Wing focuses on healthy relationships Published May 12, 2009 By Col. Jay Raymond 21st Space Wing Commander PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- This has been another great week for the 21st Space Wing. To begin the week, on Monday we held a wing stand down day with a focus on "Building Healthy Relationships." Recently, the military community has been seeing a disturbing increase in domestic violence due to the strain of military service and deployments. As a result, the 21st Medical Group and wing staff developed this day-long program which focused on how to prevent domestic violence and improve relationships. The highlight of the day was an inspiring and entertaining speech presented by Dr. Scott Stanley of the University of Denver. Dr. Stanley is a nationally known relationship expert, speaker and author. We were fortunate to have him with us and I hope that you all learned something about how to improve and cultivate your personal and professional relationships. After Dr. Stanley's message, we held three breakout sessions: Self Care and Stress Management, Domestic Violence Prevention, and Money Management. Everyone involved in the preparation and execution of these sessions did a superb job. Thanks to all of you who volunteered to support this important day. Later in the afternoon, the wing broke out into our squadrons and units for various team building exercises and activities, such as hiking at The Garden of the Gods, Ultimate Frisbee, and mini-golf. I understand that Col. John Sell and Chief Kevin McCoy of the 21st MDG went out for a long jog! From all of the feedback received, it seems that this day was a great success. Additionally, May 10 to 16 has been designated as Armed Forces Week by the City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County. This week is a celebration of all services in our community. Armed Forces Week provides a great opportunity to highlight and observe the tremendous sacrifices and service by our men and women in uniform. Some of the events of the week include the Armed Forces concert held Tuesday, and on Friday, a base fun run and a luncheon at the Broadmoor. If interested in the base fun run, you can sign up for it at the fitness center. My sincere thanks to the Colorado Springs Military Affairs Council, for their continued support of our Airmen and for providing tickets to the luncheon and other events throughout the week. Although Chief Omdal and I were unable to be there on Monday since we were en-route to Washington, D.C., to meet with several members of Congress from the states and districts in which the 21 SW has units. It was a very productive few days as everyone we met with reiterated what Chief Omdal and I know and see every day, that the Knights of the 21st SW are some of the most professional and dedicated members of our military and they truly appreciate your service and sacrifice. Your great reputation precedes you! After the trip to Washington, we continued our TDY with a visit to Thule Air Base, Greenland. Accompanying us were our very own musicians of the USAF's "Wild Blue Country." The members of the 821st Air Base Group and 12th Space Warning Squadron do an absolutely stellar job of ensuring our space dominance in this harsh part of the world. I was extremely pleased to see firsthand the high level of expertise and motivation that these Airmen radiated. Again, thanks to Wild Blue Country for their great support of our wing and for coming up to Thule to entertain our Airmen. I want to mention just one more thing. On May 20, the 21st will lose one of our very best and longest serving members. Col. Liz Anderson will retire after exactly 30 years in our Air Force. As the IMA to the commander, she has been an invaluable member of our wing and a great mentor to numerous Airmen. She recently returned from a deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where she worked on the military tribunals. She is a great American and patriot. She will be missed. Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week.