Spc. Courtney Dowdy, Chaplain (Maj) Mark Smith, and Staff Sgt. Anthony Maskarina

Religious support teams from the Tennessee National Guard supported their troops during a deployment in support of Operation Resolute Castle, a humanitarian civic assistance visit: 

The team…was composed of Maj. Mark Smith, Chaplain of the 118th Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard, Staff Sgt. Anthony Maskarina, Chaplain assistant and operations planner, 118th Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard and Spc. Courtney Dowdy, Chaplain assistant from the 230th Engineer Battalion, Tennessee National Guard…

The RST provided religious services twice a week, assisted other units in their projects, offered ethical and moral support to each individual soldier, and strived to achieve high morale within the units throughout the training period.

US troops deploy around the world to a variety of places for a variety of reasons. The military generally does an admirable job of trying to protect troops’ religious liberties, including the right to freely practice their faith. Chaplains and their assistants are the support teams that help promote those rights, both directly in religious services, and even indirectly as they work alongside the troops they serve.

ADVERTISEMENT