Tag Archives: Chaplain

Greater Love Has No Man Than This…

Marines at Twentynine Palms paused to remember the loss of two of their own during their deployment to Afghanistan:

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends,” quoted Navy [Chaplain] Lt. Michael Taylor…from John 15:13, in the New American Standard Bible.

The two memorialized Marines were Lance Cpl. Cody Stanley and Lance Cpl. Joshua H. Birchfield.  The company first sergeant had a moving description for what the Marines witnessed: 

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Chief of Chaplains Highlights Challenges

Chaplain (MajGen) Douglas Carver, the Army’s chief of chaplains, recently attended the Southern Baptist Convention chaplain’s luncheon in Florida.  He noted the difficulties of the military life as a whole — with high deployments, challenges to marriage, rising suicide rates, etc — and also the challenges to the Chaplaincy:

“We chaplains must persevere,” he said. “Our faith is being tested and tried. These are the days when spiritual leaders — like our chaplains — must stand the test, press on, be reliable, be authentic, be men and women of integrity and maintain spiritual stamina.”

Like Being in a Motorcycle Gang, but…

It’s been said that being a fighter pilot is like being in a motorcycle gang — except your mother is still proud of you.  In a vaguely related story, the Chapel community at Fort Rucker took an opportunity to integrate their faith with a “gang” of motorcycle riders in a local “fellowship ride.”  One of the mentors, Dave Peterson, explained why faith meshes so neatly with the motorcycle “gang:”

Because we share so much in common, it bonds us. We live out our faith. We enjoy motorcycle riding and we enjoy being together and building those bonds of friendship and sharing the things that mean the most to us.

Peterson may not know it, but that is an appropriate description of the community of believers in the military, as well.

Religion and the Military in Pictures: Prayer

Following the first installment of pictures documenting religion and its place in the US military, the second is now posted on the Resources page.  These photos largely show uniformed military members in prayer, practicing their right to free exercise of religion, even while in the US military.

Men and women of faith can be — and express their faith — in the US military.  These pictures and those to come — all of which are publicly available — show that faith has a fitting and integral role in many lives in the military.

Life of a Conservative Christian in the Military Isn’t Always Easy

A newspaper highlights local Dewayne Wolf, who is going through the Chaplain school at Fort Jackson, SC, to become an Army Chaplain.  Already Wolf seems to recognize the challenge in integrating faith and profession, and also his purpose as a Chaplain:

The lifestyle is kind of rough, especially in the infantry. To break away from that lifestyle really makes a distinction…It’s not the easiest environment to stand for what you believe. Nowhere is it easy to be a conservative Christian. That’s why they need good chaplains in the military.

That said, it appears Wolf — who was formerly a Chaplain’s assistant — may yet have something to learn at the Chaplain school:

As a chaplain, your main focus is evangelism.  Read more

Review: Fighter Pilot, Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds

Robin Olds
St Martin’s Press, 2010

Robin Olds is a legend in the fighter pilot community, though he may not be recognized outside of it.  Many people may remember, for example, the famous Operation BOLO during Vietnam, which used F-4s to impersonate F-105s and succeeded in destroying a third of the North Vietnamese MiG-21s in a single mission – but few know then-Col Robin Olds was responsible for it.  Fighter Pilot is his story, and it is explicitly delivered as a memoir, rather than an autobiography.  Thus, it is not a detailed birth-to-death retelling of his life, but a first-hand recounting of the things he wishes to convey.  (The book was completed after his 2007 death by his daughter, Christina Olds, and Ed Rasimus, himself a retired fighter pilot.)

The book starts off somewhat slowly, almost as if (despite its status as a “memoir”), Olds (or his co-authors) felt obligated to include some stories from the early parts of his life.  He mentions his early pilot training days and a few significant events briefly, but provides little detail or introspective.  For example, he casually mentions, without further insight, that he attended the Air Corps Tactical School, which would ultimately form the basis for all air doctrine in the Army Air Forces and eventually the independent Air Force.  He also covers his entire training, from his early wartime graduation from West Point through becoming a pilot, in a scant 20 pages.  Some of the lack of detail may be for a very understandable cause: he simply didn’t remember much from those early days.  Another may be more pragmatic: Olds is known for his time in Vietnam, not pilot training.

Unlike some other fighter pilot books, Read more

Priests Get Air Force Tours, Incentive Flight

Timothy Broglio, Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, recently joined a group of Catholic priests for a recruiting visit at Peterson AFB, CO.  Broglio was most recently in the news for his statement against the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

During the visit, the 8 Roman Catholic priests observed military members in action and got a C-21 ride to view Pike’s Peak from the air.

The military objective of the visit was to recruit more Catholic priests to the military Chaplaincy.  While the Air Force is cutting Chaplains this year, Catholic Chaplains are the one group who are not being reduced.

MAAF Supports Religious Restrictions for DADT Repeal

Many voices supporting the “repeal” of the policy and laws collectively referred to as “don’t ask, don’t tell” have dismissed claims from religious groups and military Chaplains about impingement on religious liberty.  The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, which supports the repeal, disagrees.  They not only believe the repeal will result in the restriction of religious freedom, they welcome it:  Read more

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