Fort Bliss "Chaplain with the dog"

'Chaplain with the Dog' breaks down barriers at Fort Bliss, Afghanistan
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 07/06/2014

Army Chaplain (Maj.) Karen Hallett feeds Sgt. Zoe, a black Labrador retriever therapy dog, a treat Wednesday in her office. (VICTOR CALZADA-EL PASO TIMES )

Chaplain Maj. Karen Hallett has a sidekick she is seen almost everywhere with — her dog, Sgt. Zoe, a psychiatric service dog who is trained to help people dealing with post traumatic stress.

Hallett, 49, from Vernon, N.J., has had Sgt. Zoe since February 2012 and uses her as a way to break down barriers and provide additional support to the soldiers in her unit and around the Army.

Her dog can often be seen laying in the doorway of her office at West Fort Bliss, beckoning visitors.

"Here is how it works," Hallett said. "Someone comes by. Zoe is laying out in the hallway. She's cute. They stop. They pet her. I have a chance to say, 'Hey, how are you doing? What's going on?' Very often, they will come in and sit down and talk about whatever. It opens a door that wouldn't be open to me normally.

"I almost can't get work done in my office, which is what we want as a chaplain," she said. "We want people to stop by."

Hallett, a nondenominational Christian chaplain, has been the brigade chaplain for 402nd Field Artillery Brigade, First Army, Division West at Fort Bliss since April 2013.

Before that, she served as the brigade chaplain for the 411th Engineer Brigade, a reserve unit out of New York state. While with the 411th, she deployed to Afghanistan in 2012-13 and brought the dog with her.
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More Military Officers Getting Help for PTSD Including Chaplains

Just because they have faith does not protect them from feeling the emotional toll of what they do. I am a Chaplain (Civilian, not military) and I depend on a large group of spiritual leaders in Point Man Ministries for support. Without them and the support I have received over the last 30 years, I wouldn't be able to help anyone including my own husband.

Some people just assume if you are faithful then you wouldn't be suffering. Yet it is because you are, you did what was needed for the sake of someone else, that you can be torn. The more you feel, the more you feel everything. Get help to feel better. You are not stuck suffering with PTSD and your life can change again.

Less silent suffering: Veterans’ post-traumatic stress taken seriously
The Washington Times
By Maggie Ybarra
Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Baseball stadiums are some of the few places where Navy Cmdr. Steven Dundas feels safe, where his mind is not anxiously inching toward the past and latching onto memories of children with missing body parts and the stench of burning swamp fires.

The crack of the bat and the whiz of the ball during a minor league Norfolk Tides game at Harbor Park pulls him into the present and reminds him that he is no longer working at a trauma hospital in a war zone. Cmdr. Dundas, a 54-year-old chaplain for the Joint Forces Staff College, is one of a growing number of military officers struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I came home feeling completely isolated. I didn’t fit in society,” said Cmdr. Dundas, who served in the military for more than 25 years before he was afflicted with PTSD in 2008 while deployed in Iraq.

“Other chaplains and clergy did very little for me. I felt even cut off from God and for about two years, until about December 2009, I was pretty much an agnostic, just hoping that God was still around.”

The Defense Department has reported an uptick in the number of military officers who, like Cmdr. Dundas, are seeking help to cope with the disorder, borne out of war zone trauma and characterized by bouts of anxiety and paranoia. It is often accompanied by night terrors and irrational behavior and has spawned violent behavior and suicides.
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Did you hear the one about a woman, a Rabbi and a Chaplain

Did you hear the one about a woman, a Rabbi and a Chaplain walking into a room full of soldiers,,,,and then she began to preach?

Female rabbi, chaplain with 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan, has no regrets
The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
By Drew Brooks
Published: April 18, 2014

Capt. Heather Borshof, the battalion chaplain of the 330th Joint Movement Control Battalion, 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), speaks at a service at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on March 14, 2014. JARRED WOODS/U.S. ARMY

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Army Capt. Heather Borshof expects the questions.

"What's that on your uniform?" passers-by ask the chaplain for the Fort Bragg-based 330th Movement Control Battalion. It's the Ten Commandments topped with a Star of David, the symbol for Jewish chaplains.

"Women can be rabbis?" they ask. Yes, they have served in that role for decades.

