Tending to the flock - Why the 887th ESFS chaplain refuses to be left behind

  • Published
  • By by Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
CAMP BUCCA, Iraq --  He's a consistent, comforting presence just in the background of the 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron's guardmounts, sometimes bearing cookies, sometimes a joke and sometimes just a prayer or two for any who wants one. He doesn't wait for Airmen to come to him with their problems, rather he seeks them out. In fact, it is very difficult for an 887th member to not know Chaplain (Capt.) Rolf Holmquist, and he works very hard to keep it that way.

A native of Morristown, N.J., and deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., Chaplain Holmquist operates under a rule that has guided him since he became a chaplain eight years ago; that to be able to understand the disposition of an Airman's mind and soul, one must first walk in that Airman's boots.

"It's important to be able to know where someone has walked before you're able to counsel them," he said. "I'm in the unit every single day. I rotate through all the guardmounts every week. For a chaplain, if he is not in the unit every day, if they do not know him personally, they will not come to him when they need help. They'll bottle it in."

A former enlisted Airman himself, Chaplain Holmquist already has much in common with the Airmen he tends. Joining the Air Force in 1985 in the information management career field, he can even say he shares more in common with the 887th members, his first assignment being attached to a security forces squadron. The personal experiences with many of the same problems these Airmen may face give him a step up in the battle to forge the kind of relationships with them he feels key to being successful in his mission.

"I grew up in the Air Force," he said. "I received my education in the Air Force. So I knew this animal. I'd been on remote. I'd been on deployments. I wanted to be the type of person who says, 'I empathize with you. I've been in your boots. I've had your stripes. I had three children when I was a staff sergeant. I've been on the WIC program for eight, nine years when I was enlisted.' People come when they know they can trust them, when they think that you care, when you've built a relationship, and that's a lot of work."

But a shared past isn't enough, and Chaplain Holmquist has to find ways to make the Airmen comfortable enough to come to him. To do that, he has to step into their comfort zone, and out of his. The fact that their comfort zone happens to be an up-armored Humvee patrolling the highways of Iraq might give another man pause. Chaplain Holmquist, however, will not be left behind.

"I've been out a few times with our security forces outside the wire," he explained. "It's the exception, not the norm. But if I stayed within the confines of the guardmount and held my cup of coffee and waved to them and never ever experienced a few times to go outside the wire, I don't become their chaplain."

Though dangerous, Chaplain Holmquist set out to ride along with members of the 887th. His goal was to go out with each flight.

"I became one of them once I did that," he said. "Once the word spread that the chaplain 'went out with us on patrol,' gone in the middle of the night, in the middle of the heat of the day, they say, 'well, he's ours. He's the security forces chaplain.' And when there's ownership, there's buy-in, and when there's buy-in, they come and see you."

Stepping into their comfort zone encouraged the Airmen to talk freely, he said. Once within their element, talking to the chaplain was easy.

"When I'm out on the road, they're much more open to talk to me," he said. "In front of everyone in the guardmount, there's a lot of people, there's a lot of leadership, but when I'm in there with just the staff sergeants and the Airmen within the squadron, they open up to the chaplain and talk to me. This is their element. This is their environment, and they're much more free to talk to me, especially knowing they have 100 percent confidentiality than they ever would standing in the back of a guardmount."

He can't always be in their comfort zone, however, so Chaplain Holmquist must make it easier for Airmen to step into his. For some Airmen who may be of a different denomination or don't believe at all, it can be intimidating.

"It doesn't matter whether they're atheists or they believe in Lucky Charms," he said. "They need to be able to feel they can come to me as a chaplain regardless of background. It's very scary for an Airman to come into an environment they're not used to, and they may have never graced the doors of a chapel."

It's not a matter of professional pride that he and his chaplain assistant, Staff Sgt. Jahn Espino, make such an effort to get out and see the Airmen, but one of necessity. The consequences of not catching a potential problem early could be catastrophic.

"If I don't go outside my office and be at that guardmount every week go outside the wire a few times, they will bottle in their troubles," he said. "If they bottle in their troubles, they take them outside the wire with them, and we do not want Airmen with serious issues driving a convoy or in charge of a convoy. We do not want our gunner to have serious issues. We want to be able to catch the issues as early as possible, and the only way to do that is for them to be comfortable enough to see me early in their problems, not at the end when everything's falling apart. So the benefit of me being in the guardmount and outside the wire is we can catch problems early. Because problems will come."

It's not a theory, he said. It's a fact. Chaplain Holmquist said being there, being available, had prevented tragedies.

"Every single time," he said. "Every deployment, every base. I know this works. It's happened here. There have been people who've been suicidal that now have healthy coping skills because they felt comfortable enough to see me and seek help from Mental Health. There are marriages that are still together because they sought counseling from a chaplain who knows about marriages."

Driven by an urge to do what's best for his Airmen, Chaplain Holmquist said it doesn't matter where they are or what they're doing, he has a job to do.

"I have this compelling urge to do what I believe is right," he said. "That urge requires me to be with my Airmen wherever they are. To me it's all or nothing. I have to do my job at 100 percent or not at all. I have to be with the Airmen or not be with them. There's no other way. Typically, if you have a population of say 300, 10 percent of that population will grace the doors of a chapel, 30 people. What happens to the other 270? Is it right for me to stay in my office and wait for the 30 that will show up or is it right for me to go make sure I'm with the 270? It's a no brainer."