Day 13-18 Our Team is Put to the Test

Sorry for taking so long to post! Here is a week of updates in one post!

Day 13: The PT Ramps Up

Tuesday was our first time doing PT at our own pace. The cadre would have us do as many of each exercise as we could do before muscle failure, give us a break and then have us do it again for the full hour. It was a great workout! My arms were jelly after. What didn't really cross my mind until Day 13 was how that kind of PT affects the rest of the day. The day before when we would get "smoked" I thought it was easy, but the factor of jelly arms from PT wasn't there the day before, and I think our cadre knew that. Needless to say by the end of the day our military bearing was a lot more squared away from these "smoke" sessions.

The rest of the day we did some classes on the military problem solving process and had discussions on what constituted well-structured and ill-structured problems. To put it simply, a well-structured problem is one that the problem is easily identifiable and the solution is obvious and the process is understood and prescribed. The difficulty for those problems are in completing the process to solve the problem. An ill-structured problem is one where there is no consensus solution and the way to achieve the solution is not clear or seems impossible. Of course, being chaplains we had to bring philosophy into the discussion and debated on whether institutionalized problems in society such as racism were well or ill structured problems.

At the end of the day we got a briefing on the next day which would be the Team Development Course.

Day 14: Team Development Course

The team development course was probably the most fun day we had all week. We woke up at Zero Dark Thirty (0330) and did a short road march to the TDC. They hyped it up like it was a ruck march but it was only two miles and we only carried an assault pack with like 10 pounds of gear in it. It was quite easy. I think it was to help new chaplains break in their boots.

The course consisted of around four obstacles where we split up into squads and tried to navigate them with teamwork. I don't think we finished any of them, but our squad really bonded over the event. Every little breakthrough we had was a small victory and each chaplain in our squad played an equal role in helping us through the obstacle. It really solidified our squads love of one another. Everyone was having a good time that day despite the early wake-up. Even the cadre joined in and competed to finish some of the obstacles.

After the course we rode a bus back to the school and had a briefing from the personnel director of chaplains in the reserves. The presentation cleared up a lot of questions about promotions and retirement as far as being a reserve officer goes. It also helped me understand my role as a chaplain candidate a lot better. Apparently the chaplain candidate is the future of the chaplain corps and are beloved by the Chief of Chaplains.

Afterwards we had a short Equal Opportunity Program training where we learned to fight against hazing and discrimination.

Day 15: Team Deterioration Course

To start off the day we had PT as usual and had a worship lab where in the future our chaplain students will be providing worship services. For that day though one of the cadre held an Anglican prayer service. It was a great start to the day and we all prayed for our students who were injured and trying to push through the training. (Please be praying for our chaplains who are injured, that God would heal them quickly.)

After that we went to our first class of the day and....oof...

"What's wrong chaplains? It looks like y'all are depressed or something," our platoon sergeant said as we walked out of the classroom with sunken faces. This class was rough. It was "Thinking Critically and Creatively" and I think it is safe to say that the class was...uncomfortable to say the least. The whole class was designed to teach us to learn to think critically about our ideas, to push emotion to the side and use logic to solve problems, but I am not sure if I would have accomplished it the way they did. Basically, imagine you walk into the room with your platoon, you're asked a series of questions and if you agree with a statement you go to one side of the room and if you disagree with the statement you go to the other side of the room. You have to be prepared to argue for your side of the issue. Sounds easy right? Well one of the first questions they asked is, "a woman is raped and is now pregnant. Should she be allowed to have an abortion?" Talk about heavy. And there were other hard hitting questions like that one as well. Now take into consideration that while my whole platoon is Christian, there are various denominations present and some of them are conservative evangelical and others are liberal theology Christians. Needless to say there were heavy emotions present and people's image of each other started to change based on their side.

It was quite a dreary day after that. I think it was a useful exercise in patience for a chaplain. As a chaplain there will be many times when we need to love, care for and minister to a Soldier who has very different beliefs than us. We need to keep calm and be capable of loving them without our emotional reactions to situations taking control of us. I think my main concern with the exercise was that they did it after the Team Development Course. I wish they would have done it before the course so that we could use the course to strengthen our team after that class kinda weakened it. I think we have picked up the pieces though. One of our chaplains said, "I hope I never have to sit on the other side of a room looking at my brothers and sisters as adversaries." I agree with him. The chaplain corps is a small world. We need to be ready at any moment to give everything for our brother or sister chaplain. One Team One Fight.

After the class we had a lesson on the noncombatant status of the chaplain. It was another philosophical class. It really forced us to start thinking truly about what our role is as a chaplain. When we go into combat we don't carry a weapon. I already knew this but I had heard previous stories about chaplains that had picked up a weapon in combat and started fighting to protect his Soldiers. We watched a news clip about a chaplain who did such a thing. The news painted him as a hero for defending his Soldiers, but then we were asked an interesting question. "Where else could the Chaplain have been other than shooting at the enemy?" I had never really thought long and hard about the noncombatant status of the chaplain. Then we watched this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgeFYBukQiE

I don't fully understand the noncombatant status of the chaplain, but I do know that this job has to be a calling. We are force multipliers in what we are trained to do. We bring God to the Soldiers and the Soldiers to God. We are combat enablers when we nurture the living, care for the wounded and honor the fallen.