Borshof, who deployed with her battalion — part of the 82nd Sustainment Brigade — in November, said she is used to the queries.

A female chaplain is a rare sight in the military. A female Jewish chaplain? There is only one other in the active-duty Army, she said. And Borshof was the first in a generation. She follows in the footsteps of Chana Timoner, who served at Fort Bragg in 1993 and died in 1998 from complications with a virus.

This week, Borshof has hosted two Passover seders at Bagram Airfield, where she is the only rabbi to be stationed long-term. But she said her chief role is to counsel soldiers, no matter their religion.

"I travel for our soldiers," she said, referring to the battalion's 19 movement control teams spread across Afghanistan. "I actually don't travel for the religious community."
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Chaplain at Maine VA killed wife

Is this a case of redemption or example of a deeper problem? The VA would not hire a Chaplain like me even though I was trained, ordained, and at the time I was trying to work for the VA, insured. I gave up because I did not meet their requirements of training. While they seem to not want to break the rules, this Chaplain was allowed to work for them. It should depend more on the way he lives his life now. If he can find forgiveness for what he had done in the past, that can be a priceless message.

Convicted killer’s hire as chaplain at Togus concerns federal officials
The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said the hiring means the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs must ‘look very closely at their hiring practices.’
By Michael Shepherd
Staff Writer
April 11, 2014

TOGUS — The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said Friday that the panel is concerned by a loophole that allowed VA Maine Healthcare Systems-Togus to hire a chaplain who killed his wife without Togus officials knowing of his conviction.

The remarks from U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., came after a tour of the hospital and surrounding buildings on its campus with U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine’s 2nd District, the top committee Democrat.

The comments were in response to a March story in the Kennebec Journal about the past of James T. Luoma, a Pentecostal minister and Vietnam veteran who is now the head chaplain at Togus.

In 1986, he was convicted of murdering his wife, Sherry, in Ohio, but an appeal led to a new trial, a guilty plea to manslaughter and a shorter sentence. A model inmate by all accounts, Luoma left prison in 2004 and became an ordained minister.

By 2011, he had a chaplain job with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs in Dayton, Ohio. In October, Luoma, now 63, was hired to lead Togus chaplains.
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Atheist Marine became a Warfighter Chaplain

Marine turned chaplain explains roles of religious ministries
DVIDS
1st Marine Logistics GroupSearch Icon
Story by Cpl. Timothy Childers
April 4, 2014

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Captain Bill M. Appleton, currently the chaplain of 1st Marine Logistics Group, began his career, not as a commissioned naval officer, but as a recruit stepping onto the yellow footprints of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in 1976 and at the age of 17.

Appleton, who is from Philadelphia, served for 12 years active and reserve in the Marine Corps until he retired at the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. He accepted admission into the Navy Chaplain Kennedy Program in 1998, after feeling a call to ministry and has remained an active duty chaplain since.

Q: Why did you feel the calling to become a Navy chaplain?

A: “I was good at taking orders, I felt a call for ministry and ‘Aye Aye Sir’ was the only answer I knew. But truthfully, I came in an atheist and became a Christian from the invitation of a young fellow Marine. A year later, when I was stationed in Hawaii, I felt the call to ministry. I didn’t tell anybody because I couldn’t understand why God would call a Marine to be a chaplain. It seemed contradictory, a warfighter becoming a chaplain. Now I understand more fully. Now I can relate to my fellow Marines.
If they want to come and talk with me, they know they are talking to somebody that has at least walked a day in their shoes.”
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Deputy Chaplain Lt. Cmdr. John Keith died in Naples after surgery

UPDATE

Navy chaplain Keith remembered in Naples

Navy chaplain in Naples dies following surgery
Stars and Stripes
By Steven Beardsley
Published: March 24, 2014

NAPLES, Italy — A Navy chaplain assigned to Naples died over the weekend following complications from surgery.

Deputy Chaplain (Lt. Cmdr.) John Keith, 49, of Irvine, Calif., was a familiar face in the small military community. He led a Protestant church service every Sunday, Bible studies and the occasional memorial service.

“He is very well-known and well-loved by the community, and he’s leaving a huge hole here for us,” base Chaplain (Cmdr.) Manuel Biadog said. “The folks are just completely overwhelmed, shocked. At yesterday’s service there was no dry eye there.”

