Category Archives: Chaplain

Fort Hood Says Chaplain Shielded, Protected Soldiers

In the days following the last Fort Hood shooting, several stories emerged about those who were there. Once again, a “female officer” confronted the gunman and ended the spree. As with many shootings, the assailant stopped when confronted with equally deadly force — renewing calls for the military to lift the “gun free zone” status of military bases.

Another story was buried in just a short paragraph of a local CBS report, though the station elected to cite it in the headline, “Fort Hood Chaplain Saves Soldiers By Shielding Them With Own Body, Breaking Windows To Allow Them To Flee.” Quoting LtGen Read more

US Chaplains Teach Koreans Field Ministry

Chaplains (Cmdr) John Owen shows the contents of a chaplain field kit to Republic of Korea Marine Corps chaplains…(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matthew Manning)

A group of US military chaplains exchanged ideas with their Korean counterparts during MEFEX 14 in South Korea. The article notes that the Koreans have chaplains, too, but apparently are most comfortable in the chapel setting. They were interested in learning how the US chaplains performed ministry in the field: Read more

US Chaplain Serves from Faith in Afghanistan

US military personnel celebrate Purim in Afghanistan (US Army photo).

A religious studies student inspired by the role of the military in Israeli culture would eventually become a rabbi in the US military. US Army Chaplain (Capt) Heather Borshof appreciates the fact she can bring her faith to her profession, and to her interactions with others:

“One of the things I love about the military is that it’s not your typical congregation where you mostly work with people of your same faith,” Read more

Bishop Holds Confirmation at Fort Hood Chapel

A local US Army article notes that Bishop Neal Buckon from the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services recently attended the Spirit of Fort Hood Chapel to hold a confirmation:

The sacrament of Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments revered by members of the Catholic community to retain their relationship with God: Baptism, Eucharist (or Communion), Reconciliation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick.

The article goes through each of the sacraments and explains their significance to the Catholic faith — including, notably, the specifics of how Catholics view marriage:  Read more

In First, Navy to Deploy Secular Chaplains

The US Navy will soon be deploying 21 “Deployed Resiliency Counselors” (DRCs):

The counseling and support services provided by the DRC are preventative in nature, aimed at addressing life challenges such as adjustment to deployments, separation from friends and family, relationship and family issues, and other challenges to military life. The DRCs are also fully trained to provide an extra layer of support to any victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, assuring that there are no gaps in support services.

In addition, the DRC will provide psycho-educational training on a variety of topics as suicide prevention, stress reduction and substance abuse prevention.

That is, of course, essentially the role of military chaplains — without the provider having an officially religious background. The press release notes Read more

Military Chaplains Support Marriages across Distance

Chaplains deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, started a program that would enable real-time, live counseling to occur between deployed servicemembers and their families back home:

“We are using technology to reduce the many miles which divide service members from their loved ones,” [Chaplain (Maj) James Buckman] said. “Before this program, when a marriage was going through a hardship we would usually hear one side of the story. Now we can listen to both parties and help counsel both individuals. We are not only the service member’s chaplain, we are the chaplain of the family member as well.”

Read more

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