On December 16, 2019, an AA meeting and Public Information outreach was held for US soldiers stationed in Poland. This was a joint effort of the recovery community (Warsaw and Gdansk English-speaking AA groups, Association of Recovering Motorcyclists (ARM) Chapter 18, Elk Polish-speaking AA) working hand-in-hand with the military base staff headquarters and personnel.
Since late 2018 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has had full operational capability at locations throughout the Baltic States and Poland. These Forward Presence bases are staffed by multinational soldiers from US, British, Polish and other NATO members.
The idea for the outreach meeting was born when Frank G, an AA member from New Jersey then serving as Behavioral Sciences Officer (professional therapist) on the Bemowo Piskie base, visited a Sunday meeting of the Warsaw AA Fellowship. Frank related that, though the base is fully operational and despite plenty of need due to the large number of young soldiers, there are as yet no 12-step meetings in English, neither on nor off-base.
Eleven soldiers and officers from the base attended the meeting, which began at 6pm sharp on a rainy Monday night in the town of Elk, about thirty kilometers away from the base itself. For most of the soldiers, it was their first exposure to AA. The format of the scheduled 90-minute meeting was that four AA/ ARM members shared their stories for 5-7 minutes each; the final story was told by one of the Elk AA members in Polish with translation provided. This one received the largest applause! In between each personal story, other members briefly presented aspects of AA public information: what is AA, the origin of the fellowship, the role of spirituality, and how we utilize the literature. Following all the stories/ presentations came opportunity for discussion: nearly all of the soldiers shared – lots of hope, fellowship and laughter; some serious truth bombs were dropped. The meeting went on for 30 minutes past its scheduled time and ended with the entire room holding hands in a circle reciting the Serenity Prayer together.
Certificates of appreciation from Battle Group Poland – Task Force Pacesetter were presented by Frank to Chris from the Warsaw AA fellowship and to Jersey, President of ARM Chapter 18 who had driven upwards of 3 hours each way from Warsaw and Gdansk (on motorcycles!) to carry the message of recovery.  The NATO base headquarters and personnel played essential roles by a) granting permission for the event to take place, b) finding and renting the off-base location, c) publicizing the event and getting soldiers to come, d) arranging vans to transport the soldiers to and from the base.
The event was something which everyone involved was proud to have been a part of. Many people were moved to tears and some seeds of recovery definitely planted. It was a collective effort that demonstrates how much better and easier things are when we work with other people.
Chris M., Warsaw
Editor’s note: this article has been published in accordance with our ArenA Editorial Policy.