Chaplain Services held a Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO) Personal Resiliency Retreat (PRR) for service members at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, July 15-17.

A CREDO PRR is an opportunity for service members to develop new perspectives in relationships with others and identify inner resources to strengthen their own personal lives.

The event was comprised of three days of seminars and activities. Meals were catered by the Palace Kempinski Hotel, a popular hotel located in Djibouti, Africa.

Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Cook, a Navy chaplain and director of CREDO for Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia (EURAFSWA), said the CREDO mission is the same for all Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) locations.

"The primary mission of CREDO is to prepare and deliver resiliency products to the fleet, the fighter, and family," Cook said.

CREDO's PRR is just one of the many seminars offered. There are also marriage enrichment retreats, family enrichment retreats and communication workshops at many of the installations.

The CREDO facilitator for Navy Region EURAFSWA, Dr. Gary Carr, spoke on a variety of subjects during the event.

"Some topics covered this weekend were personal relationships, communication patterns and personality differences," Carr said.

Chief Logistics Specialist Komoru Tolani was one of the many service members in attendance of the event.

"One of the lessons I learned was how to set priorities," Tolani said. "There is an acronym that comes to mind from this weekend, it is R.E.D."

R.E.D. stands for Reality, Expectation, and Disappointment. What it means is sometimes expectation do not always match with reality, and when that happens it can lead to disappointment.

"This is one of the pitfalls we want to avoid in our lives," Tolani added. "Setting expectations is good, but you have to take into consideration the reality part to avoid disappointment."

With Navy Region EURAFSWA being one of the most operational regions in CNIC, CREDO is always offering new services to service members and families serving in the region.

"We are especially committed to installations such as Camp Lemonnier," Cook said. "It's our hope to deliver in ways that are both creative and fun for participants, while developing skills that they will use over their lifetime."

All military personnel of any rank or service are eligible to attend the CREDO retreats.

"I encourage everyone to attend a CREDO event," Tolani said. "It doesn't matter your caliber, you will learn something new that will benefit your career and family."

Camp Lemonnier provides, operates and sustains superior service in support of combat readiness along with security of ships and aircraft detachments and personnel for regional and combat command requirements, enabling operations for the Horn of Africa while fostering positive U.S.-African nation relations. Camp Lemonnier enables the forward operations and responsiveness of U.S. and allied forces in support of Navy Region, Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia's mission to provide services to the fleet, fighter, and family.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, visit www.navy.mil/.