Tag Archives: thomas helms

Commanding General Installs New “Iron Shepherd”

Gen Stephen Twitty, commanding General of the US Army’s 1st Armored Division, recently participated in a ceremony marking the “passing of the stole” from one Chaplain to another:

The 1st Armored Division sent off Lt. Col. Karen L. Meeker, outgoing 1st Armored Division chaplain and welcomed Lt. Col. Thomas S. Helms III as the new 1st AD chaplain during the Division’s Passing of the Stole ceremony here…

Helms assumed the spiritual leadership and pastoral care for the entire division when Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Twitty, 1st AD and Fort Bliss commanding general, removed the division stole from Meeker and placed it on Helms shoulders.

The 1AD is known as “Old Ironsides,” so its chaplain is the “Iron Shepherd.”

Chaplain Helms looked to Read more

Military Chaplains Serve, Suffer, Innovate

A few recent articles highlight the service of US military chaplains around the globe, doing far more than the stereotypical Sunday morning chapel service:

As the Army begins to open certain career fields to women, chaplains are affected:  The 101st Airborne just received its first female chaplain in Chaplain (Capt) Delana Small.  In so doing, she became a part of the “legendary Band of Brothers.”  Her assignment was a result of the Department of Defense “Women in the Service Review.”  The DoD article is full of praise for the new chaplain.

In Africa, US chaplains met with their military counterparts from nine East African nations for the “third annual…African Military Chaplain Conference” in Djibouti.

While Africa isn’t in the news too much, save a few isolated mentions, it is noteworthy that US military chaplains are engaging at the rate they have.

Another article covers the touching, yet surprising, story of the service of military chaplains at Arlington National Cemetery:

Led by senior chaplains Read more