WILLIAMSBURG, Va. –
The Virginia Army National Guard Chaplain Corps conducted a Building Strong and Ready Teams training June 21-23, 2024, in Williamsburg, Virginia. This event was conducted for Soldiers and family members of the Fort Belvoir-based 29th Infantry Division headquarters and the Winchester-based 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
BSRT is a command-directed, chaplain-led, community-partnered effort that strengthens spiritual readiness for Soldiers of all ranks and their families. The goal of the program is to enrich Soldiers’ marriages in order to build strong and ready teams.
“These retreats provide a great venue for military couples and families to reconnect and share quality time,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Hoffman, commander of the 3-116th, who participated in the event. “Think of it as PMCS for your marriage. My wife and I found the weekend to be way more fun and relaxing than anticipated. It was a great time.”
In 2022 the Office of the Chief of Chaplains reformed the legacy Strong Bonds program, changing the name to Building Strong and Ready Teams. BSRT supports commanders in promoting spiritual readiness by broadening the program scope for holistic wellness, collaborating with community partners, increasing cost efficiency and training a greater percentage of end strength.
The Air National Guard continues to use Strong Bonds as the program name.
This was the first overnight BSRT event the Virginia Army National Guard has hosted. The first unit-level was conducted in January 2024 for Soldiers assigned to the Virginia Beach- based Headquarters Company, 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 329th Regional Support Group, which was preparing to deploy to Poland. They have since hosted three more unit-level events.
This was the first overnight event the VARNG has hosted and two more BSRT events are slated to be held in July.
A fifth unit-level BSRT is scheduled for later this month for the 276th Engineer Battalion and a second overnight BSRT is slated to be held for the Recruiting and Retention Battalion.
The goal is to eventually reach out to all units in the Virginia Army National Guard, said Maj. Will Cochrane, the JFHQ Full-Time Deputy Support Chaplain.
“BSRT events, like the one in Williamsburg, are integral components to improving Soldiers’ and family members’ overall holistic health and fitness,” said Col. Seung Lee, the VNG state chaplain. “BSRT endeavors to ensure that the VAARNG has strong and ready teams.”