Chaplains from across Camp Humphreys met their Republic of Korea Army counterparts to conduct a joint training session and tour facilities, November 7, at Four Chaplains Memorial Chapel on Camp Humphreys.
“The purpose of this event is making a connection between ROK chaplains and U.S. chaplains and having them come together to have this combined concept of operations,” said Lt. Col. Hyeon-Joong Kim, division chaplain, 2nd Infantry Division/ Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Division. “2ID as a unit has a lot of bilateral exercises, however most of our chaplain brothers and sisters on the ROK side don’t have the benefit of combined training.
“Once or twice a year we try to have exercises like this to build a common understanding and nurture and enhance their capabilities to carry out religious operations,” Kim said.
The U.S. chaplains detailed the Chaplain Corps’ impact within the Eighth U.S. Army’s and 2ID/RUCD’s mission and offered insight into the logistics and planning that allows them to be proficient as a support function.
“Through this course, I learned that in the U.S. Army, all chaplains come together as a unit and they help and coordinate with each other,” said ROK Army Maj. Cheol-Min Ha, chaplain instructor, Korean Military Chaplain. “Compared to the ROK Army, there are only three chaplains per division, and we do our own unit ministry and work independently. So, it’s refreshing to learn that no matter the denomination of the chaplain, U.S. chaplains will work together for the accomplishment of the common mission.”
Despite their different approaches to conducting religious operations, the ROK and U.S. chaplains find commonality.
“The mission of 2ID chaplains, religious support, is always focused on Soldiers, as is the mission of ROK chaplains,” said Kim. “When it comes to caring for Soldiers and their spiritual, religious and personal resiliency, we’re working with our allies to figure out how to make ourselves and our services better.”