PTSD 90 Year Old WWII Veteran Forced From Home By VA?

Veterans Administration forces 90-year-old chaplain from home
Portland Tribune
Written by Molalla Pioneer
Friday, 05 February 2016

Baker was also a prolific writer. He wrote eighteen (18) books addressing depression, pain, forgiveness and many other issues.

COURTESY OF BAKER FAMILY - Don and Martha Baker in 2011

The Veterans Administration has ordered a 90-year-old chaplain, who once preached before President Gerald Ford, to move from his home of five years. Don Baker will be forced to relocate from the Molalla Manor Care Center, to the nearest VA sanctioned facility in Woodburn, 15 miles away.

“This move will be very difficult for him, because his health is tenuous,” said Baker’s daughter, Kathryn Thomas Barram. Baker suffers from Post-Tramautic Stress Disorder stemming from his service in the Air Corps during World War II, said Barram.

Last month, the Veterans Administration notified Baker’s family that it was pulling its contract with Molalla Manor.

Baker was ordered to move within six weeks.

Armed with more than 200 pages of testimony supporting the chaplain, his physicians and family appealed to the VA to reconsider its decision. The VA denied the formal appeal, but extended the relocation date by 12 days to Feb. 12, 2016.

"This is a shame - not ethical treatment of a family and a patient," wrote Baker's physician, Ray E. Smucker, M.D. in his letter to the VA. "Is this the care the VA expects for their patients? I would understand if his care was at risk. His care at Molalla Manor has been great over the years."
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Chaplain Says "strengthen the part of them that wants to live"

Community Voices: Veteran pays if forward by helping prevent suicide
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jill Howard Church
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015

“We have to find ways to strengthen the part of them that wants to live.”

Army chaplain and Armed Forces Mission founder Ken Koon

Army chaplain and Armed Forces Mission founder Ken Koon teaches suicide prevention

skills to military and civilian groups. Photo courtesy of Armed Forces Mission

On Veterans Day, there will be well-deserved honors and memorials for those who have served in the U.S. armed forces at home and abroad. What many people don’t realize, however, is that soldiers often fight a more personal but equally dangerous battle when they get home: thoughts of suicide.

One man fighting this battle is Kenneth Koon, who has the look of a general and the zeal of a preacher. He’s both an Army chaplain and the founder of Armed Forces Mission, a Tyrone-based nonprofit that works to prevent suicide, with a special emphasis on veterans. Koon founded AFM on Veterans Day 2012 after his son intervened during a difficult time in Koon’s life. Now he’s paying it forward on a national scale.
read more here

Reminder it is not "22 a day" that is far too often mentioned. It is a lot higher and we need to stop trying to boil it down to a sound bite because it is easier to say. Using it doesn't make it any easier for them to live. Veterans survived combat but commit suicide double the civilian population rate.

"Death Letter: God, Sex and War" Chaplain's Book Turned Into Movie

Veteran's story of his 'invisible wounds' to be made into movie in Pittsburgh 
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Janice Crompton
July 24, 2015

The book is called “Death Letter: God, Sex and War.” It is named after those just-in-case letters penned by every soldier to their loved ones before they head off to the front. It focuses on God, sex and war, “the three biggest mythologies of our imagination,” the chaplain said.

Erik Shaw and his wife Kristen. The couple married via live video satellite feed in 2005 after Mr. Shaw feared he would be killed in combat in Southern Baghdad. Just days earlier, he suffered a traumatic brain injury during a roadside improvised explosive device attack.

When Army Chaplain David Peters returned from active duty in Iraq nine years ago, he discovered that even though he no longer was living in the chaos of war, the battle within was just beginning.

Not long after he returned home, he got divorced ”and started serially dating and wondered, ’What is wrong with me?’ ”

But Rev. Peters realized that he had “to keep it together” for the wounded troops he was ministering to at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The Bucks County native joined a writing program and tried to find answers to the challenges he was facing concerning religion, sexuality and relationships. While he found plenty of books about war and post-traumatic stress disorder, they glossed over the more intimate subjects of love and sex.

“I decided to write the book I needed to read,” he said. For Rev. Peters, the struggle represented “the invisible wounds I brought back with me.”

The book was published by Pittsburgh native and Army Sgt. 1st Class Erik Shaw, also an Iraq War veteran who started a publishing company as a way to help veterans with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD.
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Chaplains Need to Change Back To Basic Healing

A veteran got defensive with me a few years ago saying "What the hell do you know? You were never in combat!" To that I replied, "I don't have to understand combat do understand what it did to you. You don't have to understand what almost killed me to be able to understand what it did to me."

I grew up with a violent alcoholic Dad. He stopped drinking and joined AA when I was 13. Traumatic? Hell yes but then again, not the first time I faced trauma. I almost died when I was 4 and a kid decided to shove me down a slide but pushed too hard on my right side sending me over the edge. Then there was a car accident, a few health emergencies and oh, my ex-husband came home from work one night and tried to kill me.

