COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A crash and a cry break through the silence as a child's dinner slides across the floor for the second time this week. Another child is throwing a tantrum over doing homework while her mother chips away at a never-ending pile of laundry. She has no help. She is breaking down, and her spouse is deployed over 7,000 miles away.
This is the reality for a lot of military spouses while their loved ones are deployed - stressed out and feeling alone, but the reality is they're not alone.
The Fort Carson Family Life Center sponsored a free three-day retreat for Family members of deployed 4th Infantry Division Soldiers at the Colorado Springs Great Wolf Lodge Sept. 20 to 22, 2018.
"The purpose of a Strong Bonds Retreat is two-fold," said Chaplain (Maj.) Darin Mitchell, the Fort Carson Family Life Chaplain. "First, it's to build resiliency in Soldiers and their Families. And in this case, it's to help the deployed spouses not only to survive the deployment, but try to learn some skills to do extremely well on the deployment. The second thing would be that we want to give them an experience that they can remember, so that everything about deployment doesn't always have to be negative."
More than 40 spouses and their Families attended the retreat, which offered classes on healthy ways to deal with the stress and change that comes with a loved one being deployed. It also opened up opportunities for spouses to gain a community of support to reach out to during the deployment.
"So a deployment can be tough, and I think some of the key features of having a successful experience in a deployment are faith and community," said Sasha Moen whose husband is currently deployed with 4th Combat Aviation Brigade. "For me, I think that is the perfect blend of an incredible support system when walking through the season of deployment."
While just over 25 percent of the Ivy Division's Soldiers are deployed to locations around the world, spouses gained a much needed support system that spanned division-wide.
"This is an opportunity for women to stay connected to one another," Moen said."I think that deployments are a time for those bonds to be strengthened and for us to be refining one another. So when I see a group this size at an event like this I get really excited, because I see potential for women's perspectives to change and be more positive. That creates more positive Families and stronger resiliency in our military."
The retreat also included therapy painting lessons, group discussions, massages and access to the Great Wolf Lodge's water park for the families to enjoy.
"We have so many things in place to support the Families," said Salena Duffy, spouse of a retired service member, who is also no stranger to the deployment experience, having survived five of them. "That alone is so encouraging to be able to have some time and bring your children. There's something for your children to do and also community. Don't be hesitant! It is such a wonderful opportunity. I think its life-changing actually."
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