Day 16: The Calling of the Chaplain

Friday was actually quite an easy going day. It went by fast and was a great refresher from the long days before it. I guess we tightened it up as a class cause we weren't really "smoked" at all that day and we even got to leave evening chow straight from the Drill Sergeant Academy DFAC. (Have you ever seen a Drill Sergeant's Drill Sergeant? I never did either until eating at the DSA DFAC).

The day mainly consisted of a worship lab where we were shown how to do a field service. This was the highlight of my week. I loved the service because I saw myself in the chaplains shoes as he preached and gave us communion. This was the kind of stuff that excites me. I can imagine being out in the field with Soldiers and preaching to them, sharing the Gospel with them and joining in fellowship as we pray and receive communion together. Bringing the peace of God into the battlefield and worshiping the Lord in the midst of suffering. I was ecstatic. As if it wasn't an awesome enough experience, we all prayed for the chaplain who led the service together as a group. I love my class. We really grew as a team this week and I realized I am very blessed with amazing battle buddies. I am also blessed that I have some incredible Christian friends that I have made here that have loved me well through this training. I think that if I had to give any advice to chaplains who were coming to CHBOLC is to make friends with students of similar faith and be each others support system. I had been warned previously that I could not expect a "Youth Group" experience where I would be preached at and grow in my faith like I would at some retreat, but I think through the support system I have here I have grown leaps and bounds in my faith. Its amazing how God has worked in the midst of this training.

But I also love what I do here. The long days are hard and sometimes the TRADOC games can be kind of dreary, but I love being a chaplain. Its definitely a calling. I was talking with a friend earlier this week who was considering joining the Army and he was wondering what I thought about it. I told him that you have to really want it. You have to love to do it. These long days are hard and exhausting but every day I am here I wake up and I am excited and honored that I have the privilege of serving America's sons and daughters. I am honored that I get to serve my God and be a witness of His faithfulness to people every day of my life as a career. What better life is there to lead? I read this quote in the Army Officer Guide today. It is not even about chaplains but simply about being an Army officer.

"(about being an Army officer...) Totally committed, sincere, caring leadership is also required- on a "24/7" basis- and that must spring from something inside. To be effective over time, in sunshine and rain, in mud and blood, officers must hear and answer a call to service that is no less powerful than that which draws and sustains members of the clergy or other great servants of humanity. It may not come before commissioning, it may not be heard immediately thereafter, but for those who continue beyond the first few years of service as an Army officer, it will come sooner rather than later. Those who do not hear it in its many forms - mystical, practical, or otherwise- will not be able to fulfill the demands of being an officer on a sustained basis. There is no shame in failing to hear the call; there is only shame in service as an officer by 'going through the motions.' Our Army and our nation deserve more." - Army Officer's Guide 53rd Edition.

Every day I am inspired by something I learned in class or by the motivation and love of Soldiers I see in my battle buddies. Every day I am motivated to learn something new that will make me a better chaplain so that I can better serve Soldiers.

I felt that even more so as we celebrated on of our battle buddies birthday as we went out for pizza that evening. It is an incredible feeling being able to celebrate and honor each other as we do what we love.

Day 17: Thank God for the Weekend

With all that talk about how much I love training....THANK GOD FOR THE WEEKEND. I was able to get a haircut, buy some stuff from the PX, grab lunch with some battle buddies and take a nice long nap. We had some assignments to get done but I made sure it was an easy day.

Day 18: Finished Up the Chapel Assignment and Father's Day

Today was a rough day for many of our chaplains. I am by far the youngest chaplain in our class. Most of our class have families with kids and this is their first fathers day being away from them.

I finished up my "Worship in the Operational Environment" assignment by attending a Jewish service and then found my spiritual nourishment in a nondenominational Christian service afterwards. I enjoyed the message. It was on the fruits of the Spirit and kindness was today's topic. I think that will be my go to word of the day for this week. Kindness. We are going to the field this week. We will have a three day Situational Training Exercise out in the field. There will likely be little sleep and we will be doing a lot of exercises that require team work. A lot of it will be review of stuff I did in ROTC and will probably feel like a watered down version of the exercises we did in ROTC. Land navigation, tactical combat casualty care, squad based maneuvering etc. I can predict that all of us will be very exhausted by Friday and we will need God's patience and kindness to be able to love each other well through the week. So if you are keeping me in your prayers please pray for kindness and patience, that I would be a source of calmness and peace in the midst of stressful situations.

I want to thank you all for your love and prayers as you read through my CHBOLC journey. I apologize that I have not been better at posting lately. I have prioritized some other things to keep pressing on during training but I am hoping that I can pick it back up this week.

Enjoying a refreshing chapel service.

Celebrating our battle buddy's birthday