{"id":34932,"date":"2016-04-26T00:30:15","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T03:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=34932"},"modified":"2016-11-24T21:42:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T00:42:20","slug":"army-chaplain-reaches-troops-with-cigars-pt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/26\/army-chaplain-reaches-troops-with-cigars-pt\/","title":{"rendered":"Army Chaplain Reaches Troops with Cigars, PT"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interesting intro in to an article about a\u00a0military chaplain\u00a0from the Fayetteville Observer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

When Father Luke pulls out his Bible, soldiers scatter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So Chaplain (Capt) Lukasz J. Willenberg, also known as Father Luke, set out to reach his troops regardless — and it worked:<\/p>\n

He started Holy Smokes – a lounge time after Sunday night mass…[at] Bagram Airfield…A division band played jazz in the background as Willenberg led casual conversations about anything the soldiers could entertain.<\/p>\n

“We’d have over 100 people,” Willenberg said. “Here we are, in a deployed setting. We can build a camaraderie session. We’re building each other up so we can keep going with the mission.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Holy Smokes provided something for the troops, it also gave Chaplain Willenberg insight and influence over those troops — and access he wouldn’t otherwise have had.<\/p>\n

Chaplain Willenberg subsequently further improved his credibility with the troops he served by setting a record in a 12-mile foot march:<\/p>\n

Willenberg, a chaplain for 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, recently broke the record for the fastest 12-mile foot march by any soldier to graduate from Fort Bragg’s DeGlopper Air Assault School. His time – 1 hour, 42 minutes – not only set a record for the school, it also beat times for soldiers competing in 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s elite Expert Infantryman Badge test.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of note, just as the previous chaplains who went through Special Forces training<\/a>, Willenberg was doing the same training as the other trainees — so he was carrying a weapon on the foot march. Uncomfortable with that, he was motivated to increase his pace so he could swap the weapon for the guidon at the front:<\/p>\n

Because the leader of a foot march carries the guidon and not a weapon, Willenberg said he pushed himself to the front so he could trade his weapon for the guidon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He stayed in front for the rest of the march, and now has professional credibility to back up his spiritual credentials.<\/p>\n

Repeated at the Stars and Stripes<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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ADVERTISEMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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