"Soldiers change after a year away. Spouses change, children change, and even the dog changes," said Rivera, "but change isn't a bad thing, when we learn to deal with it, to overcome the obstacles that come with change." Assigned to the 601st Aviation Support Bn, Rivera is 1 of 6 chaplains deployed with the brigade.
The chaplain's preparations are in keeping with the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program, which focuses on strengthening service members' physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and family health. In addition to religious services, they're holding suicide prevention training, resiliency training, divorce recovery counseling, marriage counseling, and financial counseling.
Rivera's ministry team has trained 22 new "gatekeepers," Soldiers taught to detect and prevent suicide within their unit, as well as given refresher courses to about 40 existing gatekeepers. Ministry teams from the rest of the brigade are following suit with similar training.
"We're busy getting a head start on these issues that the Army has seen coming up a lot, when units come home," said Rivera. The chaplains' efforts will not end, but rather double when the unit returns. They'll have an active role in the unit's reintegration process, providing mandatory briefs and classes, as well as hosting several retreats, designed to strengthen bonds between Soldiers and Families.