The veteran didn't have to experience all that to understand what all those things put me through and he was able to understand what got me through all of them. He finally understood that I not only studied PTSD, I was living proof that trauma doesn't have to win and no one is stuck suffering as they are. Healing is possible and living a better quality of life is always possible with the right kind of help and willingness to work at it.

When I became a Chaplain in 2008 with the IFOC I did it for several reasons. The first one was that searching for reasons why I didn't have PTSD after many life threatening events, it became first hand knowledge that talking about it helped me recover from it over and over again. The shock wasn't allowed to take hold and my family let me talk for as long as I needed to. They gave lousy advice but I knew I was loved and they cared about what the event did to me. The other inspiration was my faith. Both mattered equally.

People of some kind of faith walk away after trauma one of two ways. God did it to them or God spared them. There are three parts of a human hit by trauma. Mind, body and spirit, with each part requiring treatment to heal the whole person. When you add in the moral torment, PTSD takes on a different battle to fight. That is when the ministry of presence is needed. We are not to be judge but we are to be comforter and healer.

My other response to healing is with Point Man International Ministries acting as bridge between veterans and families. Point Man started in 1984 working with veterans and their families. I know what it is like to be a spouse of a veteran more than I understand what it is like to be a veteran but in a unique position due to over 30 years of study and helping veterans heal. After all, my first teacher is a Vietnam veteran. We've been married for 30 years.

PMIM is a service organization with an evangelical purpose. Keeping Jesus Christ the focal point PMIM acts as a referral service to connect hurting veterans and their families to our Outpost and Home Front system for continued support and fellowship. These support groups are available at no charge, and utilize the gospel of Jesus Christ and Biblical principles to facilitate healing and restoration.

PMIM participates in national conferences and international publishing, radio and television as well as other forms of media to help educate and raise awareness of the needs of veterans around the world. We provide evangelistic materials, leadership training seminars, restoration conferences and support outreaches as missionaries to a target group (active duty soldiers, veterans and their families).

PMIM is an interdenominational mission-oriented ministry. We embrace any Christian denomination that agrees with the basic evangelical statement of faith established by the Corporate Board of Directors of PMIM.

I don't turn anyone away especially when most of the veterans I talk to believe in God and most of the time they believe Christ was sent by God, but haven't attended church in years and even those who say they don't believe at all. My job isn't to get them into a church pew, it is to help them heal no matter where they are coming from spiritually.

Chaplains have to change but not the way many think. It it going back to the way it was back in the beginning. Ministering to those in need much like the 72 others Christ sent out to the people.

Eugene Kapaun, left, and Bishop Eugene Gerber look at the statue honoring Chaplain Emil Kapaun at its 2001 unveiling at St. John Nepomucene Church in Pilson, Kan. Kapaun served in the Korean War and died in a prisoner of war camp on May 23, 1951. Soldiers who knew him never forgot the plain-spoken chaplain who urged them to keep their spirits up and is credited with saving hundreds of soldiers during the Korean War. On April 11, 2013, President Obama will award Kapaun the Medal of Honor posthumously.
(Dave Williams / The Wichita Eagle via AP)

The changing role of a military chaplain
Desert News
Mark A Kellner
May 9, 2015

According to that poll, nearly 20 percent of service members identified themselves as having either no religious affiliation or as being atheistic or agnostic.

Some 240 years after the Continental Congress authorized the presence of chaplains in the colonist's revolutionary forces, do clergy in the military still have a prayer?

Critics of chaplaincy decry any attempt to proselytize, saying those clergy who insist on fidelity to their own doctrines should resign. And as the makeup of the U.S. armed forces changes, the spiritual needs of service members is evolving as well.

All that's a lot to handle for a chaplain, even one wearing the same camouflage uniform as the soldiers they serve.

"The growing diversity of the military population has meant focusing on really listening and hearing, rather than coming at them from our own theological backgrounds," said U.S. Army Capt. Prathima Dharm, who is based in Silver Spring, Maryland. She said a soldier's spirituality is often "fluid," something Dharm herself experienced. Joining the Army in 2006 as a Christian chaplain, Dharm returned to her family's religious roots during her service, eventually becoming the Army's first Hindu chaplain.

"As an interfaith and Hindu chaplain, I saw a lot more commonality of needs between the soldiers of diverse population than differences," said Dharm, who left the military in the autumn of 2014.

U.S. Marine Corps Chaplain Lt. Cdr. Gary Thornton, regimental chaplain for the Wounded Warrior Regiment at Virginia's Marine Corps Base Quantico, said chaplains provide the proper atmosphere to help fighters handle such issues.

"When someone is conflicted like that, it allows them to ask those hard questions to someone who — as a chaplain — has given some thought and consideration to those questions, such as where was God, what was he doing, how do I handle or deal with these feelings and questions that I am wrestling with," Thornton said. "It allows people to ask those questions in that safe, confidential and caring environment and walk through that with a chaplain who should be versed and ready to engage in those things."
read more here

Pentecostal Chaplain’s Religious Accommodation Request Denied

I know this may flabbergast some folks but it seems the Chaplain wanted accommodation for his views at the same time he disregarded the servicemembers going to him for help.