Keith died early Saturday in an Italian hospital in Castel Volturno after being transferred from the nearby Naval hospital in Gricignano where he had arrived Friday night complaining of pain, according to several officials on the base.
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What they did for love

What they did for love
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 10, 2014

Father Emil Kapaun received the Medal of Honor and became the 7th Chaplain to receive the award of heroes.

Civil War, Chaplains John Whitehead, Francis Hall and James Hill. Also Milton Haney was awarded the Medal of Honor after he volunteered to become a rifleman.

There were two Vietnam Army Chaplains, Charles Watters and Angelo Liteky.

During WWII there were "The four Chaplains were Father John Washington (Catholic), Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish) and Rev. George Fox (Methodist). These four Chaplains were later honored by the Congress and Presidents. They were recognized for their selfless acts of courage, compassion and faith." They took off their lifejackets so that others could live. They knew in doing so, they would die.

Why is it so easy to forget why they joined the military? Why is it so easy for so many to think of them as nothing more than trained killers deserving nothing from them? Why is it so easy for some to change their minds about wars and dismiss all those we sent did? This happens all the time. Yet as lousy as that attitude is, it is not the worst for them. It is when they forget why they wanted to serve.

John 15 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

That same level of love is necessary to be willing to die for the sake of someone else. No one will put someone else above them unless they have that capacity within their hearts/souls.

It is the strength of their character that also opens the door for grieving as deeply as they do. In other words, the more they feel, the more they feel all of it.

They grieve for their friends but they push on until their other friends are out of danger. It is when they are out of danger as a unit they become more in danger alone.

The military tells them they have been trained to do it all and be mentally tough. While this may be true to a point, it is an oversimplification of the end result. They are tough or they could not endure all the hardships that combat troops face. That type of training trivializes what they had within them in the first place and squanders the most powerful component within the men and women they command. The ability to put others first allows them to be the best the military could ever ask for.

They are an example to others that goodness can live on even in the horrific events of combat. Each time one of them reached out a hand to comfort another solider, it was a tender act of the brave.

No matter what people want to say about bravery heroes never do it for themselves. They do it for the others they are with.

God does not start wars but the willingness of Godly men end them. He does not take interest in armies but takes interest in the soldier and has put within them all they need to do what they were intended to do including healing. From the time they felt called into service for the sake of others, everything within them began to strengthen. When they did not remember why they went into military service, mo one reminded them that it had nothing to do with hate. No one is willing to sacrifice their lives because they hate other than deluded terrorists corrupted into thinking that hate was a good thing.

Ask a veteran why they joined and if they are honest, they will say to help the others. This factor is supported by the simple fact that when wars end, they stop fighting. When enemies surrender, they stop fighting.

Then they confuse the commandment 'thou shall not kill' with what happens in war. They think they cannot be forgiven but no one reminds them of what happened when a Roman Centurion approached Christ to save the life of his servant.

Matthew 8:5-13
New International Version (NIV)
The Faith of the Centurion

5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Why is this story so important? Because the Romans were not treating the Hebrews right. As a mater of fact they were killing them. Christ could have judged the Centurion for what he had done to them but instead judged what was in the Centurion's heart. It was love.

There is nothing they cannot be forgiven for. Most of the time they judge themselves too harshly because they cannot remember everything else that was behind what they did. Sometimes they find it impossible to forgive their enemies and that eats away at them until they are able to do it. They cannot forgive their commanders. The list of events and people grows because they had not made peace with the first time it happened. When the next time came, it fed off the previous one and so on and so on.

The beginning of healing comes with making peace with what has been but that can only be achieved by understanding what the basic reason was. That reason is what they did and why they did it. They did it for love.


PTSD Not God's Judgment from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

For spiritual healing contact Point Man International Ministries.

General Carter Ham talking about his own battle with PTSD

In 2008 USA Today featured General Carter Ham talking about his own battle with PTSD.

"You need somebody to assure you that it's not abnormal," Ham says. "It's not abnormal to have difficulty sleeping. It's not abnormal to be jumpy at loud sounds. It's not abnormal to find yourself with mood swings at seemingly trivial matters. More than anything else, just to be able to say that out loud."

The willingness of Ham, one of the military's top officers, to speak candidly with USA TODAY for the first time about post-traumatic stress represents a tectonic shift for a military system in which seeking such help has long been seen as a sign of weakness.

