Skydiving into spirituality

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cody Dowell
  • Altus Air Force Base Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma --  Airmen from Altus Air Force Base soared through the air, even though they still had a roof above their head.

The base Chapel hosted an indoor skydiving trip, Feb. 10, 2017, in Edmond, Oklahoma. The goal of the outreach event was to give the opportunity to reignite the faith of single Airmen while providing a fun community experience.

“The motto of this trip is to relaunch your faith,” said U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Capt.) Quanika Bynum, 97th Air Mobility Wing Chapel. “It is about obtaining goals and dreams with the start of the new year, doing things that we have been afraid of. When you think about flying, you think about letting go and we are comparing it to spirituality. Letting go of the past because of fears and doubts so you can move forward. The main focus is spirituality, but the things we will be talking about here can be applied to everyday life.”

The Chapel is using their resources to reach out to the Airmen, planning events throughout the year for the betterment of the members on base.

“The Chapel plans on having outreach events quarterly for single Airmen along with smaller events bi-weekly,” said Bynum. “We are trying to pull people out of their room, with the goal of building a community that is involved with one another.”

The target audience for these Chapel outreach events is single Airmen, but that doesn’t make it exclusive to dorm residents.

“There are a lot of single people on base other than just first-term Airmen, but we are targeting them because we feel they need the most support on base,” said Bynum. “That said, younger Airmen are our foundation and do most of the work on base. So I hope, with this trip, we can give some stability to their lives.”

This trip and other events hosted by the Chapel are free to attend and seek to better the welfare of the Airmen on base.

Offering opportunities like this allows Airmen to refresh their mind, said Bynum. Feeling mentally refreshed, could possibly change their perspective on how they view their job and allow them to more efficiently accomplish the mission.

“This trip was a great time, I’m glad that the base offers this because I wouldn’t have done this on my own,” said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Tyler Coonce, 97th Communications Squadron, radio frequency transmissions apprentice. “I feel that this is a great deal because it was an opportunity to do something fun off base. I wish more people would take advantage of opportunities like this. This was my first trip that I’ve been that the base has provided, but I would definitely do it again.”

The chapel organizes trips like this to help Airmen promote healthy social behavior and to be mentally ready to accomplish the mission.

“The only thing the Chapel gets out of this is to see Airmen grow, connect with one another and create a foundation for their lives,” said Bynum. “We get joy from knowing Airmen are being taken care of and it’s not because of a job or a paycheck, it’s something beyond that. We would want to see that Airmen are receiving care and support on a consistent level, no matter the time or location.”

The base Chapel successfully planned and implemented a trip to improve the morale of single Airmen, allowing them to have the opportunity to reignite their faith while providing a fun community experience. For more information about upcoming events or what services the Chapel provides call (580) 481-7485.