This has been a huge issue in all branches as more and more servicemembers were seeking help from some Chaplains only to be told they were going to hell or that their suffering was judgement of their sins. Yep~ So a young Soldier, Marine or Sailor or Airman would be dealing with PTSD and moral injury, then walk away feeling even worse.

If you think that's bad, try working with them on their spiritual need after they had been put through hell by a Chaplain.

To all the great military Chaplains out there, and there are many, this makes me appreciate all of you even more!

Commander denies Pentecostal chaplain’s religious accommodation request
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: March 18, 2015

Congressional law and Defense Department regulations require the military to accommodate the religious beliefs of servicemembers to the extent practical and prohibits the military from taking disciplinary action against servicemembers or chaplains for expressing their religious views unless their actions and speech threaten “good order and discipline.”

On Monday, Fahs sent a memorandum to Modder denying his request for religious accommodation, arguing that the chaplain violated Navy regulations.

“In your case, I find that your ability to express your religious beliefs during pastoral counseling has not been restricted or substantially burdened,” Fahs said. “The decision to relieve you from your duties is based on your failure to uphold … the professional standards of conduct and the guiding principles of the Chaplain Corps.”

WASHINGTON — The commander of Naval Nuclear Power Training Command has denied a religious accommodation request by a Pentecostal chaplain who was removed from his post for allegedly making inappropriate comments to sailors and being “intolerant” of those who don’t share his religious views.

Last month, NNPTC commander Capt. Jon Fahs requested that Navy chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Modder be “detached for cause.” Fahs also recommended Modder be denied promotion and made to show cause for retention in the Navy.

Modder, a member of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God denomination, has been removed from his post at NNPTC and temporarily reassigned to Naval Support Activity Charleston as a staff chaplain while Navy Personnel Command reviews Fahs’ recommendations.
read more here Linked from Military.com

Navy Chaplain Faces Charges for Being Intolerant

Chaplain faces possible discharge for being 'intolerant'
Military Times
By Andrew Tilghman, Staff writer
March 11, 2015

"The Navy values, and protects in policy, the rights of its service members, including chaplains, to practice according to the tenets of their faith and respects the rights of each individual to determine their own religious convictions,"

Chaplain Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Modder, second from right, offers an invocation during a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in San Diego in 2012. Modder is at the center of a controversy over religious freedom in the military.
(Photo: MC2 Benjamin Crossley/Navy)

A Pentecostal chaplain once assigned to elite Navy SEAL units may be kicked out of the Navy for allegedly scolding sailors for homosexuality and premarital sex.

Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Modder was given a "detachment for cause" letter on Feb. 17 after his commanders concluded that he is "intolerant" and "unable to function in the diverse and pluralistic environment" of his current assignment at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command in South Carolina.

Modder denies any wrongdoing and is fighting the dismissal with attorneys from the Liberty Institute, which advocates for religious expression in the military and in public institutions. Modder has served more than 19 years and could lose his retirement benefits if the Navy convenes a board of inquiry and officially separate him before he completes 20 years of service.

Navy Capt. Jon Fahs, NNPTC commander, cited several specific incidents in which Modder offered inappropriate counseling to sailors in the command, according to the detachment for cause letter. The letter states that Modder:

Told a female that she was "shaming herself in the eyes of god" for having premarital sex.

Told another student that homosexuality was wrong and that "the penis was meant for the vagina and not for the anus."

Suggested to a student that he, Modder, had the ability to "save" gay people.

"Berated" a student for becoming pregnant while not married.

Commanders felt that allowing vulnerable sailors to be counseled by Modder is "a recipe for tragedy," according to the letter.

The issue arose after multiple sailors filed equal opportunity complaints about Modder with the command, alleging discrimination.
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Chief of Chaplains Convicted of Murderer?

A veteran murdered his wife claiming PTSD made him do it. In prison, he had a "come to Jesus" moment and started to minister to other prisoners. After prison, he became a Chaplain with the Maine VA. Now he wants to be Chief of Chaplains?

Kneejerk reaction, "Oh hell no" but as I read the story, it isn't that easy to figure out.

Jackson VA eyes convicted killer for chaplain job
The Clarion-Ledger
Emily Le Coz
March 7, 2015

A top candidate for chief chaplain at the G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson is a felon who shot and killed his estranged wife in 1986.

James Luoma serves as chief chaplain at VA Maine Healthcare Systems-Togus, but is interviewing for an open position in Jackson, according to Marti Reynolds, who served as chaplain for the Jackson VA from 1990 until last May.

Jackson VA spokeswoman Susan Varcie would not confirm this, saying only that the hospital is interviewing for a new chief of chaplain but hasn't yet selected anyone to fill the spot, which pays between $82,642 and $107,434.

Reached by phone Thursday, Luoma also would not comment.

