Army Chaplaincy » Corps News & Info

Chaplain (Major) Michael DuCharme

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:11:35 +0000

If you asked Maj. Michael DuCharme why he joined the Army, he will tell you that God called him. There were few people in his family who had served; he was nearing the age requirement where he would have been too old. And, in 2002, we were already in the war, so his wife and he knew it would mean deployment, according to DuCharme.

He deployed to Baghdad first in 2004 and then again in 2006 as a Regular Army officer. He continues to serve as an active Army Reservist.

As a chaplain in Iraq, he provided religious support and counseling services for a battalion of over 1,200 soldiers, mostly military police. These soldiers were spread out all over the city of Baghdad, with some of the units stationed much further away in the region. DuCharme had to travel to visit the soldiers in the places where they resided, which meant taking the same roads the soldiers took when they went out on patrols and missions.

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Installation chaplain plans to foster community

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:27:11 +0000

In 1977, Bart Physioc, then a newly commissioned Coast Guard officer, was on his way to his first duty station in Guam. He was looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead of him, but something did not seem quite right.

“When I was on my way to Guam, thinking of what I had left behind, the adventure that was coming ahead, I felt like something was missing and I couldn’t put my finger on it.” Physioc said.

A friend invited him to attend church and Physioc said he never stopped going after that.
Thirty-three years later, the journey of faith that started in the Pacific led Physioc to become the installation chaplain on Fort Jackson. Physioc, now an Army lieutenant colonel who is scheduled to be promoted to colonel within the next few months, left the Coast Guard after 3 1/2 years to heed his call to the ministry.

He became a protestant Army chaplain more than 20 years ago and has served in places as diverse as Fort Bragg, N.C., Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Heidelberg, Germany.

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A long, twisting path for Army chaplain

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:07:22 +0000

NASIR WA SALAM, Iraq – Junior Tupuola’s car roared down the California highway. The booze from that night’s party still pumped in his veins.

He had been drinking regularly for years, almost nonstop since he accidentally shot his friend in the neck during his freshman year at Washington State University.

The partying cost him a chance at a pro football career and sent him down a path of partying with Saudi royalty and working as hired muscle for a drug dealer. He wanted a way out of the lifestyle but didn’t know how to escape.

It was 1987. Tupuola had been partying hard for years. The highway out of San Marcos, Calif., didn’t offer much to see in those days.

Fort Benning gathers for prayer

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:22:17 +0000

More than 170 Soldiers, civilians and family members attended the Fort Benning observance of the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 17 at the Benning Conference Center. The event coincided with Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a 40-day period preceding Easter that many Christians observe as a time of prayer and abstinence.

The celebration was open to all faiths and included prayers by Muslim imam Dawud Salahuddin Bin Pearson and Jewish Chaplain (MAJ) Carlos Huerta, 30th Adjutant General Battalion (Reception).

“I think it (is) very unique that we can all come together to observe our different faiths,” said CPT Vladimir Sotosanchez, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, who attended the post observance for the first time. “This country was founded on freedom of religion. The first pilgrims who arrived – that was one of their main focuses. (We’re) paying homage to one of the founding principles of our country.”

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Chaplains keep wary eye on Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell repeal

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:59:19 +0000

As Congress and the Pentagon grapple with a proposal to allow gays to serve openly in the military, some chaplains — especially evangelicals — worry the change will infringe on their religious beliefs.

”It’s morally wrong,” said the Rev. Billy Baugham, executive director of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, saying his group believes the Bible condemns homosexuality.

”The implication of that is that the military is going to force military personnel — both Christians and non-Christians — to accept that value.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, with the backing of the White House and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon will spend a year studying the ramifications of repealing the Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy, which has been in place since 1993.

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National Prayer Breakfast

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:57:39 +0000

In the midst of war, service members and the Fort Gordon community came together Feb. 18 to observe the “National Prayer Breakfast.” They joined many Americans around the country celebrating this occasion. This year’s theme was “Partnering Together for Peace.”

A crowd of 360 people filled the Gordon Club’s Ballroom before sunrise to hear from a New York rabbi and a police officer who kept their faith in the face of tragedy during the attack on America Sept. 11, 2001.

Workshop Offers Relationship Tools to Single Guardsmen

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:02:23 +0000

The North Dakota National Guard’s Office of the Chaplain will host a workshop to help single Soldiers and Airmen hone the skills they need for a successful, lifelong relationship.

PICK, or Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge, will take place from Feb. 26-28 in Fargo. The course is provided by trained facilitators within the North Dakota National Guard and is based on the “How Not to Marry a Jerk (or Jerkette)” series. It focuses on those who are single, dating or in a pre-marriage relationship. Among the five-session program’s tenets are the Relationship Attachment Model, which ranks and prioritizes five parts of a healthy relationship, and FACES, an acronym for five areas that are important to learn early-on to determine the relationship’s possibilities for the long term.

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Marriage Retreat for Soldiers

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:01:46 +0000

Today’s military couples are challenged in every way, from the daily stress of providing for their families, raising children, and maintaining healthy relations, to dealing with the stress of deployment.

The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade offered a relief to those married couples with the Strong Bonds Marriage and Family Retreat in Nashville over Valentine’s Day weekend.

Brigade Chaplain, Maj. Shawn McCammon invited couples of the brigade to participate in this event, providing them with food, childcare, a room at the Sheraton Music City Hotel and a chance to relax and rebuild life’s most important bonds.

Couples of the 101st CAB received nine hours of interactive guidance that introduced new skills for enhanced communication, emotional expression and healthy conflict resolution.

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412th Theater Engineer Command Soldiers Build Strong Bonds at Hilton Head, S.C., Resort

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:01:05 +0000

The Army Strong Bonds retreat is a no brainer, you are being paid to attend, you are staying at a beautiful resort, and you are receiving world class instruction on communication, intimacy, and conflict management skills, that’s according to Chaplain Col. Steven Dyess the 81st Regional Support Command Chaplain.

More than 70 married couples and approximately 30 single Soldiers took part in a Strong Bonds retreat for Army Reservists at a hotel resort in Hilton Head, S.C., hosted by the 81st RSC, Feb., 19-21 2010. Strong Bonds is a chaplain led program designed to help Soldiers improve on their relationships and in the end increase the Army’s overall readiness rate.

Capt. Jared Corsi a civil engineer with the 926th Engineer Brigade and his wife, Katherine participated in the retreat.

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“Sending them away with God”: 2nd Brigade Combat Team chaplain joins Haitians in worship

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:58:14 +0000

More than one hundred locals, wearing their Sunday best, sit on wooden pews in a dilapidated building, while gaping holes in the stone walls let in the morning light. The people reach their hands toward the red, white and blue tarps that make up the roof of the structure, their eyes closed, lost in prayer.

Maj. Brad Baumann, a native of Blue Earth, Minnesota, and 2nd Brigade Combat Team chaplain, was invited to preach at the Prophecy Church of God of Caradeux, in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 21. Baumann and his chaplain’s assistant, Spc. Midine Beauvais, who grew up in Haiti, have spoken with many pastors in the area since arriving in Haiti, gathering information about people in need of shelter, food and medical aid. But, he found that delivering his first sermon to the Haitian people was a surprising challenge. “The challenging thing for me was to articulate a message in another language,” he said, not wanting his message to be lost in the translation.
Planning ahead, he and Beauvais prepared two manuscripts, one in English, and one in Creole for her to translate during the service. “Beauvais put it in a way that they could understand,” he said.

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