Training Complete

Shew... the past 23 days were more of a handful than I anticipated. I was unable to make timely updates to this blog due to my very limited access to the internet and the policy that I was not to use government computers for personal useage. The training was of exceptional quality and very demanding both physically and intellectually. I was teamed up with 14 others, a chaplain, a psychiatrist, several medical students, a couple of doctors and dentists and even a biohealth engineer. Most of them were serious about being there. One, I'm not still not sure about why she wanted to be there. But we made a great team.

I was appointed the student Wing Chaplain which provided me with an opportunity to exercise some leadership during key events such as our deployment exercise. We spent 3 days in a simulated tent city out in the heat. The high point of the exercise was a 2.5 hour simulation of a mass casualty event. I coordinated the creation and operation of our chapel in the field. The most interesting point of the deployment exercise came when a terrorist tried to blow up the chapel, causing us all to dive out the back door of the tent we were using and scrambling for cover. As Wing Chaplain for the student wing I was honored to give the invocation for our graduation yesterday.

I was also surprised to find that I had been awarded the "Distinguished Graduate" award. Staying up late to study and getting 3 to 4 hours of sleep along with all the pre-training physical conditioning added up, as the award was based on a combined score related to academics and physical conditioning.

The first weekend we were there we got to experience first hand depending on MRE's for our meals. The hurricane came through causing the base to button up tight. The new MRE's (Meal ready to eat) are actually much better than the old ones.

One key event was totally unplanned. I had strained my back and been told to avoid running for a few days, so one morning I was returning to the dorm from the conditioning center rather than going for the group run. I noticed a flight mate collapsed on the ground outside the dormitory with practially no clothing on. He had over heated and returned to the dorm, realized he was in trouble, and struggled outside. With the help of several flight leaders from a different program and several students we were able to get him cooled down and call for help. Real world -- when training gets applied to something real rather than simulation.

My flight commander, an officer tasked with providing us with our primary training, was of top quality. In truth, I was very impressed with the quality of the staff, the integration of the curriculum, and the overall experience. The only real criticism is that they compressed the program to 3 weeks instead of 4 to accomodate some medical students, which I feel limits the program efficiency too much and hinders it from accomplishing what it needs to accomplish. 4 weeks is a minimal amount of time for the training that needs to be given.

I'll close by stating I'm very tired but very satisfied and eager to get to Andrews and get to work. While one of the greatest challenges I've had in life, I am glad for the experience.

TD 2-3

TD-2 & 3

Friday July 8, 2005

Training is progressing at amazingly fast pace. Was great confusion on meals yesterday. Most of my flight did not get lunch and with errands and work to accomplish, we skipped dinner. But snacks are fine. We have our first physical fitness diagnostic tomorrow at 0500. Sunday we are buttoning down as hurricane Dennis comes through. This may very well impact our training schedule and cause us to loose free time over the next weekends. The pace is amazingly quick and the curriculum in my opinion is of a superior nature and very pertinent to the task at hand in forming Air Force officers.

I am very pleased with our flight, as it appears to me that we are getting our act together in good time. I remain most impressed with our flight commander in his professional and supportive decorum which he exhibits toward us.

The program is very heavy on academics and application of theory as well as development of basic military skills and bearing. There are lots and lots of young men and women who have no prior experience at all. I am amazed at how well they are developing already to the high standard of expectation leveled upon us.

There is one other chaplain in my flight, a reserve officer who has been in for 1 year, so he has some prior experience with the military as well.

I continue to be pleased by the fact that I am able to bring to bear my previous experience in both ministering to people and in the military to help my flight continue to make the transition.

I have hardly had time to speak to my wife for more than a minute or two on the phone. Hopefully, as the entire class becomes more organized, we will be able to have more time for these types of things with proper time management.

I find that I am quite rusty on some things like marching, but other things, like military bearing, return as second nature. I am beginning to enjoy the experience, and not just be stressed out by the expectations. I wish that factors beyond our control were not causing difficulties with our schedule, but God determines the weather. All in all, I have confidence the staff here will get this class to graduation giving us the tools and resources necessary to accomplish our mission.

God's richest blessings to all.