It's also a recognition of the seriousness of combat stress, which can often worsen to become post-traumatic stress disorder."

I was Thankful for General Carter Ham and still am.

General Ham talks PTSD, military service
The Dartmouth
By HANNAH HYE MIN CHUNG
The Dartmouth Staff
February 6, 2014

After returning from military service in Iraq, retired General Carter Ham barely talked to anyone. He thought he was “doing fine,” but when his dog Maggie burst out of his daughter’s house and jumped into his arms, he realized he needed help managing the post-traumatic stress disorder he had suffered from since witnessing a suicide bombing.

Ham also served in various parts of Africa, where he led the U.S. Africa Command, and in Europe. He has engaged in advocacy and policy analysis on issues that affect the military, like health services and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

In a public discussion on Jan. 30, the beginning of his two-week residency at the Dickey Center for International Understanding, Ham spoke about his interpretation and understandings of African government, security and economics. Johnnie Carson, former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, also spoke.

Ham then gave a public lecture on Monday, explaining cultural transformations in the military in the post-Vietnam War era, drawing from observations made over his 40 years of service.

As part of a panel discussion on Wednesday, he talked about the significance of PTSD in the military, sharing his own experience with the disease, observations on the evolution of its management by the military and opinions on how it could be improved.

Ham said he originally thought counseling and medical support only applied to junior soldiers. Senior officers, he recalled thinking, should be strong enough to withstand psychological hardship on their own.

After returning to the U.S., Ham began working in a new position at the Pentagon but said he felt as though he was not achieving anything and wanted to rejoin his comrades in Iraq. Upon realizing that he needed to open up about his hardship, Ham said he began talking to an Army chaplain.
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Four Chaplains of the USS Dorchester Remembered

Four Chaplains, World War II heroes, recalled at rite at VA
Mass Live
By ALEX LYMAN
February 2, 2014

NORTHAMPTON – Seventy-one years after the USS Dorchester sank, four members aboard the ill-fated ship are still being remembered.

A commemorative service was held at the U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds to honor four chaplains who are remembered for their selfless reactions as the ship sunk.

The Dorchester carried troops during World War II and four chaplains of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faith. The ship went down on Feb. 3, 1943. But instead of despairing, the Four Chaplains, as they have come to be known, gave up their life preservers, linked arms and prayed together. Fellow passengers joined in, feeling a moment of unity and comfort in the impending disaster. Of the 904 men on board, 605 died.
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The story of amazing heroism and faith during WW2. This is just part of the story of the four chaplains that is about to be made into a major Hollywood motion picture. The name of the movie is "LIFEBOAT 13".

VA chaplain tormented by boss

VA chaplain says boss tormented her
ABQ Journal
By Colleen Heild
Journal Investigative Reporter
December 2, 2013

A chaplain at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque contends in a federal lawsuit that her supervisor chaplain improperly accessed her medical records and used information from her psychological profile to torment her.

Kathleen Waltz contends that Ronald Cok used his VA credentials to obtain information about mental health treatment she received for sexual trauma she suffered while serving in the U.S. Armed forces from 1969 to 1976.

After she complained about a violation of federal privacy laws, Waltz contends in the lawsuit that both the VA Medical Center and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed a privacy violation occurred.

Yet VA officials allowed Cok to continue supervising Waltz and ultimately moved her away from her colleagues into a crowded and unsuitable office, depriving her of the “resources necessary to perform her duties as Chaplain,” her lawsuit alleges.
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Senate OKs bill for military chaplain services during shutdown

Senate OKs bill for military chaplain services during shutdown
The Associated Press
By DONNA CASSATA
Published: October 11, 2013

WASHINGTON -- Military chaplains will be able to offer worship services to members of the armed forces and their families despite the partial government shutdown under a bill moving through Congress.

The Senate backed a version of the measure late Thursday, expressing the sense of Congress that chaplains shouldn't be blocked from ministering to members of the military as the shutdown entered its 11th day on Friday.

Lawmakers were concerned that the shutdown could disrupt religious services.

The Senate measure, approved by voice vote, includes minor changes by Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who sought to clarify the House-passed bill. Levin added provisions stating that the availability of religious services and clergy were "important to the morale and well-being of many members of the armed forces and their families."

