Pastoral care
Andrew Stackpool looks at the key role of chaplains on deployments and back home.

What do you think? If a man owns 100 sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave 99 on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off.
Matthew 18: 12-13 (New International Version)

Airman of the Year for 2005, LAC Michael Barr.

LAC Allan Attwood receives the J.R. Bartram and R.A. Kee Sword of Honour at the annual Air Force awards.

Chaplain Gary Whelband, now at 321CSS, on duty in Timor Leste during 2001 as the chaplain to the Australian National Command Element in Dili.

Photo by SGT Bill Guthrie

GO ON any Air Force deployment and there, hidden in the background quietly doing their job, are the chaplains. They are an integral part of how Air Force trains, sustains and cares for its people in the psychological and spiritual side of Service life.

It is a unique role, varied and widespread in its application – the chaplain works closely with members at all ranks to build up a harmonious and operationally effective community in the deployed environment.

Not surprisingly, given the high operational tempo, since February 2003, 16 chaplains have been deployed to the MEAO on four-month rotations, while others have accompanied other missions, including the tsunami relief operations in Banda Aceh.

The Air Force’s Catholic Principal Chaplain and the current Director-General Chaplain Services-Air Force, Air Commodore Peter O’Keefe, says these deployments required a major effort and a significant challenge, stretching the branch’s relatively small pool of available and deployable chaplains.

“We started with three Air Force chaplains assigned to the Hornets, C-130s and P-3s,” he says.

“One of them also went regularly to Baghdad to minister to the air traffic controllers and other Air Force personnel there.

“Once the Hornets returned to Australia and the tempo calmed somewhat, Air Force was able to reduce the load to two chaplains.

“One is assigned to the Orion and the other to the C-130 detachment in theatre. They are deployed to the air bases and work closely with the other coalition chaplains.

“Nevertheless, the demand remains high and this is why we now are using reserve
chaplains as well.”

AIRCDRE O’Keefe says during the deployments, chaplains maintain their core duties of giving religious ministry and pastoral care to deployed members.

Their duties go well beyond the traditional ones and include welfare, morale building and the general support of a deployed community, all of which are pastoral functions in the support of the commander who is responsible for the morale and wellbeing of the deployed force.

“The Air Force tradition is that we minister to people of all faiths, of no faith and from all backgrounds,” he says.

“We do try to keep a denominational balance if possible in nominating chaplains for deployment but this may not be possible for a range of reasons, including faith group imbalance within the branch.

“However, if someone comes to us for pastoral support, their background is not the issue, we try to care for all and serve all as best we can. Our pastoral role demands that we care for all in supporting Air Force members regardless of background.”

Chaplains who are nominated for deployment go through a rigorous process to ensure their suitability. They must meet the normal ADF deployment criteria. Once that is established, the principal chaplain of their faith group has the responsibility with the Air Component Command Chaplain to ensure that the chaplain is ready for deployment.

“We have a responsibility to ensure a chaplain is personally and spiritually fit,” AIRCDRE O’Keefe says. “We need to know if there are any matters in regard to personal, family and vocation issues that could impact on personal readiness which may prevent their deployment.”

Reserve chaplain Mark Jenkins, who works for Anglicare as a prisons chaplain, says parish priests and ministers could have problems with operational deployments unless they were fully prepared.

“Apart from the different environment, as a parish priest the chaplain is essentially in charge,” he says. “In a deployment within the ADF bureaucracy, he is just a part of that system. Many could have an issue with managing that distinction.”

The pastoral support provided to deployed chaplains, before they deploy, during and post deployment is critical.

Like other professionals, chaplains are often seen as being super human, capable of dealing with crises and still maintaining their own equilibrium.

AIRCDRE O’Keefe said chaplains were human like anyone else and were affected by the things they saw and experienced like anyone else.

“We were concerned for our chaplains returning from Op Sumatra and their experiences in Banda Aceh,” he says.

“The scope of this humanitarian relief – given the sheer devastation, loss of human life and immense suffering – must have had a profound and lasting effect on all ADF personnel deployed. The branch was very concerned for the wellbeing of our chaplains.

