COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command military and civilian employees recently participated in a spiritual resiliency and relationships workshop here.
The one-day workshop, led by Chaplain (Col.) Jack Shedd, USASMDC/ARSTRAT command chaplain based at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and retired U.S. Army Chaplain (Col.) Jeff Young, focuses on the development of each attendee's spiritual took kit.
"I think anything we can be doing to help people become and maintain and grow their resilience or response is very important," Shedd said. "One of the pieces we are working on is supporting the Army's Ready and Resilient Campaign.
"We're all about resiliency, especially after 12 or 13 years at war," he continued. "We're doing everything we can do to help people say, 'how do I experience and get through and grow from the circumstances.'
"This is one of the things that is going to give people some tools when we are done at the end of the day," Shedd added. "They'll be able to say, 'not only have I identified what my spiritual values are, but I have a way that I can access them and grow that so I can use that as a source of resiliency.' That's really what the full purpose of the class is."
One of the workshop's sessions was about values and how to focus on them. Shedd said they use the Army Values because most people are familiar with them.
He said the Army Values for most folks are at that one word value.
"There is actually a sentence and a paragraph that goes with each of those values," Shedd said. "So we are going build on that to say 'ok now you've said what your spiritual value is, but is it just a word? What is the sentence that comes out of that? What's the paragraph?'"
Shedd continued and asked, "As we get to that place where they're able to identify what they believe and what is the source of their value, we can then match up our life with those values so that we can walk the spiritual talk as opposed to just talk."
Melva Tillar, SMDC Legal Office, said, "Spirituality increases your resiliency as it becomes a source of faith within yourself, hope in the ways you relate with your circumstances, and love in your relationships with others.
"After being married nearly 44 years, I tend to take my spouse for granted, and that can get on his last nerve," Tillar said. "So I used what I learned in the workshop under the term "celebration" and practiced being grateful and thankful in my spiritual practice with him and said it out loud to him. It worked. I do it more often in daily life when I feel I'm getting agitated with others to control me and the situation. It works. Self-control is the ticket for better relationships at work, at home, in public, at church, etc."
"Spirituality is intentional and it doesn't come naturally," said Shedd. "But it's like muscle memory for a dancer. They go through it so many times that when the circumstance comes up, they can then be intentional about it and know that they are going to be able to react better to the circumstances."
Shedd said the command hopes to have more workshops in the coming year as the vast majority of the after action review comments were terrific.
"I think this workshop would be beneficial to many in various walks of life," said Tillar.
Lt. Col. Randy Denny, SMDC G-39, said it was an excellent workshop.
"It provided a way to examine relationships from other than a purely emotional standpoint," Denny said. "I think this is especially valuable for military personnel, who are traditionally being pulled in several directions at once … family, career, school, and social. This is very helpful as it provides a means of articulating your feelings and frustrations.
Denny said he would like to see increased attendance by younger service members in future classes.
"The audience at the last one was primarily older Soldiers and civilians who had either learned much of the material by trial and error or were looking to enhance already established relationships, Denny said. "I wish I would have had the material earlier in my life and career."
Shedd said the class really does some really good things and it is a lot of fun.
"People will walk away from here with a spiritual compass that will cause a perspective shift," Shedd said. "That says, 'I'm thinking and I'm reacting this way but that's not in line with my values.' And how do I know that? My compass says, 'hey point me in the right direction.'
"And it allows me to review my reaction to a situation to reveal the thinking that was behind that and say, 'is that really what I wanted to be doing?' Shedd added. "And then I can revise my thinking so that my actions are in line with my values. That's what the class does."
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