He also included a provision that said it was Congress' hope that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel determines "that contractor clergy provide necessary support to military personnel and would therefore be covered under the appropriations made available" under a law that pays the troops despite the shutdown.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., welcomed the vote, saying on Friday that "all service members should have the opportunity to worship, and no one should make that more difficult."
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Investigation into Medal of Honor Chaplain Emil Kapaun may mean Sainthood

Fort Hood: Investigation Could Lift 1st Cav Chaplain To Sainthood
Our Town Texas
September 26, 2013

FORT HOOD (September 24, 2013)--Italian lawyer Andrea Ambrosi, a Vatican official, will travel Kansas Saturday to complete a lengthy investigation into a possible miracle that could help elevate Capt. Emil J. Kapaun, a Korean War era 1st Cavalry Division chaplain, to sainthood.

The Kansas-born Roman Catholic priest died as a prisoner of war in 1951 when he was 35.

The recovery of Avery Gerleman, a student at Hutchinson Community College, is one of the possible miracles the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints is investigating.

Gerleman believes Kapaun saved her life in 2006, just as he saved soldiers in the prisoner-of-war camp.

The Catholic Church usually requires two miracles for sainthood, but only one will be required if Kapaun is declared a martyr.

Kapaun was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor, which President Barack Obama presented to members of his family in April.
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Capt. Emil Kapaun, Soldier, Chaplain, Hero and Saint

Fort Caron Chaplain's assistant cares for 900 in Afghanistan

Soldier Helps to Meet Comrades' Spiritual Needs
American Forces Press Service
by Sgt. Eric Glassey
Sep 19, 2013

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Army Sgt. Michelle McCullah lights a candle, adding its glow to the spectrum of color cast through the stained-glass windows into the chapel.

McCullah is a chaplain assistant for Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, stationed out of Fort Carson, Colo., who is serving here with Regional Command South.

Her responsibilities are as diverse as the world’s religions as McCullah works with Army Chaplain (Capt.) Samuel Rico to provide spiritual ministry to the battalion.

“In this unit, as a chaplain, I have to be concerned for the spiritual needs of some 900 people in some form or another,” Rico said. “That’s a lot for one person. It helps having her keep me on track.”

McCullah takes being a chaplain assistant beyond simple administrative work by extending Rico’s ministry to the soldiers.
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Army Chaplain with PTSD best weapon against suicides

Army Chaplain with PTSD best weapon against suicides since he is not just unashamed of having PTSD, Maj. David Trogdon says, "I earned it." He didn't kill anyone since Chaplains do not even carry weapons, so that question is often useless in determining PTSD but we already knew that. Considering average citizens are among the almost 8 million with PTSD, that is obvious, or it should be. He pretty much rules out the other excuse of "lack of faith" that has been tossed around when an atheist ends up with PTSD. What he did was beyond what money can buy. He did it freely. He shared himself.

Chaplain with PTSD returns; shows troops there’s a way out of darkness
by Martin Kuz
Special to Stars and Stripes
Published: September 7, 2013

PADKHVAB-E-SHANEH, Afghanistan — The soldier lay on a stretcher, his lower legs a mash of pulverized bone and blackened flesh. Under the bright lights of the medical tent, doctors and technicians ringed his broken body.

Maj. David Trogdon, chaplain of the 3rd Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team stationed in Afghanistan's Logar province, suffers from PTSD. "If I can help reduce the stigma, then it's worth me talking about it," he said.
MARTIN KUZ/STARS AND STRIPES

Maj. David Trogdon stood back a few feet, watching in silence. When he saw an opening, the chaplain came forward and squeezed the soldier’s hand in his own.

Alert and lucid, the soldier spoke in a low voice punctuated by sharp breaths. He had stepped on an improvised explosive device while on patrol with his platoon. He realized the severity of his condition and requested a prayer. Trogdon, head bowed, implored God to relieve the young man’s suffering and grant him strength in his recovery.

A short time later, the soldier flew from Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar province to Bagram Air Field, and from there he traveled to Germany and the United States. He lost both legs below the knee.

“It’s almost like having my kid in there,” said Trogdon, chaplain of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team stationed at FOB Shank. “Afterward, you have to take a breath and think, ‘OK, what just happened?’ ”

Trogdon suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He ministers to most of the casualties who pass through the base’s medical clinic before pivoting to a task he considers as vital as comforting the physically wounded: providing solace to those who must continue fighting when injury or death steals a comrade.

