 92nd Military Police Company, which is scheduled to deploy in the coming months, offered its single Soldiers a chance to develop their personal strength and spiritual fitness by organizing a retreat to the Kletterwald Rhein-Neckar ropes course in Viernheim April 25.
Organized by Chaplain (Capt.) Christopher Dickey, 95th MP Battalion chaplain, the retreat was intended to provide a challenging spiritual fitness training event that would help the 92nd MP Co.’s single Soldiers build the spiritual and mental resilience and strength they will need during their upcoming deployment.
In addition to the challenges of the ropes course, the Soldiers were trained on the “Ten tough realities about combat,” a presentation developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
This training is a part of the Army’s Battlemind program, which aims to promote resilience within Soldiers when facing the psychological impact that may result from combat and other military operations.
The stressors that come with a deployment can often be overlooked because they are not easy subjects to talk about. But avoiding the topics can make them even more difficult to deal with. The single Soldier retreat gave leadership and Soldiers an opportunity to confront the different aspects of deployment.
“There seems to be a great deal of reflection going on as I am providing the training,” Captain Dickey said. “Often many of the Soldiers have not thought about the topics which the training discusses.”
At the end of the day, the walls climbed and the bridges crossed high among the treetops of the ropes course were an apt metaphor for the challenges that many Soldiers face during deployments.
As fears were overcome and obstacles were negotiated, the merits of the training were obvious.
“Each Soldier who attended this training negotiated the obstacles themselves, but I noticed some of the Soldiers did a lot more than they thought they were capable of with the encouragement of their peers,” said 1st Lt. Gabriella Blanchard-Manning, executive officer, 92nd MP Co.
Giving Soldiers a chance to get training while having fun made the day a success for Captain Dickey.
“My goal was to provide Soldiers a realistic view of what they should expect as they serve in combat,” he said. “Secondly, and more importantly, I wanted Soldiers to know and understand that if they begin to struggle while down range, there are many resources that they can turn to – to help them work through their
difficulty.”
