RICHMOND, Va. –
Virginia National Guard Soldiers and senior leaders assigned to Joint Force Headquarters gathered to participate in Building Strong and Ready Teams training conducted by the Virginia Army National Guard Chaplain Corps March 1-2, 2025, at the VNG Sgt. Bob Slaughter Headquarters at Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia.
BSRT is a command-directed, chaplain-led, community-partnered effort that strengthens spiritual readiness for Soldiers of all ranks and their families. The training was conducted by Col. Seung Lee, Virginia Army National Guard state chaplain, and Maj. Will Cochrane, the JFHQ full-time deputy support chaplain.
More than 40 Soldiers, both officers and enlisted, participated in the training, which included interactive scenarios and in-depth questions which challenged each Soldier.
“We’re trying to build strong and ready teams just like the name of the training indicates,” said Cochrane. “It’s all about building strong teams through communication, interaction and collaboration where everyone is involved through participation.”
The training encourages healthy behavioral outcomes, enriching spiritual character to develop self-value and identity.
“Building Strong and Ready Teams training allows each of us to look at ourselves from an introspective and extraspective view,” explained Col. Craig Lewis, the Virginia Army National Guard state aviation officer. “By doing this, we can examine ourselves in a way that allows us to see how we can better ourselves, our battle buddies and our Army.”
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.
“This type of training is exactly what is needed to build unit cohesion among our ranks,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brent Helmick, the Joint Incident Site Communications Capability operations officer.
BSRT’s main objective is to increase Soldier and family holistic health by strengthening Soldier and family structure through evidence-based relationship training, and improving quality of life by providing skills necessary to endure adversity.
“Training like this helps boost morale throughout our entire unit,” said Staff Sgt. Passley S. Hutchinson, an information technology specialist.
BSRT also helps Soldiers strengthen their spiritual readiness while building moral strength for better decision making.
“This training has allowed our ranks, from O-5 to E-4, to bond together while building up our unit’s trust and cohesion,” said Sgt. Keshawn D. Mason Nichols, a logistics management specialist.
Learn more about Building Strong and Ready Teams, at https://vngpao.info/45yf9nw5 and https://bsrt.army.mil/.