RPs: The chaplain’s right hand men

Photo By Cpl. Brian Gabriel Jr. | Navy Chief Darin M. Runge, Regional Command - Southwest senior enlisted leader for religious ministries, stands in front of one of the Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan chapels. Similar to the working relationship between Marines and Navy corpsmen, religious program specialists are found serving alongside their brethren throughout the Fleet Marine Force everywhere from the office to the battlefield. Whether managing offertory funds at the local chapel or providing security during a patrol in Afghanistan, religious program specialists are working to ensure that all service members have access to their chaplains.  

CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN

01.12.2011

Story by Cpl. Brian Gabriel Jr. 

Regional Command Southwest

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – Similar to the working relationship between Marines and Navy corpsmen, religious program specialists serve alongside their brethren throughout the Fleet Marine Force, everywhere from the office to the battlefield.

Navy religious program specialists, more commonly known as RPs, provide direct support to chaplains serving in both the Marine Corps and the Navy. Whether managing offertory funds at the local chapel or providing security during a patrol in Afghanistan, religious program specialists work to ensure that all service members have access to their chaplains.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Hill, a religious program specialist with Regional Command Southwest, feels the easiest way to describe his job is the “chaplain’s right hand man.”

“Anything that happens in the chapel aside from actually giving the sermon or doing counseling with people, we have our hand in,” said the 23-year-old McKinney, Texas resident. “A lot of it entails administrative work. If you work in a chapel, then you usually work with financial matters as well. You have to manage the books as far as the offerings and things like that. On the logistical side we deal with supply, basically anything we need for the chapel or the office.”

Navy Chief Darin M. Runge, RC(SW) senior enlisted leader for religious ministries, adds that religious program specialists also act as a liaison between troops and their chaplains.

“We try to focus the Marines to utilize [the chapel], as well as the different services that the chaplain provides,” said the Fort Pierre, S.D. resident. “There’s counseling for a lot of combat stress and all the problems from home if the Marine or sailor can’t deal with them. The chaplain’s pretty much the first person they come and see. The RP is the first point of contact—that’s the first person they see before they see the chaplain.”

Although clerical duties and supervising chapel operations occupy much of religious program specialists’ time, the chaplains’ aides take on an additional, but equally important, role in a deployed environment.

“When we’re deployed, we also provide protection for the chaplain because they’re not allowed to carry a weapon,” Hill said. “We provide that service for them, as well as if they travel, we accompany them, setting up services and things like that.”

Runge adds that the need for a sailor who is capable of protecting the chaplain in a combat environment spurred the formalization of the religious program specialist rate on Jan. 15, 1979.

“In the old days in the Navy, it used to be YNs, or yeomen, that were placed with the chaplain so they could do all the administration,” Runge said. “And then the Navy saw a need to have a combatant, which is what we are when we’re serving with the Fleet Marine Force. They needed somebody that could actually provide force protection, personal security, as well as rig the services and do the administration and logistics.”

Even though the primary role of a religious program specialist is to assist their chaplains, RPs regularly assume a mentor or supporter role when working with Marines and sailors. Both self-professed people–persons, Runge and Hill agree that having above average social skills definitely makes their jobs easier.

“If a Marine comes in, if they’re suicidal, if they’re depressed, and if the chaplains not available right now, as a chief and a leader, I listen to them,” Runge said. “I can’t really advise them, but I can just to listen to their problems and see that they get the help they need. When they come back to me later on and say, ‘Hey, chief, thanks. That really helped,’ that’s what I look for as a physical reward—something like that.”

One of the more difficult facets of the job is frequently dealing with some of the more saddening aspects of military life. Hill feels that it can be tough dealing with suicides or working memorial services for fallen Marines and sailors. Although it may be wearing at times, Hill believes it is an extremely important part of his job description to help other service members work through their struggles.

“People come to you not necessarily seeking counsel, but just to know that you’re there to help and support them,” Hill said. “That is very rewarding at the end of the day to be that strong arm for someone to lean on. It can be hard sometimes, it can be frustrating, it can be difficult, but it is rewarding. Someone, even if I don’t interact with them directly, is affected by what I do.”

• Date Taken: 01.12.2011
• Date Posted: 01.12.2011 10:58
• Story ID: 63422
• Location: CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF