COPE Roadshow helps Airmen adjust to deployments

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Saphfire Cook
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Deployments can be an adjustment for Airmen and their families so to assist with the transition, D-M held its first Operation COPE Roadshow at the Dove Chapel Annex here Sept. 16.

COPE stands for connect, organize, provide and educate. The event is a retreat to honor deploying Airmen and their families. It helps to foster both healthy separation and reintegration through social activities and marriage enrichment education.

"The COPE Roadshow was developed as a way to provide sustained support and resiliency training for our Airmen and their families within the 355th Fighter Wing," said Chaplain (Capt.) Daniel Warf, 355th Fighter Wing protestant chaplain.

The event is meant to be executed on a group level. The 355th Mission Support Group was the target of this roadshow, and the 355th Maintenance Group, 355th Medical Group and the 563rd Rescue Group and tenant units will each have their own.

"We focus on three key groups: the single Airmen, families with children and families without," Chaplain Warf said. "The roadshow starts off with one main group class on financial planning and then we begin the breakout sessions."

The breakout sessions include "Understanding Deployment from a Child's Perspective' from Mental Health, 'How not to Marry a Jerk!' from Family Advocacy and 'Using Spirituality in Resolving Conflict' from the Chapel.

The four breakout sessions help to develop greater resiliency and each is tailored to a specific key group, such as couples with children.

"We've gotten financial advice before, but what we learned here seems like it will work much better than what we've received before," said Staff Sgt. Christopher Shishido, 41st Electronic Combat Squadron, who attended the roadshow with his wife, Terra Shishido, and their son, Joshua.

Thanks to partners such as Military OnceSource and United States Organizations, the roadshow was given more than $7,000 worth of resources.

"We want people to know that there is a support network that cares about them and wants to help them walk through the journey of the deployment and the reintegration process," Chaplain Warf said.