“Provide, Facilitate, Care, Advise”

PACIFIC OCEAN

05.07.2023

Courtesy Story

USS Nimitz (CVN 68)   

PACIFIC OCEAN - There are many ways to serve in the U.S. Navy. Sailors stand the watch over both massive machines and small control panels, stacks of paperwork and mountains of resources. They qualify to protect the ship, their bodies and those of their shipmates, but what qualifies someone to stand watch over a soul?

From April 10 to May 4, Nimitz hosted a different kind of qualification training than the usual maintenance and watch-standing that defines everyday life at sea. Lt. j.g. Sean Bland, from Jackson, Mississippi, and Ensign Landon Wilcox, from Spotsylvania, Virginia, stepped aboard the mighty Old Salt to complete the on-the-job training experience of a lifetime as part of the Chaplain Candidate Program Officers, or CCPO, ascension track.
To qualify for this program, those aspiring to chaplaincy should hold a bachelor’s degree and be enrolled in a religious studies graduate program. Candidates will then attend Officer Development School in Newport, Rhode Island, followed by coursework at the Naval Chaplaincy School. Finally, candidates will complete at least one tour of on-the-job training before returning to the church to serve as civilian ministers for at least two years.
“We are Reserve officers,” explained Bland. “Through the program, we are learning what it means to be Navy chaplains. We’re seeing it for ourselves firsthand and discerning a call to either active duty or Reserve chaplaincy at the end of the program.”
While aboard Nimitz, Bland and Wilcox got to experience everyday life for a Navy chaplain. They led prayer groups and gave sermons, but also walked the ship, spoke to Sailors, observed operations and shadowed experienced chaplains. When Nimitz conducted a port call in Pattaya, Thailand, during the last week of April, the chaplain candidates accompanied the crew to a community outreach, where they volunteered their time at a local orphanage.
“We made sure they attended an executive officer’s inquiry, a captain’s mast and a navigation brief,” said Lt. Lee Yi, one of the chaplains assigned to Nimitz. “The only two things they couldn’t do were counseling and evening prayer. Other than that, we made sure they had an opportunity to experience everything and do everything that they might experience as one of the five Chaplains who are already onboard.”
An aircraft carrier is truly like a floating city, with countless operations, work and training evolutions happening at all hours of the day. With so much to do and see, the aspiring chaplains had a lot to learn when observing the carrier air traffic control center, flight operations, arresting gear engines and the hangar bay.
“It’s so interesting here, because communication is such a big part of everything military,” said Bland. “I think seeing clear, efficient, quick, on-time communication in practice on board here between the briefings, meetings and different things, will help me be a better communicator, in talking to folks over email or in meetings, and in just running those things more efficiently as a pastor. I’m seeing how important that is in a setting like this where folks’ lives depend on it. My favorite thing that I’ve done on board is probably getting to watch flight operations from vulture’s row. It’s such a cool experience to see all the coordination that goes into that. Everybody knows their job and does it quickly. It’s so interesting to see how coordinated it all is.”
“The discipline and the resilience that is built going through all of this training is going to be something that I am going to take with me and is going to be useful forever,” said Wilcox. “When I was in my basic training days, a couple months ago, I was the drill officer. I learned how to take a hit and keep going. I’d get yelled at and embarrassed all the time, because I would mess up because I had no experience with the military. It taught me a lot about how to keep rolling with the punches and not take things personally, and that was an incredibly good experience for me.”
After their experience on Nimitz, the chaplain candidates will return to the civilian world, where they are completing their respective graduate degrees.
“First thing I have to do is the graduation ceremony for my graduate degree,” said Bland. “Back in Mississippi, I went to Reformed Theological Seminary. Then, right after that, I’ll go up and start working for the church I worked at last summer. They call it ‘pulpit supply.’ They’re looking for a pastor, so I’m going to step in on a temporary basis and help them out with preaching, filling in and teaching.”
“I’m heading back to my civilian context,” said Wilcox. “Because we both graduate in December, graduation ceremonies are coming up. So, I’ll be in Chicago briefly and then I’m moving to D.C. to go work at a church there.”
For those who see themselves pursuing this fulfilling, demanding role, the best place to start can be an officer recruiter, or speak to a chaplain directly. The decision is not one to be made lightly, and aspiring candidates should consider the scope of what they are taking on.
“Why do you want to become a chaplain?” asked Yi. “Is it because you want to be there to do the four things we talk about: provide, facilitate, care and advise? Because I’ve seen a lot of chaplains come in, and they want to do the pastor things. But that’s not all that we’re doing. We’re doing much more. And if you’re going to come into this set in your ways, doing things that you think pastors should be doing, then you’re in the wrong place because a chaplain is also an officer. Are you willing to put in the work to militarize and remember your collar? You have responsibilities in that realm as well. A lot of chaplains only consider their left collar, and they end up not surviving in the Navy. But it’s the chaplain who understands both collars, the weight of it, the responsibility of it, and also not to use either collar to lord it over people… so, you also have to learn when to put the collar aside and, with humility, approach someone. These are the kind of things that people looking into chaplaincy should consider. Are you willing to wear both collars with honor, courage, and commitment? With responsibility, maturity, integrity, and with humility?”

Upon completion of the program, Bland and Wilcox will finally be able to trade the rank insignia on their left collar for a religious insignia, and they will be able to call themselves chaplains of the U.S. Navy. This small community of just over 800 shepherds stands watch over the souls of the entire fleet, from recruits to admirals, from the double-bottom to the top of the bridge, at shore and at s

• Date Taken: 05.07.2023
• Date Posted: 12.22.2023 11:40
• Story ID: 460668
• Location: PACIFIC OCEAN