FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- Much like a vehicle, a marriage requires preventative maintenance to run at top performance. For some classes on overhauling your marriage, the Fort Campbell Family Life Center is offering Marriage Maintenance. This six-week faith-based program will begin Monday at Liberty Chapel, 3111 Bastogne Ave., from 6 until 8 p.m.
Chaplain (Maj.) Jerry Hall, Family Life Center chaplain, said Marriage Maintenance is a refresher program for couples who have been married and want to cultivate their marital relationship.
"[It's] to help them remember what attract-ed them to each other," he said. "Why did they get married, why did they ask the other person to marry them?"
Hall likened the process to a well-known military term he knew Soldiers would understand -- Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services.
"It's kind of like in the Army when we do PMCS on a vehicle," Hall said. "The reason we do a [vehicle] PMCS is to keep it from breaking down, and Marriage Maintenance is designed to keep a marriage from breaking down -- to teach them skills or help them relearn skills they have lost."
Hall said the program starts with learning how to communicate effectively in a relationship, and it covers message clarity, timing, reflective listening, respect, and more.
"We discuss how you can't not communicate because you communicate through body language, facial expressions, what you say and how you say it," he added.
Alisha Keener, Family Life Center intern, said communication is one of the most beneficial aspects of the Marriage Maintenance program.
"Communication skills and conflict resolution skills are pretty much the foundation of most issues in marriage," Keener said. "I hope [couples] can walk away with some new skills to help them work through some of the main challenges that come up in marriage and gain a renewed sense of closeness and intimacy."
Following communication, a class on boundaries is taught and why violating boundaries could be hazardous to a relationship.
More classes will cover finances and include subjects like, "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman, the "Tale of Two Brains" and marital intimacy with "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" by Mark Gungor.
Anyone can benefit from attending these classes, even the best of marriages can improve with attention and care, Keener said.
"Some people think it's awkward or there is a sense of shame or weakness … but I would challenge people to look past that and see what can be beneficial and helpful," she said. "Let go of those stereotypes and consider coming to see how you can benefit from these sessions. It's something I do for myself and look for in my own marriage."
Each week of Marriage Maintenance is different, so couples can pick and choose which classes they want to attend based on what they think they need within their marriage.
"We hope to put things in place that will help couples deviate from divorce, prevent domestic violence and renew their commitment to each other," he said.
While the classes touch on forgiveness as well as dating and marriage, they do not go into details on these subjects, but the Family Life Center hopes to add classes in the future in order to discuss these subjects in greater detail, Hall said.
Potential classes to look for are dating in marriage, forgiveness and parenting.
For more information or to register for one or more of the Marriage Maintenance classes, contact Alberta Lampkins at (270) 798-3316 or email her at alberta.lampkins.civ@mail.mil. Child care is available with pre-registration.
Editor's note: This is the third in a series on programs offered through the Fort Campbell Family Life Center.
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