Training Day 1

Training Day 1; July 6, 2005

Training began bright and early this morning at 0400. There are over six hundred students here for the four week course, most of whom are in the medical profession. I have only met 1 other chaplain. I have already had the opportunity to speak with and provide encouragement to some of the younger students who are very new to the military environment and find this program overwhelming already. The program is stressful these first few days, and very busy during the entire program. The focus at this point is on equipping everyone with the skills, basic knowledge, and tools such as curriculum materials and uniforms so that they may accomplish the purporse of their training. Also we are doing in processing such as filling out necessary paperwork and moving through medical evaluations. We will soon be moving from this first phase of inprocessing to a stress on academics, some of which has already been introduced.

I am assigned to Falcon Squadron Q flight. The class is called a "student wing" and is seperated into three squadrons composed of 6-7 flights. Each flight has around 16 people. I have had the opportunity to speak one on one with our flight company commander, the officer assigned to overseer the training of our flight, and am very impressed with his professionalism and concern for his personnel.

Today weather complicated our training to some degree as a tropical storm is coming through and we had tornados in the area. I spent a great deal of time trying to secure my remaining uniform items, which was a slow process due to the number of students processing. I missed the evening meal taking care of this, but fortunately had some protein bars in my vehicle, so that worked out ok. Soon we shall have two important events, in a whole mix of events. One is called "Crossing the Blueline, a sort of initiation ceremony. The second is our first PFD or physical fitness diagnostic. This is what I have been training for for the past six months with my emphasis on working out.

We have been informed that due to the abbreviated nature of our program, we will not have weekend liberty as normal. So for instance, this Saturday is a full training day and Sunday is a 1/2 training day. We are up around 0430 and awake and working until midnight.

Three weeks remain to accomplish many things.

Preparing for Active Duty

In a little over 72 hours I shall be reporting for active duty with the Air Force. I hope to be able to have enough access to the internet to post updates on the experience during the next four weeks of training. The next four weeks will be quite busy while I attend Commissioned Officers' Training at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. The typical schedule begins at 5:30am with physical training and concludes sometime around 9pm that evening. In addition there will be a weekend deployment field exercise which should be quite a bit of fun actually. I must admit I look forward to wearing BDU's for training as opposed to navy dungarees. I never cared much for this uniform while I was in the navy. My wife has been good enough to sew the name tapes and patches onto my BDU's so they are ready to go.

Last Sunday, Chaplain Schreiber (Navy Captain), head of the LCMS' Board for Armed Forces Ministry, commissioned me as a representative of that board as a chaplain to the armed forces. It is truly an honor to be entrusted with this responsibility not only by the Air Force but by our Synod. He shared some poignant words with the congregation, particularly that the board looks for men who can represent Christ and cooperate to accomplish the mission in a pluralistic environment without compromise of the Gospel. Military chaplaincy is a dual service. On one hand we represent Christ and make the public proclamation of the Gospel and on the other we serve the needs of the Air Force by helping personnel function at the highest possible level, which is also of benefit to personnel in their own lives for their well-being. Chaplain Schreiber has two key piece of advice to share with the new chaplain: he would not be politely ignored and he would strive to be relevant.

Having been through boot camp once before, there are aspects of the upcoming training that I do not relish reliving. (Lack of sleep for one.) However, I look forward to being back into uniform and the camaraderie of brothers and sisters. I will miss this area of Tennessee and my many friends both in my former parish and beyond it. But I look forward to the exciting opportunities to make a difference in the lives of our service men and women at this most important juncture in history. I truly believe these are paramount times for our nation and for humanity as a whole as well as for the church. I believe the chaplain is in a unique role to be leaven in the military to touch the lives of people and so touch the direction of our times. I also believe the job is worth doing to assist our service men and women in these most difficult and trying of times. I will be most happy to have my family settled in DC at Andrews and to be getting to work. Right now, though I am focusing on getting through these next weeks. I have been preparing for training. The last month or so I have been exercising 3-4 hours per day. I believe I am in physical condition for these next weeks thanks to lots of biking, weight training, and some intense aerobics classes at our local YMCA.

I have been most encouraged and touched by the support given by friends from our former parish who have promised to keep watch over my wife and family in my absence. I won't name them, as they know who they are. I would only share that for those who have given so much of themselves to us in these past few months, you have my and my wife's greatest appreciation and thankfulness. In the midst of trying times, friends have been a great blessing to us.