Offutt takes resilience training to a new level Published March 3, 2014 By 2nd Lt. Carly A. Costello 55th Wing Public Affairs OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The Team Offutt Resilience Program will hold an Introduction to Resilience event for spouses and partners of military members March 13 from 6 - 7 p.m. at the Pointe in Rising View. This event will explain what resilience means to spouses and partners of military members, how resilience can build a stronger relationship, and how resilience can enhance communication within a military family, according to Jack Sweet, 55th Wing Community Support coordinator and Resilience Program manager "The Air Force Resilience program was implemented to boost resilience within our Airmen and enhance their ability to bounce back when a stressful situation happens," Sweet said. "However, the stressful situations are not carried by the Airmen alone. The military spouses must also deal with the stress and often carry a heavier burden by supporting the Airman, keeping the family together, and overcoming their own stress, often in silence." Since arriving at Offutt, 55th Wing Commander Col. Gregory Guillot has expressed his concern regarding resiliency of just not the Airmen at Offutt but also their families. With this in mind, the wing decided to open resilience training up to spouses and partners of military members. The first two spouses to take advantage of this training were Aimee Salter, wife of Lt. Col. Justin Salter, 1st Airborne Command and Control navigator, and Joy Draper, wife of Capt. Benjamin Draper, 45th Reconnaissance Squadron electronic warfare instructor. Together, Salter and Draper along with Sweet and Michael Dunn, Master Resilience Trainer lead for Offutt, have taken the lead on bringing the resilience program to other spouses and partners. "A lot of people have heard about resilience, but maybe aren't sure what it entails nor what it means to them," Salter said. "We want to educate the families and help them understand that resilience isn't a stress prevention program, it's about learning how to effectively deal with stress and challenges we face on a daily basis, increasing effective communication, and strengthening healthy relationships." Being military wives, Salter and Draper know firsthand the stressors that come with military life. "Military spouses face a number of tough problems in living military life," Draper said. We are constantly required to be flexible and adapt to the needs of the changing military. There are an endless number of surprise deployments, unexpected [moves], weather evacuations, unexpected flight delays and many more things that challenge today's military families. Spouses and partners need to be equipped with a strong toolkit in order to handle these different situations." Through this event and program, Salter, Draper and Sweet plan to give active duty spouses and partners the same tools their military halves receives so they can work together as a family when coping with changes and stress factors. "We hope that through this training, spouses will learn methods of resilience that their active duty partners are also taught so the two can work together using the same patterns of behavior to build stronger families in today's military," Draper said. For more information and to sign up for the upcoming event, contact Jack Sweet at 232-8481.