A former police officer and decorated Vietnam medic, Luoma was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder three years before fatally shooting his wife, Sherry, in his Englewood, Ohio, home on July 31, 1986, according to online court records and archives from the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.

The couple had been separated, and Sherry had filed for divorce prior to the shooting, records show.

Luoma was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

"At trial, Luoma argued that the shooting was an accident — that he had been cleaning the gun and did not realize it was loaded when he pulled the trigger," court records stated. "Alternatively, Luoma argued that he was insane at the time of the shooting, as a result of PTSD."
read more here

Start with the cons of this.

Veterans with PTSD are already stigmatized by new reports of a few veterans losing control and committing crimes. The fact is veterans are more likely to harm themselves than someone else. This could feed the notion of veterans are dangerous. After all, this is a position as Chief of Chaplains at the Jackson VA. It isn't as if he is just seeking a job in prison ministries.

The pro side of this is that no one is beyond redemption. He did his time in jail and paid the price. That can be very hopeful for other veterans.

I am torn on this one. As the article points out, St. Paul wasn't always a Christian. He spent many of his days tracking down Christians to turn them in so they would be killed. His "come to Jesus" moment came on a road to Damascus. After that, he reached out to the Gentiles and let them know what God was really all about and sent His Son to pay for their sins. That forgiveness and mercy were available to everyone who sought it.

Saul’s Conversion 9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Afghanistan War Memorial Brings Memories Back For Chaplain

YELLOWKNIFE VIGIL ‘BRINGS IT ALL BACK’ FOR MILITARY CHAPLAIN
Yellowknife News Canada
OLLIE WILLIAMS
FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Things like the vigil’s opening ceremony are a reminder of that great support network we have, and give us a chance to grieve and honour at the same time, so you don’t keep the feelings all inside.

When Major Darren Persaud stood in front of plaques at the Afghanistan Memorial Vigil in Yellowknife, he saw more than faces.

Sadly, the military chaplain – after three tours of Afghanistan – knew many of those commemorated by the plaques only too well.

Here, as told to Moose FM on the day of the vigil’s opening ceremony, is how Major Persaud reflects on what the vigil meant to him.

I’ve served for 12 years. I was in Afghanistan in 2004, 2008 and 2011, with the Air Force, Army and special forces.

When I look at a lot of the faces on the plaques at the vigil, I either was with them, or part of the chaplain team that would notify their families when they passed away overseas.

It’s really hard to even begin to talk about it.

I think, over time, I got better at coping with talking to the families. Not that it’s ever easy, but you really have to understand how to take care of yourself by creating a great support network, which I’m very thankful to have – be it other chaplains, social workers, the medical professional or other soldiers themselves. It’s so important for us.

Things like the vigil’s opening ceremony are a reminder of that great support network we have, and give us a chance to grieve and honour at the same time, so you don’t keep the feelings all inside.
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Nellis Air Force Base Chaplain Said PTSD Was God's Plan?

I had a massive headache and just wanted to get through my emails before I go lay down. It just got worse when I read this.

Former Nellis AFB Drone Operator On First Kill, PTSD, Being Shunned By Fellow Airmen 
KNPR News
Nevada Public Radio
Adam Burke and Joe Schoenmann
January 23, 2015

"I went to go see a chaplain," Bryant said. "And the chaplain told me that it was God's plan for all this to happen and that I should accept that."

In the new movie Good Kill, Ethan Hawke plays an airman who remotely operates Predator drones from the safety of a cubicle at Creech Air Force Base, 50 miles north of Las Vegas.

But in the film we learn that the cubicle is not such a safe place. Ethan Hawke’s character suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder on the job.

Former drone operator Brandon Bryant, who was stationed at Nellis for four years, consulted with the writer/director of Good Kill​, Andrew Niccol.

Bryant was the co-pilot in a two-man drone team, and it was his job to locate targets and pull trigger on missiles.

When he ended his four-year stint, Bryant received a certificate honoring him for having aided in the deaths of some 1,600 people.

Post-Traumatic Stress
The more that he shut himself away, the more isolated he felt. He started drinking heavily, playing video games when he wasn't working, and working out.

"I stopped sleeping because I was dreaming in infrared," he said. "White hot, black hot, the same type of filters I would see at work. It was like I couldn't escape myself."

Bryant told KNPR that at the time, airmen were discouraged from seeking psychological help at Nellis.

"When I told them I wasn't doing so well, they told me that if I sought help then they would revoke my clearance," he said. "So that kind of kept me in line."

Then Bryant's commander ordered him to go see with a chaplain.

"I went to go see a chaplain," Bryant said. "And the chaplain told me that it was God's plan for all this to happen and that I should accept that."
read more here

Ok, so far we've been made aware of the fact that Warrior Transition Units have been still telling PTSD soldiers to suck it up and get over it when they were supposed to be helped. We've read about the rise in suicides among veterans out of the military where the original damage was done. We've also read about all the bullshit about how this bill and that bill needs the public's support but never once told why we should. We've read about this group and that group with their hands out looking for money but never telling us what they've done with the money they all collected over the years while it is getting worse for veterans and families.

