David Severson will soon be a Catholic chaplain with the Montana Army National Guard, and he brings an interesting history with him.  He was a 19-year-old artillery man with the US Army when he deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm.

He’s since attended seminary and obtained a degree uniquely suited to his desired end goal as a chaplain: 

a master’s degree in divinity with particular study of post-traumatic stress disorder…

Severson was recently ordained as a priest.  Now he looks forward to his role in the chaplaincy, something he seems to understand very well:

Part of the job is to help soldiers of all faiths exercise their religion freely, as guaranteed in the Constitution.

“I might have a Muslim or a Mormon come to me and I would provide the best I can for them to worship,” he said. “If a non-Christian comes to me, I’ll say, you know where I’m coming from. My formation is in the Christian faith and this is what I know. We all have our background, and our biases.”

Severson also conveyed the underlying spiritual nature of military service:

The Army, he said, recognizes that spiritual life his real. He points to the old adage of there being no atheists in foxholes, saying that people in such situations reach for God not just as a coping mechanism, but also because they realize a need to find deeper meaning in life.

With the rate of deployment of chaplains in the US military, it is likely Severson will see combat again, though behind the badge of the cross, this time.  It seems the US Army National Guard in Montana will benefit strongly from its newest chaplain.