Friday Day 13 Week 8

Wow, this was the best class since coming back! A hospital chaplain came in and gave a briefing on caring for the dying and the dead. His pastors heart came out. Very emotion charged stuff. Yet he kept giving us practical advice on how to be effective in the middle of very difficult situations. This was some of the best advice that we have received. I hope he comes back for more. He is the sort of Chaplain I want to be. Not necessarily a hospital chaplain, but a chaplain that ministers to soldiers first and always. You must be a quality staff officer in addition to being a good chaplain. In the military I have seen good staff officers that are lousy chaplains, they probably will get promoted and have great evaluations. But I will take care of soldiers. Period!

Tonight the chaplains from Sierra Leone are showing "Blood Diamonds". They are wanting our chaplains to understand what has happened in their country. They are also wanting to bring US Army chaplains over to help their chaplain corp to really get off the ground. What an exciting ministry opportunity! The only catch is that it is not assisted by the US Government. It will be all on our own dime if we go. The ministry "Olive branch" is the organization that is setting it up. We are really blessed to have the two "chiefs" of the chaplain branches of Sierra Leone (muslim and Christian) in our class. They are going through CHOBLC just like any other students. It has been a treat to get to meet them.

We have a diverse class. We have chaplains from Korea, Nigeria, Portugal, Vietnam. And this is just the ones I know of. In the other platoons there are others. All of these are American soldiers. But ethnically we are very diverse. Just like the Army. Imagine that! We even have 2 SEAL's. Not sure what country seals come from (ex-navy SEAL's that are now chaplains). I guess we let in "Jar heads" (marines) and "Airdales" (air force) so why not Squids (Navy)? Just kidding, my brothers and sisters from other branches bring some amazing skill sets and knowledge to the table and we are VERY LUCKY to have them.