The list goes on but now we discover a Chaplain told an Airman looking for help that it was God's will.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff already told Congress to go to hell when they admitted they were not following the law on post deployment screenings and the DOD heads have all made stupid statements about intestinal fortitude after they pushed the "program" that made them all think it was their own fault. Just when you think you've heard everything, it gets to the point where you wonder when they hell congress will actually hear anything.

Army Chaplain Finds Faith Again After War

An Army Chaplain, First Tested By War, Finds His Faith Renewed
NPR
John Burnett
JANUARY 06, 2015

As an Army chaplain in Iraq, David Peters administered last rites and grieved with survivors. When he came home, he says, he "fell apart emotionally and spiritually." Courtesy of Robert K. Chambers

David Peters' life was supposed to be one continuous arc of piety and service.

But for the U.S. Army chaplain, it's ended up a more circuitous route. Peters lost the very faith he was supposed to embody for his soldiers — but has also found his way back.

Peters grew up in a fundamentalist evangelical church in Pennsylvania, served as youth minister and then went to war in Baghdad as a chaplain in the U.S. Army in 2005.

At the age of 30, he was serving as a chaplain for the 62nd Engineer Combat Battalion, a unit that built guard towers and repaired roads. "So they were operating all around Baghdad, at night, in the streets, in the neighborhoods — and it really exposed [them] to an incredible amount of danger," he says.

Peters' duties included administering last rites, grieving with survivors and listening to soldiers lament their broken marriages back home.

After 12 months in a combat zone, it was time for Peters to go home. But when he arrived back in Texas, Peters realized that he had changed.

"I found that going to war was really pretty easy and it was kind of exciting, and there was a lot of energy around it," he says. "But when I came home, I really fell apart emotionally and spiritually."

He had symptoms of PTSD, and his own marriage had shattered while he was away at war.
read more here

No Greater Love the Film After Chaplain Carried a Camera

Film shows Army chaplain’s journey with the 101st in combat
Clarksville Now
Yesterday in Lifestyle, Military

By Atlas House Productions

AFGHANISTAN – Active Duty U. S. Army Chaplain Captain Justin David Roberts has added one more credential to his Curriculum Vitae: Film Director.

No Greater Love is a feature-length documentary film that tells his story as an infantry chaplain deployed to Afghanistan in 2010-2011 with the legendary NO SLACK battalion of the 101st Airborne, where he spent most of his time on missions with his soldiers.

This is not a common duty for a chaplain since they don’t typically carry weapons.

Roberts had a sincere desire to serve infantry soldiers after interning at Brooke Army Medical Center while in graduate school.

“I absolutely wanted to serve these guys, wherever they’re at, I wanted to go and I wanted to be their chaplain,” he said.

That combat deployment was Chaplain Roberts’ first deployment and it was a rough one for the 800-man battalion. They came home with more than 200 purple hearts and 18 made the ultimate sacrifice.

Roberts’ combat footage is layered with honest, heartfelt interviews with the soldiers of No Slack and the families of the fallen.

This footage was not shot on training missions but in actual combat in Kunar Province, Afghanistan from 2010-2011. The interviews tell stories from the hearts of the soldiers – the true cost of war. 

“This film is about what we fought for, and what our crew worked for,” said No Slack Sergeant Bob Evans, Infantryman and No Greater Love Production Assistant.
read more here

Fort Bliss Chaplain Deployed 7 Times

Ready First: Brigade chaplain inspired by 9/11 to serve in Army, minister to soldiers
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 01/01/2015

Barkemeyer is also the most deployed Catholic priest and most deployed chaplain currently serving in the Army, Fort Bliss officials said. He has been to Iraq five times and to Afghanistan twice. He volunteered for six of those deployments.

Chaplain Maj. John Barkemeyer is the chaplain for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He is the most deployed chaplain currently in the U.S. Army. (Rudy Gutierrez — El Paso Times)

Army Chaplain Maj. John Barkemeyer was a Catholic priest in the Chicago area when he was inspired to join the service.

He witnessed Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City. He served as a chaplain for the Chicago Fire Department when its firefighters went to New York to help out.

Barkemeyer also saw many courageous young men and women in his parish join the military in a call to duty after 9/11.

"I saw the selflessness in them and asked myself, 'Am I doing everything I can do?'" said Barkemeyer, a 50-year-old native of Wilmette, Ill. "That coupled with the Ground Zero experience were two eye-opening experiences. 'OK, God, you got my attention.' "

Barkemeyer has now been in the Army for 12 years and is currently the brigade chaplain for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. He became the Ready First Brigade chaplain in July 2014.

