Army Chaplaincy » Combat Ministry

Chaplains Deliver Every Thirty Days

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:12:01 +0000

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The chaplains of Task Force Mountain Warrior are providing spiritual fitness to Soldiers by visiting every combat outpost and forward operating base in their area of operation in eastern Afghanistan at least once a month.

“Not all Soldiers have the privilege to be located on the main FOBs where they can receive daily spiritual care from a chaplain,” said Chaplain Assistant U.S. Army Sgt. Leander E. Outlaw, of Raleigh, N.C., assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Lethal. “Especially here in Afghanistan.”

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Army chaplain smokes, swears and prays with Catholic soldiers in Afghanistan

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:35:57 +0000

BADULA QULP, AFGHANISTAN — The U.S. Army brigade’s Catholic priest spits, smokes, cracks jokes and has come under fire like so many other American soldiers. He keeps altar bread in an empty grenade canister. On Sunday, he donned purple and white vestments over his uniform and celebrated Mass on a makeshift altar of four stacked boxes of MREs.

Capt. Carl Subler stood in the dust at an earthen-walled compound and prayed for the safety of those assembled, half a dozen soldiers who are fighting the Taliban near the contested town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan. He also prayed for peace in a country that has known war for decades. The men kneeled in their faded uniforms and some took communion, a reflective moment in a time of war.

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Iraq Chaplain Sees Lives Changed

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:21:31 +0000

Chaplain (Captain) Richard A. Hill, a Christian Reformed Church minister, began serving a year-long deployment in August 2009 as an active-duty Army Chaplain in Iraq where needs, especially of a spiritual nature, are many.

Even as the war is reportedly winding down, Hill has been very busy working with more than 800 soldiers and, indirectly, helping to serve the needs of hundreds of Marines, Sailors, Airmen and civilian contractors.

Looking After Matters of The Spirit For FOB Marez Soldiers

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:11:47 +0000

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq – While U.S. Soldiers concentrate on training Iraqi Security Forces to provide a safe and secure environment for themselves, one Richmond, Va., resident is just as busy, providing a welcome respite for matters of the spirit.

Chaplain (Maj.) Sid A. Taylor, a 15-year Army veteran, is a National Baptist minister and U.S. Army chaplain. As the chaplain for 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, it’s his responsibility to meet the spiritual needs of more than 4,000 Soldiers serving throughout Iraq’s Ninewa Province.

“Here in the brigade, chaplains are like crazy glue,” Chap. Taylor said with a smile, “They’re spread thin, but they secretly hold the organization together.”

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Christmas Eve message of hope

admin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:07:44 +0000

COB BASRA – The expansive new chapel at Contingency Operating Base Basra saw its first service Christmas Eve with a crowd that filled the 300 seats and saw more than a few standing to hear the message of hope and vigilance delivered by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) John Morris.

Not traditional in every aspect, the service began with a quick note on procedures should an indirect fire warning sound. It was a reminder to those present that, as Morris, the 34th Infantry Division chaplain, had previously noted, the gathering, given its size and purpose, was in many ways the biggest target on the base for that hour.

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NFL flags needed for troop morale

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:05:48 +0000

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – What started out as a simple idea from St. Louis, Mo. native, Capt. Greg Patton, the chaplain for the 620th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 96th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), turned into a mission for his assistant. Patton said that he wanted to decorate the local gym and dining facility, and since it was close to football season, NFL memorabilia sounded like a good theme. After the Green Bay Packers sent a care package containing a team flag, Spc. Jared Sanscrainte, the chaplain’s assistant from Circleville, Ohio, expanded on his request from just teams of the Soldiers home states, to all the NFL teams.

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Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Taught at Provider Chapel to 13th ESC Chaplains and Assistants

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:09:39 +0000

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – The 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) out of Fort Hood, Texas, held an all 13th ESC Resiliency Counseling Training Conference for chaplains and chaplain’s assistants at the Provider Chapel Dec. 1-4 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

The training was to educate 13th ESC unit ministry teams in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training and Warrior/Chaplain Resiliency Training, said Master Sgt. Michael I. Bair, the command chaplain noncommissioned officer in charge for the 13th ESC and a Fredericksburg, Va., native.

“We brought all the chaplains and chaplains assistants in from all across Iraq so that we can give them a little bit of downtime,” said Bair. “During the downtime … [we] give them some tools to put into their tool chest to help them be more resilient and help their Soldiers do the same.”

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Baltimore priest helps school children in Iraq

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:24:39 +0000

A Baltimore military chaplain serving in Iraq is helping put scarce school supplies into the hands of Iraqi students.

Father Tyson Wood, a U.S. Army major, is one of many Americans involved in “Operation Back to School” at Camp Taji, Iraq – a humanitarian effort to collect enough notebooks, pencils, paper, rulers and other supplies to make 10,000 school kits for Iraqi children.

Chaplain provides guidance, friendship in time of need

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:59:49 +0000

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – “As a civilian pastor I can’t go to your office to check up on you, but as an Army chaplain, everywhere you go, that’s where I am,” said Chap. (Maj.) Michael J. King, 17th Fires Brigade, from Vine Grove, Ky.

King’s job is to provide Soldiers of the 17th FB with an open door to talk, spiritual guidance and a friend in their time of need.

“It all begins with a call to serve God,” said King as he reminisced on the steps that led him to become a chaplain. “I was a teenager when I first gave my life to Christ and I can remember having this longing to serve in mission work. I did a few mission trips and enjoyed them. Early on, I wanted to be a youth pastor, but ended up teaching high school instead.”

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Chaplain Frank Arnold’s World War II diary

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:32:18 +0000

We laid my Uncle Frank to rest 44 years ago. But he was alive in my living room this weekend, speaking from the pages of a diary he wrote as an Army chaplain during World War II.

Frank Mitchell Arnold II was a hero in my family: idolized by my mother, his younger sister by 12 years, and admired by my father, who followed him into the Air Force as a chaplain. Chaplains aren’t normally viewed as war heroes, but Uncle Frank was a war hero in my family. He was awarded a Silver Star, three Bronze Stars (one of them with “V” for valor) and a Purple Heart. I didn’t know much more than that the medals had something to do with tending to casualties under enemy fire and that he had been in the Battle of the Bulge and had been appalled at Gen. George S. Patton’s profanity.