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Thursday – 14 JAN

The morning was spent with more medical in processing, which means more waiting around. The good thing  about waiting around is that you get to talk (quietly) with other chaplains. Getting to know each other in this environment is extremely helpful. It is always neat meeting people from different parts and with diverse backgrounds. The other advantage to waiting around is it gives you time to learn things that they throw on us.  We have to memorize and recite when called upon, the Army values (Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless sacrifice, honor, integrity, personal courage), the chaplain values (spirituality, accountability, compassion, religious leadership, excellence, and diversity), the Army song, the Chaplain song, and our platoon song. I’m in 3rd platoon and we are modeling the 3rd ID. We’re broken up into 4 platoon, with squads and teams, to teach us how the army units are formed and operate. Anyway, we have to know these things by Monday. We will be called upon to recite these things or we can strengthen our upper bodies by doing push ups.

This in processing brings you up to date on all your shots. I got two on each arm. I thought the medical sergeant was playing darts with the needs, at least it felt like he was throwing them in there. It only took about 5 seconds to get all four done. Then we had to go back after lunch and take the hearing and vision test. This made us late for some sessions at the chaplain school but those were mostly dealing with drugs, addiction, sexual harassment, etc.

The afternoon ended with all top brass introducing themselves to the class. We heard a lot of good stories and the importance of our ministry. One thing that really stuck out is the seriousness of what is expected of us. A line I will remember is one LTC said that most of us will be deployed over the next 24 months. That’s just a reality with the current needs. We have to be ready physically, mentally, and spiritually. It was nice hearing from the commander of the school and the other seasoned chaplains. You can tell they really love what they do.

My battle buddy is a great guy. I’m so thankful for who I have. We have so much in common and have the same outlook about ministry. We’re quickly becoming good friends and really helping each other out. As a battle buddy, we pretty much have to stay together wherever we go. I told him i’d be bringing home with me as soon as we are granted weekend leave in a couple of weeks. As much as I like it here, I am looking forward to spending some time at home with my family.

Personal note: I got good news that there was not much damage to our house from the water pipe break. A friend will go on Friday to fix it. I also was told that the house will close on Friday. I asked permission from the program director to be able to leave base for this. He granted it. The chaplains here are really good guys on a personal level, they just have to come across harder in front of the class in order to get us where we need to be.

After a two-hour nap, I decided I just needed to keep sleeping. Hopefully, I can wake up to a hot shower.