He helps fill one of the most critical shortages in the Army — a chaplain who is a Catholic priest. There are only about 100 Catholic priests serving in the Army and they probably need about 400 to ideally cover the needs of soldiers, Barkemeyer said.
read more here

Santa Joins Soldiers in Prayer in Liberia

U.S. Troops Fighting Ebola Epidemic Focus on Progress over Holidays 
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Dec 24, 2014

Santa Claus and service members bow their heads in prayer during the Joint Forces Command – United Assistance holiday tree lighting event on Barclay Training Center in Monrovia, Liberia, Dec. 18, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Rashene Mincy

The troops have lit a Christmas tree, received a visit from Santa and even held a "Skype Hanukkah" this holiday season, but the focus for U.S. troops in Liberia during the holidays has been on maximizing the gains they've made against the deadly Ebola epidemic. "It's been a whole lot better of late," Army Lt. Col. David Bowlus, a chaplain with the 2,400 U.S. troops in Liberia, said by phone Tuesday from Monrovia, the Liberian capital.

About five new suspected cases of Ebola have been reported daily in recent weeks, Bowlus said, compared to more than 50 at the end of October. "We're at the point where Ebola is no longer hunting us, we're hunting it," said Bowlus, 43, of Pemberville, Ohio.

For Christmas Day, a Catholic chaplain will be going by helicopter to conduct services at outposts in Liberia for troops serving in Operation United Assistance, the mission led by the U.S. Agency for International Development to combat Ebola, Bowlus said.

Since all faiths are represented in the 101st Airborne Division and other units, the chaplains posted to Liberia have worked hard to accommodate all faiths. "We don't have a rabbi with us," Bowlus said. So they arranged a Hanukkah service via Skype for four Jewish soldiers with a rabbi in Missouri. read more here

Eielson Air Force Chaplain Next Catholic Bishop

Air Force Chaplain Chosen to Become Catholic Bishop
Alaska Dispatch News, Anchorage
by Dermot Cole
Dec 17, 2014

U.S. Air Force Maj. Chad Zielinski, 354th Fighter Wing Catholic chaplain,
preaches during Sunday Mass at Fort Wainwright, Alaska,
June 29, 2014. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Joseph Swafford)

FAIRBANKS -- When the command post at Eielson Air Force Base summons an Air Force chaplain, it's almost always a crisis that requires immediate attention.

After the phone rang at 6:15 a.m. that Saturday morning in November, the Rev. Chad Zielinski, 50, thought it was not an emergency, but a big mistake.

In this case, the caller, perhaps not fully aware of the time zone, identified himself as Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the ambassador from the Vatican who represents Pope Francis in Washington, D.C. "Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed you Bishop of Fairbanks," Vigano told Zielinski.

Zielinski, a chaplain for 12 years and a Catholic priest for 18 years, asked Vigano who he was three or four times, thinking that the Apostolic Nuncio had the wrong Zielinski.

"I was so tired and could not think straight," Zielinski said, reconstructing the Nov. 8 conversation in a letter to those who worship with him at Our Lady of Snows Catholic Community at Eielson.
read more here

"Holy Crap" Christian Chaplain Told He Can't Share Faith?

In 2012, The Chicago Tribune did a study on "non-believers" in the military.

Christianity also dominates the religious makeup of the military. Only about 8,000 out of 1.4 million active duty members in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force identify themselves as atheists, and another 1,800 say they are agnostic, according to the Defense Department.

The article focused on a concert "Rock Beyond Belief" at Fort Bragg for non-believers.

Fort Bragg's garrison commander said allowing the atheist event to be held on base was just the latest manifestation of the Army's efforts to make sure nonbelievers in its ranks were treated like everyone else.

"We don't treat soldiers who are atheists as atheists," said Col. Stephen Sicinski. "We treat them as soldiers."

After rain gave way to sunshine on Saturday, a smaller-than-expected crowd streamed onto the same large field where Christians gathered in 2010. There was again face painting and jumping inflatables for children, but a performer on stage rapped that "creationism is dead wrong" and a T-shirt for sale featured a Bible along with the slogan "Holy Crap."

Over at Fort Benning a Chaplain dared to share his story of struggles and his faith. Chaplain Lawhorn wanted to talk about what he did to help with his depression.

FORT BENNING, Ga., Dec. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Liberty Institute, on behalf of U.S. Army Chaplain (Captain) Joe Lawhorn, responded to the Army's punishment against him on December 8, 2014.

On November 20, 2014, Chaplain Lawhorn conducted suicide prevention training as required by Army regulations. During the training, he discussed his own personal struggles and how he used the Bible to successfully combat his depression. One of the soldiers in attendance complained to an atheist group about Chaplain Lawhorn's presentation. In response, Army Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade Commander, Colonel David G. Fivecoat, issued Chaplain Lawhorn a Letter of Concern alleging that Chaplain Lawhorn "advocated for . . . Christianity and used Christian scripture and solutions" and therefore violated Army regulations.

One soldier complained.

I don't have access to read all the words he used. I didn't have a front row seat to see the soldier getting upset having to listen to someone share his heartbreak as well as what helped him. I don't need to. What I do have is a loss of hope that the best way to help soldiers heal PTSD has to address the spiritual aspect as well as their body and the rest of their mind.

On Mother Jones there is still an article up from 2011 about atheist chaplains. Jason Torpy, an Iraq vet and president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, participated in an interview.

