AF's top pastor discusses role of 'combat' chaplains

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Russell P. Petcoff
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The Air Force's top chaplain said military chaplains are working hard in deployed environments to help ensure servicemembers have their constitutional right to worship God in their own way.

Maj. Gen. Cecil Richardson, Air Force chief of chaplains, addressed attendees of the 2008 Air Force Association Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition here Sept. 15.

The title of his presentation was "The Role Today of Combat Chaplains," but "combat" is a word he said doesn't seem to go well with the other word,  "chaplains."

"I need to say that the term 'combat chaplain' is an oxymoron," Chaplain Richardson said. "Chaplains are non-combatants. We don't fly the aircraft. We don't guard the perimeter. We don't gather intelligence on our enemies."

The general said he sees the role of the chaplain fitting in with combat by providing "pastoral care and the opportunity for men and women to freely exercise their faith, even in the midst of combat."

"Ministry is rich and deep, and far from trivial in a combat zone," he said. 

The reality of being in a war zone -- with its life-and-death situation, dirt, heat, brutally austere conditions and being separated from all that's familiar -- makes the deployed life hard for the servicemember, according to the chaplain.

"These things cause people to think about what's important in life," Chaplain Richardson said.

The general recounted an e-mail he received from a deployed chaplain in Kuwait who wrote that he was comforting a female Marine who had just learned her brother had died in a motorcycle accident. The chaplain asked if the Marine knew the Lord's Prayer. She said she did but only in Spanish. The chaplain wrote he didn't let that stop him from ministering to the Marine. He recited it in English while she recited it in Spanish.

"Only in the military chaplaincy would you find a 50-something African-American Baptist pastor praying with a 20-year-old female Hispanic [Marine] in two different languages," the chaplain wrote to General Richardson. "It was a God moment, and it was beautiful."

Chaplain Richardson said chaplains serve an important role in the theaters of operation. He said there are no Sundays or Sabbaths in a war zone.

"Chapel attendance goes up or down in direct proportion to the number of mortar or rocket attacks the night before," he said.

Chaplains tend to be sought out by the deployed members, the general said.

"In the area of responsibility, the chaplain can't walk from point A to point B without being pulled aside for a question," the general said. "In fact, chaplains often spend seven to 10 hours a day counseling Airmen, hearing them ask, 'would you pray for me?'"

The chaplain's prayer life changes radically in a deployed environment, according to Chaplain Richardson. The chaplain's most-repeated prayer is for the servicemembers in the unit and for them to return safety, he added.

"The chaplain prays over convoys and missions as they depart, often with a 'Holy Huddle,'" Chaplain Richardson said.

Most chaplains are always reaching for a well-worn piece of paper in the pockets of their Airman Battle Uniforms, the general said.

"It's a list of prayer requests," Chaplain Richardson said. "It's generally for an Airman or a Soldier's family: for the new wife or new family, for the 11-year old who broke her arm, for the grandmother who is dying."

Servicemembers turn to chaplains when they feel they can't turn to anyone else because chaplains "walk where they walk, and we go where they go," he said.

"One of my chaplains told me last week about an incident in which a servicemember couldn't return home for the funeral of a loved one," the general said. "The deployed chaplain and chaplain assistant held a prayer service just for him in the middle of the night to coincide precisely with the time of the funeral service back home.

"That's what it means to be a combat chaplain," Chaplain Richardson said.

The general said being a combat chaplain does not take away from the person of faith's desire for peace. In explanation, he recounted a story from a visit he made to a mega-church in Dallas. An elderly woman approached him with a question. She asked if he was a minister and aren't all ministers anti-war.

Chaplain Richardson said chaplains, like all military members, are anti-war, just like all firefighters are anti-fire and all police are anti-crime.

"But in a fallen world, sometimes fire happens, and thank God for the wonderful firemen," Chaplain Richardson said. "Sometimes crime happens, and we need the police. Sometimes you have a war and need people to stand up and defend our country against those who would do harm to innocent people."

Chaplain Richardson said he's learned a couple of important things during his chaplaincy.

"Military people want to hear a word from the Lord," he said. "Our Airmen like to hear something positive in the midst of all the world's negatives. Air Force people desperately yearn to hear that God loves them and has a plan for their lives, and there is hope for the future."

Chaplain Richardson said combat chaplains try to emulate the example of four lieutenant chaplains from World War II: Father John Washington, Rev. Clark Poling, Rabbi Alexander Goode and Rev. George Fox. The four chaplains were aboard the U.S.S. Dorchester when a German submarine struck it with a torpedo Feb. 3, 1943. The chaplains gave up their life preservers so that others might live.

The chaplains stood on the ship as it sank, linked arm in arm and praying for the men in the water, according to Chaplain Richardson.

"What a picture for what it means to be a military chaplain," Chaplain Richardson said.

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