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Special
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Military chaplains complete the same intense physical training that all soldiers do, and stand side by side with them in every situation. But chaplains do not carry weapons. Their uniforms are marked with religious symbols, a strong symbol that the chaplaincy is a “special force” all its own. Reed Galin has the story. |
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Scranton, Pennsylvania’s Leon Kircher felt a “call” to join the army when he was 17. 16 years later he felt a “call” to become a military chaplain.
(Major Leon Kircher/United Methodist chaplain) “You can have anywhere from 500 to 1200 soldiers. It’s a church filled with every denomination in the world.”
And now his congregation, based at Ft. Campbell in Kentucky, is preparing for war. Leaving his home base for the battlefield is nothing new for this 47-year-old veteran. He was with the troops in the 1991 Gulf War.
“I was part of the scud-busting unit so we were located near airfields in large cities. And it wasn’t so much me holding soldiers as being around civilians who were dying or wounded.”
Chaplains go everywhere soldiers do.
“They’re in the thick of things with the guys. And when they’re loading those helicopters to transport our guys into some bad area, chaplains are going to be on those first few helicopters."
Ft. Campbell’s chaplains represent the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths. Soldiers outnumber these spiritual advisors 500 to 1... but Kircher and his colleagues are not daunted by their overwhelming task. They say it just deepens their “calling.”
“We have got to keep these chaplains in there. Because of that guy and that man or woman or his family. Otherwise, we’ve just ignored them in the most trying time of their lives.”
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Chaplain Kircher said he baptized a number of
soldiers during the Gulf War; he expects to do the same on this tour of
duty. He advises the families left behind to stay near the base,
because the support systems are so strong there.