"We've got a considered opinion that chaplains are appropriate, given the modern chaplaincy. The military has heaped upon the chaplains responsibilities for ethical advisement, for well-rounding the person, to provide support to a military that is less than 70 percent Christian and less than 50 percent Protestant, to provide support to a unit and still be relevant. Chaplains are given responsibility for deployment counseling, for family counseling, financial counseling, and now this new resiliency training."

What exactly is free thinking when it seems as if a Chaplain isn't free to share his thoughts? If atheists are so convinced people of faith are so full of nonsense, then what are they afraid of? After all, I am a Christian and a Chaplain, albeit not a member of the military, but my faith is so strong that I don't have to get the approval of atheists. Why do they want the approval of people they disregard as being so stupid they believe in something there is no proof of?

I get the fact they don't seem to be able to grasp the concept of belief not requiring proof above and beyond what it took to get them to decided to believe as much as what it lacked for atheists to choose not to. What I don't get is, how does all of this work in their own minds?

Again, why are they free to think and believe what they want yet others are not? Why do they think they are entitled to shut up a Chaplain, a Christian Chaplain from sharing his faith with those willing to listen?

It is a Chaplains job to share his/her faith and that is why they are in the positions they are in. So what are atheists afraid of? That it will rub off on them? Give me a break! I am not afraid an atheist will take away my belief but I talk to them. I'll listen to what they are going through and talk to them like a person. Whenever I do need to share what I believe in, I tell them that they can think of it the same way they always do. That when I mention God or Christ, it is just a nice story. Sooner or later they get the point that we're not all trying to get them to convert half as much as we're trying to help them with their spiritual warfare.

Atheists struggle with good and evil just as much as anyone else but they are harder to reach when they don't really believe they have a soul but have some type of disconnected emotional part of their brain searching for reason. They can still feel better when they walk away once they are able to at least think of things differently.

I had an argument a long time ago with a veteran hell bent on pointing out how evil I was to support God. He kept telling me that it was impossible to believe in God because of all that is wrong with the world and the hell of suffering going on. This lasted quite a while until I asked him where he thought good came from.

He didn't understand at first. So I asked him if he ever saw anything good in Vietnam. Once he got over being angry, he paused for a bit, then said he never saw anything good. I could tell there was something he was hiding. I asked him what made him cry there. He told me about a young child. Then went off on a rant about kids suffering all over the world.

I asked him, "Where do you think the good inside of you came from that lasted all these years?"

He walked away. I wasn't about to argue with him considering he had a lot to drink. Later at the event he kept looking at me and the expression on his face softened. I talked to more people and kept catching him looking over at me. As I was leaving, he came over, gave me a hug and walked away. I guess I struck a nerve and got him to remember that things are not as bad as we think they are most of the time, because most of the time, we don't notice what is good.

I have no problem with atheists having their own groups but I do have a problem with them wanting to stop believers having the same rights they want for themselves. I have no problem with them not wanting to go to Christian events but I do have a problem with them wanting to take away the rights of others do go to them.

I also have a huge problem with them being so bent out of shape over a symbol of a cross they don't believe in. If they don't believe in it then how can it be so offensive to them they can't stand the thought of it giving comfort to someone else?

There are limits to everything and they shouldn't have to put up with being forced to do anything regarding faith or the lack of it so they should be able to have their own groups but they can't get what they want by taking away the same ability from others.

Atheists believe in nothing but on this point, what they seem to believe in is non-sense. Telling a Chaplain he can't share what he believes in defeats the reason he is there in the first place.

Religious liberty advocates painted widely divergent pictures

13 minutes ago
Advocates paint differing pictures of the state of religion in the military
Stars and Stripes
By Chris Carroll
Published: November 19, 2014

WASHINGTON — Religious liberty advocates painted widely divergent pictures of the state of faith in the U.S. military for House legislators Wednesday, with some claiming rampant proselytization and others complaining that believers are punished for expressing their faith.

The purpose of the hearing by the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee was to examine the effects of recent changes to federal law and Defense Department policies governing religious expression in the military.

The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Department of Defense to accommodate religious expression as much as possible without damaging the military, and exempted chaplains from performing religious duties they believe violate their faith. DOD followed up in January with a policy that critics and supporters alike say loosens the reins on religious expression.

Among other affects, policy change eases the way for members of religious minorities who believe their faiths require beards, turbans other types of traditional grooming or dress to receive official accommodation for not meeting uniform regulations.

But retired Navy chaplain Rabbi Bruce Kahn told legislators that the new policy may also open a door for those inclined to relentlessly try to bring others to their faiths.

“Where you have individuals who believe they’re on a mission to bring others to their point of view … then you have cracks in unit cohesion and you have real problems with maintaining readiness and being prepared to go to war,” Kahn said.
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Air National Guard Chaplain Talks About Compassion Fatigue

Veterans and 'The Things They Carry'
Post Courier
Norris Burkes
Air National Guard Chaplain
Nov 2 2014

"From all of that, the VA doctor told me I was likely carrying secondary traumatic stress (STS), more commonly called "compassion fatigue." STS is a condition characterized by the gradual decrease of one's ability to show compassion. It's a common side effect for those who care for the injured and dying; STS takes a lot out of one's psyche and soul, so now there's a name for it."

