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A&FRC offers retreat to help couples strengthen relationships

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany --  Spending long periods of time away from spouses and children is a part of military life.
The Airman & Family Readiness Center is offering a Mosel Reintegration Retreat March 27-29 to help couples learn skills to enhance their relationships after a period apart or prepare them for a pending deployment or remote assignment.

The A&FRC can accept 25 couples for the retreat. Couple selection is prioritized based on a four-tier system. Priority one couples are those with an active-duty member who has returned from an unaccompanied tour or deployment within the last year. Priority two couples are those with a member who is expected to deploy within the next six months. Priority three is for dual military couples and priority four is for all other active-duty couples.

Kari Merski, A&FRC community readiness consultant, encourages interested couples to sign up regardless of what their priority level is.

"There is always something that comes up," she said. If a couple cancels another couple will be selected to fill the slot.

The weekend retreat costs 20 euro per-couple for E-6s and below and 30 euro per-couple for E-7s and above. The cost covers two nights lodging at the Weinhaus Liesertal Hotel in Maring, five meals and refreshments. Couples are responsible for their transportation to and child care expenses.

Workshops throughout the weekend focus on topics ranging from conflict resolution to romance and intimacy. These are the basic things couples deal with in a marriage, Mrs. Merski said. "It is not a workshop where you focus on problems and issues. It is designed to enrich the relationship you have with your spouse."

Tech. Sgt. Eugene Taylor, Armed Forces Network affiliate relations section chief, signed up for the retreat. He returned from a six month deployment to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in January.

"With five children, the wife and I almost never have any time to be alone together," Sergeant Taylor said. "Our last time alone -- literally, for more than an afternoon or evening -- was when we went on a marriage retreat together back in 2002 or so. It was great to remember what it's like to be just a couple, and not parents. When I heard about this retreat, I instantly remembered that experience, and my wife and I both wanted to do something similar again.

"It's funny, but we're a very different couple when our kids aren't watching us," he said. "We can be fun or silly, and not worry about having to explain ourselves, or setting a bad example. We can be who we want to be, rather than who we feel we have to be."

To sign up for the retreat, couples need to schedule a pre-assessment appointment at the A&FRC. The assessment takes approximately an hour.

"The A&FRC went out of their way to accommodate us, and help us sign up and prepare for this retreat," Sergeant Taylor said. "They allowed us to bring our five children to the marriage retreat orientation, and even helped watch them and keep them occupied so we could complete their couple of simple tests. They're simply awesome!"

Before Sergeant Taylor could commit to the retreat he had to coordinate care for his children.

"Child care was our primary concern, and only stumbling block," he said. "We have a close friend, who normally watches our children, but her husband is deployed and taking on five kids for a weekend was just too much to ask of her. We asked around our circle of friends, and luckily another friend with a large family volunteered to watch our kids for this weekend."

The retreat is a community partnership event conducted by the A&FRC with the help of the Spangdahlem Spouses and Enlisted Members Club, Spangdahlem Officers' and Civilians' Spouses Club, the Defense Commissary Agency, the Key Spouse group and the Integrated Delivery System.

Registration ends March 13. For more information about the Mosel Reintegration Retreat, call 452-6422.