Chaplain: Manning cuts will not diminish commitment to Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Shanda L. De Anda
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AFB, S.D. --  Chapel services personnel are an intricate part of the team who help Air Combat Command realize mission success. As a force provider, ACC organizes, trains, equips and maintains combat-ready forces for rapid deployment and employment, and addressing spiritual needs is a part of that mission readiness.

The chaplaincy "is critical and vital to the Air Force as the only career field responsible for the spiritual fitness and health of Airmen," said Chief Master Sgt. Geoffrey U.L. Preudhomme, ACC command chaplain executive and assistant, Langley Air Force Base, Va. "In partnership with other base organizations, we serve a vital link in the four dimensions of Airmen's readiness - technical, physical, mental and spiritual."

As the chapel staff community faces a leaner future, with planned cuts for chaplains and chaplain assistants, visits to ACC bases like the one Chaplain (Col.) Bobby Page, ACC command chaplain, Langley AFB; and Chief Preudhomme made to Ellsworth Tuesday through Friday, helps better posture the Air Force chaplaincy to continue to meet Airmen's future needs.

As the command chaplain, Chaplain Page serves as chaplain advisor for the ACC commander and his staff on issues involving religious accommodation, morale, and the general welfare of Airmen and their families. He also works for the chief of chaplains by taking the chief of chaplains' office's policy, interpreting it and applying it to the wings. As a representative for the wings, Chaplain Page also makes sure chaplains and chaplain assistants have the training, people, equipment, money and other resources needed to do their mission.

"(To get my job done) oftentimes means I'm on the road like I am today making a pastoral visit to wing chapel teams - visiting with them, talking to each one of the chaplains - with Chief Preudhomme, who is managing the chaplain assistant program throughout ACC and working with me as we travel together," Chaplain Page said. "We go to the wings looking for great ideas because each wing has a different team of people and different gifts and ideas; they come up with some amazing ideas for ministry, for taking care of people. What we want to do is capture those ideas and get them out to all the other wings as quickly as we can and let other people use those same ideas for doing the ministry."

The result of some of those ideas have already led to initiatives where chapels are building stronger relationships with other base helping agencies, are out of the chapels more to interact with Airmen and leadership in work centers, and are relying on the chapel community to support chapel programs.

"(The goal of the chaplaincy) is to mirror overall Air Force manning and maintain a specific ratio," said Chaplain (Capt.) Rolf Holmquist, 28th Bomb Wing chaplain here. "(To meet future demands) we must let go of sacred cows and base analysis on the needs of Airmen - actions must be purpose-driven, not custom inherited."

In that vein the chaplaincy as a whole is committed to making themselves more accessible to help ensure future changes reflect Airmen's needs. Unit-assigned chaplains, a concept instituted in recent years, increases access to chaplains, who spend a portion of their week working in satellite offices in the various units they are assigned to.

"Sometimes there is a stigma associated with coming to visit a chaplain, similar to having to go to the principal's office when you're in school," Chaplain Holmquist said. "Although this can be caused for numerous reasons, being in the units and being able to just talk and visit with people helps us work through some of those barriers and develop relationships"

"Airmen are under a lot more pressure now than what I had to face as a young adult, and we are out there to let them know that we are here to help," he said.

The chaplaincy's ability to help Airmen is not limited to religious issues.

Chapel staff is dedicated to helping Airmen and their families whether their needs are spiritual, work or other issues or as a confidant to just listen.

"We want Airmen to consider us as another tool they have at their disposal to help prevent crises," Chaplain Holmquist said. "Chaplains are also counselors, so Airmen can take solace in knowing that their communications with a chaplain are privileged and will not be shared with others unless consent to do so is given."

As the Air Force continues to progress to a leaner more precise force, challenges will have to be met head on, but the Airmen and families here at Ellsworth continue to do their part to help ensure the successful execution of Air Force missions. That dedication to service before self does not go unnoticed.

"I love the great Dakota hospitality that I experienced here; the weather's cold, but the people are warm and that's awfully nice," Chaplain Page said. "I'm impressed with the Airmen who are here; I got to visit a few and they're some great folks. I know that our Airmen and their families here are sacrificing much for their country - longer deployments and so forth - but their service is necessary and it's deeply appreciated by many people."