Note to readers: In writing this column, I'm grateful for the inspiration I received from reading Tim O'Brien's Vietnam memoir, "The Things They Carried."

In May 2009, after serving four months as the chaplain for the Air Force field hospital in Balad, Iraq, I checked five pieces of luggage onto the military charter flight that would carry me home.

The five bags were heavy with my uniforms, mementos and military gear. As we approach another Veteran's Day, however, I'm becoming more aware that I carried some unseen baggage, too.

For instance, I was carrying the weight of a job undone. It felt undone because my four-month chaplain rotation was out of sync with the six-month deployment of the hospital staff. I was returning alone while many remained. There were moments where I felt more like a deserter than a returning vet.

Like most vets, I was worried about friends I left behind. I felt much like the only Marine I saw cry during my deployment; she was sent home with a broken ankle and her tears weren't from physical pain, but from the spiritual pain of leaving her squad.
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Retired Chaplain Admits Army Programs Didn't Work Out

Keep in mind the "program" they are using now is called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness but while it has been pushed throughout the military since 2009, no one seem to mind suicides went up afterwards.

Army chaplain to speak at Mullica Hill Baptist on PTSD
NJ.com
South Jersey Times
October 28, 2014

The drugs and psychology provided by the military have not worked out as planned, he says, noting that the 349 suicides last year is a record high.

Mullica Hill Baptist Church, 18 S. Main St. in Mullica Hill welcomes guest speaker Chaplain Wayne Keast (Retired) on Nov. 23. Keast, a retired chaplain with Regular Baptist Chaplaincy Ministries, is now ministering to wounded warriors.

In his 33 years of service, Wayne was trained in the Army's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) prevention programs. He knows what those programs can and can't do.
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Moving beyond the clinical treatment for Combat PTSD

Retired pastor and chaplain to present 'PTSD and Spirituality' Aug. 7
Cape Gazette
Aug 03, 2014

The Rev. Ray Michener will walk his listeners through an in-depth look at "Post Traumatic Stress & Spirituality: God and the Devastated Self" from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 7, at the Summer Spirituality Series held in the Parish Hall of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 211 Mulberry St. in Lewes.

This presentation includes a brief clinical look at PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and an attempt to look beyond the clinical aspects into the role of the spirit in the healing process. Moving beyond the clinical treatment modalities, Michener will attempt to examine what traumatic stress does to an individual’s concept of such things as self, morality, God or religion, and even family and society in general. The goal of this look at PTSD is not designed as how to deal with someone suffering from PTSD, but rather how to be with someone and hear their story.

Michener is a retired Lutheran pastor and U.S. Navy chaplain. After nine years in parish ministry, he entered the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps and quickly found it an exciting and enjoyable ecumenical ministry. Over the course of 20 years, Michener served with the U.S. Marines as chaplain with a combat battalion during two tours in Beirut, Lebanon; with Navy surface and submarine sailors; and his final assignment with the U. S. Coast Guard stationed at Fell’s Point, Md.
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Female Chaplain of Marine Corps Makes History

Chaplain of the Marine Corps: 'Nobody comes back from combat unaffected'
Marine Corps Times
Hope Hodge Seck
Staff Writer
Jul. 12, 2014

Rear Adm. Margaret Kibben, the chaplain of the Marine Corps, talks with a colleague downrange. Kibben will become the Navy's first chief of chaplains later this year. (Marine Corps)

Rear Adm. (lower half) Margaret Kibben made history in 2010 when she became the first woman to be named the chaplain of the Marine Corps. Later this year, she will do it again when she becomes the Navy’s first female chief of chaplains. She spoke to Military Times Wednesday about her time with Marines and preparing for her new role.

Q: You are the first female chaplain of the Marine Corps, the most male-dominated of the military services. How do you connect with that population, particularly infantry Marines downrange?

A: I was called to ministry very young, I was in junior high. Nobody ever said I shouldn’t, or I couldn’t, so this idea of being the first is really kind of foreign to me. As a chaplain, I think there was less issue about me being a woman than people really believe — as long as I PT’d with Marines, as long as I was out there and with them, as long as I spent time with them, everything a chaplain is supposed to do. And actually the reason I felt called to be a chaplain was so I could eat, sleep, breathe and endure the same things my parishioners, if you will, experienced, that was what called me to ministry.

I think there was some thought that women would want to connect with other women. But it’s also been helpful to men who wanted to talk to someone and maybe are less apt to talk to another man and might approach a female chaplain just because it’s a little bit safer. And we’ve seen that throughout the time. But that’s not to say that men aren’t doing their ministry and that women aren’t approaching them because they’re men and they’d feel more comfortable talking to a man than they would to a woman for whatever reason.
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