Members of the soldier’s platoon had gathered at the clinic on that June afternoon.

Trogdon met with them after the medevac helicopter lifted off. Fury mixed with grief. He urged the men to open up to each other in the coming days.

“I tell our soldiers all the time that the combat stress is there, it’s in them and it’s going to come out one way or another,” said Trogdon, 52, of Camden, N.J. “The best way to get it out is by talking to someone, especially their buddies.”

He knows from experience the corrosive effect of repressing anger and anxiety. His return to war this year after three tours is motivated, in part, by a desire to show fellow troops that mental trauma can be tamed.

“Sometimes I get asked, ‘Does it bother you that people know you have PTSD?’ And I say, ‘No, I earned it,’ ” he said. “If I can help somebody else and help reduce the stigma, then it’s worth me talking about it.”
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Army Captains renew wedding vows in Afghanistan

Vanguard Couple Renews Their Vows in Afghanistan
DOD Live
Story by Sgt. Sarah Bailey
Posted on August 30, 2013

U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Rorebeck, right, operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and Capt. Crystal Rorebeck, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th IBCT, renew their five year wedding vows, Aug. 16, 2013, on Forward Operating Base Shank, Afghanistan.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Sarah Bailey)

Five years ago when U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Rorebeck, a Norwalk, Iowa, native, and the operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, married U.S. Army Capt. Crystal Rorebeck, a native of Breckenridge, Texas, and the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th IBCT, they made a promise to each other to renew their vows every five years on their anniversary.

Neither one could have known that in five years on Aug. 16, 2013, both would be deployed in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Fortunately, both husband and wife were deployed in the same area and were able to uphold the promise they made to one another.

Matthew knew this event was not only a milestone in his marriage but also something important to his wife and coordinated with his battalion chaplain, U.S. Army Capt. Mickey Bashman, 3-7 Inf. Regiment, to ensure his wife’s wishes were met.
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Remains of Father Emil Kapaun, MOH recipient, could be found

Analyst: Remains of Father Emil Kapaun, MOH recipient, could be found
The Wichita Eagle (MCT)
By Roy Wenzl
Published: August 20, 2013

The senior Pentagon analyst in charge of finding Korean War troops missing in action says there is a “better than even” chance that the body of Medal of Honor soldier Father Emil Kapaun will eventually be found buried in a national cemetery in Hawaii.

Finding Kapaun’s remains would be big news, not only to the U.S. military – which awarded him the Medal of Honor in April – but to the Catholic Church, which is deciding whether the Kansas native and Army chaplain will become a saint.

“It would be wonderful,” said Maj. Gen. Donald Rutherford, a Catholic priest who is the chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army. “It would be great, especially as the church is moving toward canonization.”

Friends of Kapaun’s who were prisoners of war say Chinese Army guards buried Kapaun in a shallow unmarked grave after he died of starvation and disease in a North Korean prison camp in May 1951. The assumption since then by the Army has always been that Kapaun’s remains are still there.
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Chaplains’ assistants place their lives on the line

Chaplains’ assistants place their lives on the line
1st Marine Logistics Group
Story by Cpl. Laura Gauna
August 16, 2013

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Religion has always been important to 19-year-old Seaman Apprentice Jacob L. Brown, a religious program specialist with Group Chaplain, 1st Marine Logistics Group.

When he learned that he could pursue it while serving his country, he jumped at the chance.

He knew he could continue his passion for religion, but what he didn’t expect was the collateral duties.

Religious program specialists are sailors who provide administrative and logistical assistance to chaplains, but when their chaplain's life is in danger, their responsibility transforms form clerk to bodyguard.

“There are two parts to an RP, the combat side and garrison side,” said Brown, a native of Anderson, Ind. “We are the eyes and the ears of the chaplain around the battalion. We meet the Marines, get a feel for the battalion and work with the chaplain in order to minister to the Marines and sailors. The other side is protecting the life of your chaplain while deployed.”

The Geneva Conventions, which set the recognized international standards for treatment and protection of victims of war, specifies that chaplains are noncombatants.

