Spangtacular reinforces spiritual resiliency

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Daryl Knee
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
The second annual Spangtacular Family Fall Festival took place Nov. 21, 2014, in the Skelton Memorial Fitness Center at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

The 52nd Fighter Wing Chapel office created the event last year with a goal of fostering spiritual resiliency through building community.

"Coming together like this creates a bigger variety of resources to rely on," said U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Capt.) Aaron Thorne, event coordinator. "The first place people tend to go for help is a friend, so we're trying to build a better, stronger network of friends."

The chaplains spent weeks organizing the festival and wanted to broaden the scope by declaring the event an alternate-duty location, meaning that every Airman at Spangdahlem -- work permitting -- could attend. The chaplains provided the free food, music and prizes while volunteers from throughout the wing manned nearly 15 booths of games, inflatable trampolines and photograph sessions.

"There is something grand about getting people connected, and Spangtacular was about community, connectedness and fun," said U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Capt.) Sean Randall, a 52nd FW chaplain. "In our business, people are the mission, and resiliency is about staying focused and bouncing back so you can complete the mission."

To ensure that resiliency, this year, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa adopted the RUfit model, which is another name for Comprehensive Airman Fitness. This concept names four pillars that Airmen must maintain to be effective in the workplace: mental, physical, social and spiritual.

"For spiritual resiliency, people need faith in something outside of themselves," Thorne said about how for some people, faith does not necessarily mean religion. "It gives them something other than themselves to rely on, and whatever they're plugged into, we're very involved in helping them keep the faith."

Throne said he hopes Spangtacular demonstrates that chaplains truly care about serving people and their community.

"This is just one way we do that," Thorne added. "Every day, we're providing counsel for an Airman or advocating to leadership on their behalf -- the Airmen are the core of what we do."

For more information about RUfit, visit http://www.spangdahlem.af.mil/library/rufit/index.asp.