“Chaplain Ross Naylor, who deployed to Banda Aceh, described the devastated city as looking as if a giant had picked it up, smashed it together and then hurled the rubble down into the mud again.

“Ross is an experienced operational chaplain who served in East Timor and the Middle East, and he said he had never seen anything like it. No-one can go through that sort of experience and emerge unmoved.

“Today we are lucky that there is a range of rapid communications with our deployed chaplains. The relevant principal chaplain is his first point of contact supported by chaplains from the branch and his home-based team.

We are in regular contact with him and provide the necessary pastoral and mentoring care if required. Beyond that, we have developed extensive networks in the theatre to support both him and anyone that he may also be helping.

“We also make sure to speak with him after he returns to Australia to help him readjust to life at home.”

Base chaplains also have a vital role in supporting deployed Servicemen and women.

They have a responsibility to know who is deployed and maintain a profile on them and their families. They also make contact with a member’s parish rector, if appropriate, and encourage the parish to maintain regular contact with the member and their family as well as work with local medical, psychology and Defence Community Organisation personnel to provide more formal support services.

AIRCDRE O’Keefe said while the workloads and pressures on chaplains were high and the tempo would not diminish in the near future, morale was generally good within the branch.

“We have never been as operationally focussed and feel on the whole to be very much part of the Air Force team,” he says.

“We feel integrated into the wider team. In fact, the demand for chaplaincy services is increasing, given the present tempo and increasing recognition of the service we provide in military life. Commanding officers appreciate the pastoral dimension we can give in supporting their personnel.

“Defence needs fully trained and experienced chaplains who meet the unique needs of Defence ministry. Parish ministers may be available but may be unsuitable for the demands of the job.

“We are happy with the chaplains we have. They are an excellent bunch. The ADF has assisted us recently changing the personnel regulations for chaplains where a chaplain’s compulsory retirement age has been increased to 60 years, with the possibility of serving to 65 years.

He may serve in the RAAFSR beyond this age to 75 years, given good health and relevance. They may not be able to deploy but can do excellent work on bases. However, we will always need a cohort of fit, reasonably young, deployable chaplains.”

Thinking about the big picture

Andrew Stackpool

Chaplain Mark Jenkins in the Middle East, where he pastored the crews of the AP-3Cs.

SERVICEMEN and women have become more aware of God and the important aspects of their lives while serving in the MEAO, according to Squadron Leader Mark Jenkins, a Reserve chaplain from RAAF Base Richmond.

A former PAF member, he is a prisons chaplain who deployed to the MEAO for four months to support the No. 92 Wing AP-3Cs operating in the Gulf. It was his first deployment and he was also the first Air Force Reserve chaplain to deploy to the area.

In addition to supporting the Orion crews, he provided chaplaincy support to coalition personnel and Australian Army personnel who were temporarily seconded at the air base.

He found the approach of many Australians to spiritual matters and the support he received from coalition chaplains and Servicemen and women to be “just great”.

“People tended to dump their denominational baggage and come together in Christian fellowship, regardless of their denomination,” he says.

“We held services, Bible studies and prayer groups, etc. I believe there was a definite increase in people’s awareness of God and the bigness of life while they were there.”

SQNLDR Jenkins found himself with a range of duties beyond his normal pastoral and ministry functions.

“I was the unit welfare officer, organising all the morale aspects, but more importantly I acted as a counsellor for our people,” he says.

“I have completed a professional counselling course and I listened to people who had had bad experiences, domestic problems or who just wanted to reflect on various aspects of their lives.

“There were people over there, away from their families, who were trying to find out where they fitted in the overall ‘big picture’.

“They found that, away from their normal comfort zones, there was a glory of life and more to life than worrying about paying bills or the burdens of day-to-day living.

“These things became less important to them and often I’d just sit quietly with people while they talked about these things.”

Would he return to the area if approached? “Without hesitation,” he says. “It made a real difference to my life.”

 

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