Lieutenant Ronald Wade, Naval Hospital Beaufort (NHB) command chaplain became the first U.S. Navy chaplain to qualify for the Additional Qualification Designator (AQD) 531 as aboard certified chaplain. The new AQD was added to Wade’s personnel record on March 7, 2017.
Captain Dale White, Chaplain of Navy Medicine, delivered the news in person while visiting NHB. White stated “during my time as a detailer I realized when talking to chaplains about their next tour everyone wanted to go to a ship or deployable unit. When I would ask about serving at a hospital the answer was almost always no.” White began to reflect on this and he realized chaplains perceived there was very little incentive to being stationed at a Naval hospital.
White said “It was at that moment I decided as soon as I became the Chaplain of Navy Medicine I would propose an AQD for board certified chaplains.”
As he was traveling to NHB on March 6 White was notified that procedures for requesting the AQD had been approved and could now be added to qualifying chaplain’s personnel records.
With help from Wade’s coworkers White surprised him with the news that he was the first chaplain to have the AQD added to his record. NHB leadership, Wade’s wife DeAnn, and Religious Program Specialist First Class Micchicco Hunter listened as the detailer, over the phone, talked through the steps to add the code to Wade’s record.
Wade was deeply humbled by the opportunity to be personally recognized by White. “This is a real honor to be recognized for this AQD at my first duty station. Humbled is not a strong enough word to describe how this feels.”
Effective immediately all chaplains that are board certified chaplains are eligible to have this AQD added to their personnel record.
Date Taken: | 03.08.2017 |
Date Posted: | 03.08.2017 14:44 |
Story ID: | 226184 |
Location: | BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
Web Views: | 1,406 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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