Although it is not stated whether chaplains may bear arms, chaplains in the U.S. military do not. As a result, RPs are required to protect their chaplains.
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Don't be so shocked. Here are some Chaplains with the Medal of Honor

Civil War
Chaplain John M. Whitehead, Chaplain Francis B. Hall, James Hill became a Chaplain after earning the MOH, Milton L. Haney "acts outside the scope of Chaplain duties

Vietnam War
Chaplain (Major) Charles J. Watters, Chaplain (Captain) Angelo J. Liteky

The Would-Be Chaplain Who Doesn't Believe in God

And just where do they think non-believers should go when they need spiritual help? I have a problem with atheists wanting their own chaplain but given the choice of that or no one to talk to, something has to be done. As for congress putting a ban in place, that is among the most stupid stunts they have pulled. Consider the fact that military suicides and attempted suicides are at an all time high, there isn't much these folks have gotten right.

The Would-Be Chaplain Who Doesn't Believe in God
Stars and Stripes
by Leo Shane III
Jul 29, 2013

WASHINGTON -- Jason Heap wants to be a Navy chaplain. But he doesn't believe in God.

Belief in a higher power, the 38-year-old humanist argues, has nothing to do with that work.

"I am aware there are many who would be reticent or militant against that," he said. "But at the end of the day, my job is not to inculcate my viewpoints onto other people. My job as a chaplain is to be a facilitator, someone who cares for people, someone who is a sounding board."

Heap submitted his application to the Armed Forces Chaplains Board earlier this month, in an effort to become the first humanist chaplain in military history.

He holds master's degrees from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University and Oxford University, and has almost finished a doctorate too. He has been teaching religious studies to teenagers in Britain for the last five years and has been conducting scholarly research on 17th century Baptist literature for longer than that.

He passed his physical and is eager to become a sailor.

Supporters argue he would be a shoo-in to serve as a chaplain if he were a practicing Christian.

But Heap's application comes at a time when lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pushing to bar atheists from joining the chaplain corps, arguing that only "religious" officials should be able to fill those roles.

Last week, House lawmakers approved an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill designed to block the Pentagon from accepting chaplains who don't believe in a god.
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Victim of Fort Bliss Chaplain re-victimized by Army

Assault survivor talks of retaliation, re-victimization
Sex assault victim: 'I would never ... ever report again'
Army Times
By Joe Gould
Staff writer
Jul. 1, 2013

The victim of a Fort Bliss, Texas, chaplain who groped and licked her, Michelle Ten Eyck, is saying the Army mistreated her.

The 42-year-old Army contractor was vindicated in court last month, as her tormentor, Maj. Geoffrey Alleyne, pleaded guilty in a military court to charges that include assault and battery against a civilian employee on Fort Bliss, making a false official statement and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was sentenced to six months of confinement June 19.

“There was no protection for me in the system, and I was constantly revictimized,” Ten Eyck told Army Times in a tearful June 26 interview. “Plea deals are done, and we have no say.”

Ten Eyck said she received no comfort from the sentence, which she characterized as “a slap on the wrist.” The ordeal, she said, has left her emotionally and physically spent.

“I’m tired, because this took such a toll on me, on my family,” the mother of six said. “You can only be beat up so many times before you go crazy.”
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Meet your battle buddy: the chaplain assistant

Meet your battle buddy: the chaplain assistant
1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division
Story by Pfc. Paige Pendleton

FORT HOOD, Texas – Many soldiers can explain the role of their unit’s chaplain, but do they know about the soldier supporting him from behind the scenes?

The Army offers more than 200 military occupational specialties, or jobs, that can be made into careers and carried over into the civilian world.

The role of the chaplain assistant begins with exactly what the name describes: assisting the chaplain. Although this MOS has a humble title, the scope of its duties is multi-faceted.

“Our MOS is not really well defined,” said Kingsport, Tenn. native Sgt. Nicholas Teague, the chaplain assistant for the 1st “Centurion” Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. “The job isn’t really self explanatory.”

Teague said some of his duties include providing religious support to soldiers at the battalion level, preparing for religious services, providing security for the chaplain while deployed, planning retreats and talking to soldiers in need of a release.

Killeen, Texas, native Capt. Marshall Coen, the Ironhorse Brigade’s Chaplain, said chaplain assistants are invaluable and their primary role is to ensure the chaplain does well.
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