ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – Empowering people is one of the top priorities for the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command. That’s why it is a leading participant in the Army’s Building Strong and Ready Teams program. This chaplain-led initiative is designed to enhance relationship resilience and family readiness among Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians and their families through education, skills training and retreats.
Launched in 1997, BSRT was initially offered only to married Soldiers and their families and single Soldiers. Later, in October 2024, the BSRT was expanded to include DA civilians and their families. ATEC was one of the first organizations to begin incorporating its civilian workforce into the program.
The program is based on the Army’s commitment to resiliency as a critical quality for Army families to accomplish assigned missions. The Army believes that healthy relationships with strong family bonds are a key foundation to foster and maintain overall resilience and help reduce stressors that can impair the readiness of Army families. The program aims to strengthen family bonds through fun activities and communication exercises that emphasize the importance of quality family time while enhancing emotional bonds, trust and communication.
Making the ask
Although BSRT for Soldiers is fully funded, the BSRT for civilians is not. To secure funding for DA civilians, Col. Deborah Brown, ATEC’s command chaplain, personally reached out to her contacts at the Office of Chaplains at the Pentagon to request $164,000 in additional funding to host these events. Brown strongly believed that ATEC’s workforce, which is composed of mostly DA civilians, would benefit significantly from the BSRT training events.
Initially, there was a great deal of skepticism regarding whether her request would be approved, but Brown was fully confident it would be. “All they can say is yes or no — and it’s not like I haven’t heard either of those answers before,” she said. “That's ok, because we will focus on what we do have and not what we don't have.”
Her confidence in her ability to pull it off was correct, as the funding was approved. Brown and her senior religious affairs noncommissioned officer, Sergeant First Class Tomas Paris, then worked to design and implement engaging, interactive and well-structured training. They hosted trainings for overnight and single-day events, and childcare was provided for both.
Enterprise-wide offerings
The first BSRT for civilians was held on February 21-23, 2025, at the Lodge at Cloudcroft, New Mexico, for ATEC employees and their families from the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico, and the Operational Test Command Air Missile Defense Test Directorate at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
Additional events across the ATEC enterprise included:
- March 5, 2025: An overnight event at the Overlook at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, for U.S. Army Redstone Test Center and the Army Evaluation Center Ballistic Missile Defense Evaluation Directorate employees.
- March 14-16, 2025: An overnight couples’ event at the Hilton Garden Inn in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground employees.
- March 21-23, 2025: An overnight event at the Hyatt at the National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland, for employees from ATEC, the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center, and the U.S. Army Evaluation Center co-located at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County, Maryland.
- March 26, 2025: A single-day event at the Killeen Convention Center in Killeen, Texas, for employees at the U.S. Army Operational Test Command at Fort Cavazos.
- March 28-30, 2025: An overnight couples’ event at the Embassy Suites in Phoenix for employees at the Yuma Test Center at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona, and the U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
Engaging training
The curriculum was based on the Active Military Life and Resiliency Skills, which covers communication styles, conflict resolution, marital enrichment for couples, healthy relationship building for singles and more. Across all the sessions, participants gained practical tools to improve their communication and identified common barriers that hinder effective dialogue. Families engaged in meaningful discussions, shared personal experiences and participated in group activities that reinforced key lessons.
At the beginning of the sessions, participants were provided with a workbook that outlined the day’s schedule of group activities and interactive exercises. At the end of the training, participants were given a variety of handouts and printed materials to take with them to reinforce key lessons. These resources allowed for continued learning and application beyond the training environment.
In a message to program participants, Maj. Gen. Patrick Gaydon, ATEC’s commanding general, endorsed the program’s goal to arm ATEC’s civilian workforce with the tools and skills they need to invest in and strengthen their relationships.
“I attended one of these retreats 18 years ago,” he said. “My wife and I learned a lot, and we’re still at it through 25 years of marriage. To me, it makes our civilians even more productive when they can focus on a task at hand, not a problem at home.”
ATEC Command Sgt. Maj. Bradford Smith also shared the impact of similar retreats he and his wife attended in the past.
“During our experience on these retreats, we learned how to communicate better with each other; something as simple as leaving a note or using a dry erase marker on the bedroom mirror to say, ‘I love you,’ or ‘Have a good day.’”
The ATEC chaplain team is currently planning additional BSRT events for mid-2026. To learn more about the training and the curriculum, please visit the Active Relationship Center website at https://www.activerelationships.com/.
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