Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Sarah Christoph | 200305-N-BC190-1016 BREMERTON, Wash. (Mar. 5, 2020) Commander David Duane Dinkins, a...... read more read more
Story and photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sarah Christoph
Sitting at a desk in a small, cozy, corner office on Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton is Commander David Duane Dinkins. The office, stocked with a few seats, has a side table with a box of tissues set on top. A bookshelf stands against the back wall; the shelves lined with multiple bibles. Dinkins sits smartly in his desk chair. Placed in the middle of his camouflaged blouse is a tiny, black, embroidered cross.
Dinkins says that he always knew he would become a chaplain for the Department of Defense.
“I have a calling to be a minister just like other people have callings and are led to do different things,” says Dinkins, proudly. “I’m convinced that this is where I need to be and this is what I am called to do.”
Dinkins earned his Master of Divinity Degree in 1994 at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. Not long after, he began serving as a pastor in his local community. He states faith as being a very important part of his life.
After becoming ordained, Dinkins’ interest in joining in the military peaked. He chose to enlist in the Texas Army National Guard in 1995 as Scout and Radiotelephone Operator for an Infantry (Airborne) Long Range Surveillance team. He describes his time as an Army paratrooper as ‘a lot of fun’.
While serving in the Army, an encounter with a Marine officer would be what called Dinkins back to ministry. This time, for the Department of the Navy.
“I met a guy that flew helicopters in Vietnam, a former Marine officer, who was a chaplain,” says Dinkins. “He encouraged me to look into becoming a Navy chaplain.”
In 2003, the conversation that Dinkins had with the Marine officer in Vietnam came to life. He graduated the United States Navy Chaplain School Basic Course in Newport, Rhode Island.
As a Navy chaplain, Dinkins is trained to promote the spiritual and personal well-being of members of the Department of the Navy. He assists service members by providing what he describes as a safe space to talk.
“We [chaplains] have a unique privilege that no one else in the Department of Defense has, and that is that everything that we discuss with service members is absolutely confidential,” says Dinkins. “You don’t get that anywhere else.”
Per navy policy, chaplains must withhold any information that a service member shares in confidence. This includes disclosure to the member’s chain of command, medical professionals or others that may inquire information on a service member. Dinkins says that this confidentiality allows service members to speak without fear of reprisal or repercussions.
Dinkins explains that his being ‘well-seasoned’ also allows service members to confide in him easily.
“I spent the first half of my career as a chaplain for Marines, so it wasn’t a big move from being enlisted in Army infantry to Marine Corps,” says Dinkins. “It gives me an advantage. Having been enlisted, I think that the service members very quickly recognize that I’ve got a history that is similar to theirs so that really breaks the ice.”
Dinkins acknowledges concerns of how service members who do not have any religious beliefs or have trouble articulating their feelings may be wary of talking to a chaplain about themselves. He connects this issue by recalling his time spent deployed as a chaplain in Iraq during Operation Phantom Fury in 2004.
“I have been in combat, and sometimes when you join you wonder if you are ever going to do what you are really trained to do,” says Dinkins. “I think in those times I felt like I had opportunities to do what I joined the Navy to do; to be with Marines and Sailors in combat. When the bullets are flying, people are dying and bodies are being broken, that is often when some of the non-religious people have a need for faith. We are all spiritual beings.”
Now stationed at Naval Base Kitsap as the Command Chaplain, Dinkins hopes to continue providing faith and a safe space to the service members stationed there.
“Any time that a service member is courageous enough to come into my office and talk is a sacred moment,” says Dinkins, with a warm smile. “I look forward to getting to know the Sailors and the Marines on base. I want to have some fun and do whatever I can to assist them.”
| Date Taken: | 03.09.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2020 15:07 |
| Story ID: | 365195 |
| Location: | BREMERTON, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 585 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, A Guiding Light: Naval Base Kitsap’s Newest Chaplain, Commander David D. Dinkins, by PO2 Sarah Christoph, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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