Wednesday, February 17, 2016
U.S. Army Reserve Chaplains, coupled with enlisted Soldiers known as Chaplain Assistants, comprise Unit Ministry Teams (UMT). UMTs provide religious support, pastoral care, and religious advisement in all components of the Army. UMTs help provide care for Soldiers, Families and civilians serving the nation, with one of their most important role being to help people stay spiritually strong and resilient.
Army Reserve chaplains perform or provide religious support, to include pastoral care and counseling, religious sacraments, weddings, baptisms, funerals and pastoral crisis incident response. UMTs help keep marriages and relationships strong by offering Strong Bonds marriage enrichment training. Strong Bonds is a unit-based, chaplain-led program which assists commanders in building individual resiliency by strengthening the Army Family.
UMTs provide both internal and external advisement. Internal advisement allows them to advise command teams regarding the current pulse and climate in the unit, or let the commander know of vital information essential to the well-being of Soldiers and Families. UMTs also provide snapshots of unit morale and inform the commander if unethical behavior is occurring in a unit. External advisement is the process by which UMTs inform command teams and staff about the impact of religion on military operations.
UMTs participate in Shoulder to Shoulder (S2S), an initiative where each USAR command team can help protect the life of every Soldier in their unit. It creates and continually reinforces a blueprint of personal connections whereby Soldiers and their family members can easily reach out for help. S2S builds stronger personal relationships, section cohesion, and greater esprit-de-corps. The noncommissioned officer/first line leader ensures that each Soldier has Battle Buddies, Family/friends, and a chaplain they can consult when needed to help ensure strong life lines of support.
Army Reserve (USAR) leaders have encouraged the development of additional resources to provide tools and information to Soldiers in distress and to those who may need to assist a fellow Soldier or a Family member.
While America’s military men and women are one of the most resilient fighting forces on the face of the earth, they are not immune to the physical, mental, and spiritual stressors they’ve endured over a decade of war or on the home front. UMTs are honored to encourage the living Soldiers, care for the wounded Soldiers, and honor the fallen Soldiers.
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