CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Military career fields vary as widely as the number of religious denominations.
As well, the career path for those called to military chaplaincy may have many turns and twists.
Divine inspiration routinely fuels that career decision for potential chaplains, as the job requires much education and dedication before it may be attained.
The Chaplain Corps incorporates many experience levels and specific roles for enlisted and commissioned service members. Regardless of their personal religion, chaplains must be willing and able to communicate with and serve troops from all faith groups.
The Wyoming National Guard chaplains and chaplain assistants, from all over the state, and as far away as Utah, who attended this year’s State Chaplaincy Annual Sustainment Training at Camp Guernsey’s Gray Rocks lodge, have a desire to bring their best to soldiers and airmen across the state and to share ideas that will help bring that goal to the fore, while leading classes and workshops for each other.
Unlike many of Wyoming’s chaplaincy members, who started their career path with an undefined vision, Spc. Nikki Borden, a chaplain assistant from Evansville, knew what she wanted to do from the start of her military service. She serves on the 960th Brigade Support Battalion Unit Ministry Team with Chaplain, Rob Peterson, a major, in Casper.
Borden recently transferred from the Minnesota Guard and was worried she would have to change the military job she’s held from the start of her four-year career. She reported with a smile, she didn’t.
“I love what I do,” Borden said. “I’ve met a lot of people, and from what I’ve heard, helped a lot of people.”
Spurred by a conference topic about suicide ideation, she recalled a story about a friend she talked to after drill one weekend in Minnesota. She was worried about him and called him later that evening.
“I just can’t do it anymore,” her friend said. “What can’t you do?” Borden asked. “Any of this,” he answered.
“You’re not thinking about suicide, are you?” was her next question.
“Well, I am,” he said before disconnecting the phone.
“I ended up calling my chaplain,” Borden explained. “I told him my friend might be mad at me forever, but I’d rather have him mad than dead.”
They decided to call the police, who found the soldier. Borden talked to the soldier several days later, and he thanked her for her action. “He’s doing really well now. It was a hard decision, but the right one.”
Peterson is in his eighth year as a Wyoming Army National Guard chaplain. Like most chaplains, he graduated university, served in the ready reserves while at four years of seminary and while fulfilling a two-year commitment to pastor a church with his endorsing denomination.
He said he hadn’t always planned on being a military chaplain, and it wasn’t until his last year of college that his calling was revealed.
“I went to college to be a game warden,” Peterson said.
He was working as a resident assistant in the dormitory at that time, and noticed he was doing a lot of counseling and helping people transition from high school to college life.
“I was a Christian, and I was living for the Lord. The more I talked to the guys and helped them figure out what was important to them and what they believed in, the more I sensed a calling from God to do this with my whole life,” he explained. “The chaplaincy made the most sense. You’ve got a group of people that you are with and are shepherding through issues in life. And in the Army, the same kind of transitions—being away from home for the first time and living on your own.”
When that light came on, Peterson intended to join the active duty Army, something he thought about doing right out of high school, until a recruiter told him he should go to college first. He said he is pleased with his path and the opportunity to build relationships in the military.
“I’m really glad I went the Guard route,” Peterson said. “You can be with the same group of people over a much longer time. It’s very gratifying knowing someone five, six years, and watching them open up about some issue in their life that maybe they wouldn’t have if we had just a couple of years.”
Maj. Randy Sawyer, the chaplain with the 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery, started his military path as an enlisted Marine infantryman. He left the Marines in 1983, as a corporal, and went to college in Sheridan. He subsequently joined the Guard unit there as an artilleryman, earned his associate’s degree, and enrolled at the University of Wyoming and its ROTC program. He was commissioned in 1988.
“Then I went off to Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill. It was kind of a weird thing. I failed an academics test with a 69.7,” Sawyer explained. “They looked at my scratch sheet, and they noticed I had seven of the problems right, but when I had transferred them to the answer sheet, I had them wrong. They told me I had dyslexia.”
He said the diagnosis was confirmed, and he was told he could not be a combat arms officer.
“They said ‘you’re a good officer, and we want you to stay,’” Sawyer continued. “I said I want to be a chaplain then. They said you have the grades, but you will have to get out and come back after seminary. I thought it was just an Army school, like three months and I’d be good.”
Sawyer decided to take some time off to think it over, as he struggled with his dislike of academics and the potential for four more years of school to earn his Master’s of Divinity. He decided to go for it, after a year or so, but then there was an issue with the school he chose and getting the endorsement an Army chaplain is required to have. After 18 months, he reentered the service and began seminary.
In September, 2005 he became a battalion chaplain. He said it was a rough road getting to that point, and there were times when he thought he wouldn’t make it. He credits 115th Field Artillery Brigade Chaplain, Lt. Col. Dave Hall with keeping him focused.
Sawyer said he sees his struggles as a source of strength today, not just for himself, but the troops he serves.
“It’s the whole resiliency thing, you know, bouncing back from adversity,” he said. “If you keep pushing on the door, that spiritual door, you’ll find God never closed the door, and He never did close the door on me, even though it took me a long time.”
Derek Moore is a 26-year-old Army brat from Mississippi, who received his commission after receiving his bachelor’s degree and completing ROTC. He is now a first lieutenant Army Reserve chaplain candidate, while completing his fourth and final year of seminary. He plans to accession as a chaplain in the Wyoming Army Guard this summer in conjunction with his denomination’s church assignment in Laramie.
“I knew I wanted to be a chaplain in the Guard or Reserve, and when I found this (church pastor) opportunity, I called a Wyoming recruiter and he told me he had a slot,” Moore said.
While he hadn’t fortified his long range military career goals until a period between his junior and senior years, he knew he wanted to do something that would involve his passion for ministry.
“I was sorting out what I wanted to do in the Army at LDAC (Leadership Development Assessment Course) and that’s where I had that final clarity. I knew I didn’t want to do what your typical officer does. I wanted to serve soldiers in a spiritual way too,” Moore said of his choice.
He said he may have had subconscious inklings in early life about this career choice, because his dad is an Army chaplain.
“I never said to myself, that I remember, ‘I’m gonna do what my dad does.’ But now I do what my dad does,” he explained with a chuckle.
Rest assured, if you need someone to talk to about anything imaginable, your unit ministry team is a great place to start.
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.06.2015 17:44 |
| Story ID: | 169183 |
| Location: | CHEYENNE, WY, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Some troops are inspired to inspire, by SFC James McGuire, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
LEAVE A COMMENT