Top Air Force chaplain retires after 40-year career

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jess Harvey
  • Air Force Public Affairs Agency
JOINT BASE ANACOSTIA-BOLLING, Washington, D.C. (AFNS) --  Air Force Chief of Chaplains Maj. Gen. Cecil R. Richardson concluded a nearly 41-year career with his retirement ceremony April 30 here.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz recounted how retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni at U.S. Central Command once told him that "Richardson has the perspective of a line officer, with the heart of a chaplain." Schwartz said Richardson lived up to that statement and the legacy of the chaplain corps.

From the inception of the chaplaincy, chaplains of all faiths cooperated with each other, being sympathetic to the beliefs of others and standing up for their right to exercise their religion as they saw fit.

The chaplain corps serves as the military's defenders of the first amendment right to the free exercise of religion, while acknowledging that worship is voluntary.

Richardson embodied the chaplaincy mission during his career, often speaking to groups of Airmen at bases around the globe -- always a proponent of people believing.

"Where do you find the courage to put another's life before your own?" Richardson once asked a group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. "Where do you find the courage to actually live out the Air Force core values of integrity first, service before self and excellence in all we do?"

He also emphasized the importance of an Airman's faith when it comes to staying resilient in today's military.

"Regardless of what belief system you have -- remain faithful," said the chaplain while at Ramstein. "Never lose faith, no matter how difficult the situation."

Drafted at age 18, Richardson began his career in the Air Force as an enlisted intercept operator and Russian interpreter in June 1966. But in 1970, he left the Air Force to pursue his true calling: a seminary degree. Richardson re-entered the Air Force in 1977 - by now a captain - with a Master of Divinity in Hebrew studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill.

In April 2004, he became the Air Force Deputy Chief of Chaplains and, in May 2008, assumed the Chief of Air Force Chaplains position. In that role, he was responsible for leading a corps of approximately 2,000 chaplains and chaplain assistants from active duty and reserve components, and establishing an effective chaplain program to meet the religious needs of all members of the Air Force and their dependents.

He also served as the Chairman of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, where he advised the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff on religious, ethical and quality-of-life concerns.
At his retirement ceremony, Richardson thanked those in attendance and gave special thanks to senior Air Force leadership.

"Thank you for your support," he said to Schwartz. "Not only for me, but for supporting the U.S. Air Force Chaplain Corps, and thank you for supporting the free exercise of religion within the Air Force."

Schwartz said Richardson is the best Chief of Chaplains the Air Force has ever seen, and sentiment he had heard before from Richardson's commander when he worked at Air Combat Command.

"Better than top one percent," Schwartz said. "I think that describes him pretty well."

The chief of staff not only lauded Richardson's accomplishments, but took time to emphasize how the job of a chaplain, regardless of the service, is essential to taking care of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, and to assuring their rights to freely exercise their spiritual beliefs.

"It's needed and it's essential," Schwartz said. "And no one has done it better than Cecil Richardson."