US Army Chaplain (Capt) Geoffrey Whitaker, the garrison Chaplain at COB Marez, Iraq, took a unique path to the Chaplaincy. He was originally a Navy SEAL; in 2003, he fell during a helicopter speed rope and crushed his skull. Doctors gave him a 10% chance of survival, with far less a chance he’d ever recover.
He rejoined his SEALs within 12 months.
He said he owes his recovery to the thousands of people praying for him around the world. Read more
During a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer a few weeks ago, President Obama spoke once again of his family’s position regarding attending church regularly, or “joining” a particular church. In one of the more underreported comments, he singled out a military Chaplain for strong praise:
We love the chapel up in Camp David. It’s probably our favorite place to worship because it’s just family up at Camp David. There’s a wonderful chaplain up there who does just a great job.
It is rare enough for a military officer to get such stark praise Read more
In an effort to combine physical and spiritual fitness, some Army Chaplains have hosted “spiritual fitness runs:”
Spiritual fitness runs look like other organized brigade runs and include stretching, warm-up and cool-down periods, but add the benefit of the chaplain’s message at the end.
In the referenced article about Fort Stewart, the brigade Chaplain, Chaplain (Capt) David Clark, spoke at the end of the run on the importance of knowing “the mission of our supervisor” as well as being aware of people so they can offer help, while also being willing to accept help when necessary.
The Chaplain’s message combined a spiritual paradigm and a military application, a perspective military Chaplains are often uniquely equipped to provide.
Via the Army Chaplaincy blog.
On the same day someone complained in a Facebook post that a military Chaplain was “blatantly proselytizing” (in fact, just 6 minutes after the post), another Facebook post made a similar complaint about a different Chaplain:
Fans, check out this, written by a government-[employed] Chaplain in an official government publication:
Writing for the Chaplain’s Corner at Marine Corps Base Quantico, The Marine Corps Recruiting Command Chaplain writes about why women were created (as an afterthought to keep men from being lonely), marriage as a Christian institution, and segues to a blatant Jesus salvation pitch.
The article referenced is that by Chaplain Read more
The Air Force recently announced that it was beginning to accept voluntary separations (and might ultimately begin involuntary ones) in order to reduce its manning to meets its authorized end strength.
Among the career fields being downsized: AFSC 52R, Chaplains. Catholic Chaplains are not included. Read more
The US Air Force Academy closed its investigation into the placement of the shape of a cross at a pagan site on the Academy grounds. No new information was apparently determined, nor was any action taken. To their credit, the Colorado Springs Gazette printed the most accurate description so far of the incident, saying
The cross – consisting of two railroad ties propped against a boulder…
Other organizations and individuals had inaccurately implied a ‘large cross’ was ‘made of railroad ties’ and ‘carried to the site’ to be ‘erected in the center’ of the pagan circle. The Gazette left out only the facts the two boards were not connected and were already on the site before the incident occurred.
In noting the end of its investigation, the Air Force refused to characterize the incident as a hate crime: Read more
A few days ago, this site noted that a self-described religious freedom organization, Michael Weinstein’s MRFF, had criticized deployed servicemembers for publicly celebrating Easter in the combat theatre.
In an interesting convergence of topics, a message by President Obama recently cited just such a celebration of Easter–and not by just any servicemembers, but by a unit of deployed fighter pilots. A fascinating photo (below) helps explain.
In his “holiday greetings” distributed on 3 April 2010, the President commented on “war time” observances of Easter, saying: Read more
Have a joyous celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and take time to remember our troops deployed around the world.
Sailors worship at Easter. (DoD Photo)