Photo By Alan Nunn | 180213-N-DB390-008 GREAT LAKES, Ill. (Feb. 13, 2018) Senior Chief Religious Programs...... read more read more
Subscribe
During their eight weeks of boot camp at Recruit Training Command, some recruits may find there is only one place while training that will remind them of home: the chapel.
The RTC chapel staff consists of chaplains and Religious Program Specialists (RPs) entrusted to ensure the free exercise of religion for all those aboard RTC.
All are afforded a time and place to express their faith and have access to chaplains of various religious traditions, uniformed volunteers of various faith backgrounds, and civilian volunteers who assist specific chaplains with services and education.
"We'll find so many recruits who are so relieved because faith for them reminds them of home. Nothing about boot camp reminds them of home unless they have military parents," said Senior Chief Stanley Ponder, who has served at RTC since October, 2016. "I think when things get rough, you go back to your basic understandings and you find something so simple that reminds you of home that you say, 'Where can I go to get me a little piece of where I was at?' The answer: chapel. Here is where they find stability and comfort."
As the Navy's only boot camp, RTC is home to the largest Command Religious Program in the Navy as an average of 10,000 per month go through the chapel for services or counseling. On staff are nine chaplains and four RPs who provide for the free exercise of religion for every uniformed staff member, civilian staff member, and recruit assigned to the command.
"The Religious Ministry Team plays an integral role in the mission of RTC and the training of recruits," said Cmdr. Beth Stallinga, command chaplain, RTC. "We think of what we do here less as an 'operational pause,' and more as an 'underway replenishment.' Attendance at a chapel event or utilizing chaplain support is not a break in training but can be a necessary component in building resiliency and undergirding toughness. Character and competence cannot be created through determination and grit alone; they require real tools and a larger context of meaning in order to be sustained and sustaining."
The RMT is obligated to abide by 100 percent confidentiality. They are here to administer religious rites, support First Amendment rights and to not only help others practice their freedom of religious expression but to also be that listening ear when anyone has concerns or questions about life in general whether it's religion related or not; the chaplains and RPs are those anyone may speak with whenever the need arises.
Ponder, who hails from Atlanta, graduated from boot camp in 2004, and began working at the Blue Jacket Memorial Chapel at Training Support Center, Great Lakes as his first duty station. After serving in a variety of duty tours, he requested to return to Great Lakes to have a positive impact on the recruits.
"I really wanted to get as much as possible in front of the power curve and help RTC to shape the recruits before they get to the Fleet because other than my Recruit Division Commanders -- who I still remember to this day -- the people to help shape them are fewer and far between, so I wanted to do whatever I can to put a footprint in their career, to say, 'You know what, if I forget anything, I always remember this one senior chief at the chapel...'."
As an RP, Ponder's responsibilities include supporting clergy of all faiths in the facilitation of religious requirements; provide physical security for chaplains; maintain records, ecclesiastical documents and references for various faith groups; operate, manage and maintain religious ministry facilities; assist in the preparation of devotional and religious educational materials and audiovisual displays; and work under the oversight of the chaplains.
Currently, RTC offers about 20 different faith groups in 26 weekly services between the chaplains and volunteers who help assist with the services.
"We try to cover as many different facets of faith or non-faith as people could ever imagine because that is our job - to give people that piece of security outside of the hustle and bustle of boot camp," said Ponder. "If anyone has a faith or wishes to know about a faith, we can connect them with that piece as well."
Recruits may attend any service they request, even if to only explore different traditions, which offers them a better understanding of the great diversity within the Navy.
To ensure everyone has the most accessible access to a chaplain with whom they may request to speak privately, chaplains are assigned to each individual recruit barracks (ship) and staff work center in order to be readily available to take care of the spiritual and emotional needs of staff members and recruits.
"As RPs, we have to do a lot of triage gauging whether an issue requires immediate attention or can wait for a scheduled appointment," said Ponder. "That's how we work as a team, always maintaining strict confidentiality in all that we do."
In addition to supporting the training mission by leading briefs on Operational Stress Control and Navy Corps Values, chaplains offer everything from spiritual guidance, to personal encouragement, to much-needed solace all while living up to the guiding principles of the Chaplain Corps Mission: Providing religious ministry and support to those of your own faith; facilitating the religious requirements of those from other faiths; caring for all service members and their families, including those subscribing to no specific faith; and advising the command on matters pertaining to religious accommodation.
"You sit down in that chair and the chaplain meets you where you are," said Ponder. "He or she is there to talk to you as an individual to make sure that you are ready to train and go out there and save lives and that is our job."
While the chaplains and ministry team may be based in the chapel or ships, that doesn't mean they merely sit in their spaces just waiting for something to happen.
"Our job is to be on the deck plates, seeing everyone, no matter if they are at swimming, PT, firefighting, the RMT is going to be there to support them," said Ponder. "Sometimes they just need to see that familiar face. We're not there to interrupt training, because coming to the chapel or seeking out a member of the RMT is still training, just in a different fashion."
At RTC, the RMT not only serve the recruits, they are in place to serve all staff and personnel as well. This opens up the line for the RDCs to let them know the RMT is also their advocate.
"If an RDC is having a bad day and he/she unintentionally puts that on a recruit. It's like the old adage, 'Hurt people, hurt ... people.' I can talk to a recruit every day and then I realize they've been coming here for the same thing, so I need to get to the root of this issue. I may talk to the RDC and find out he or she is stressed out - be it they have a newborn baby, or it's a stressful command, or maybe they were passed over for promotion or they're getting promoted and they're under pressure with additional responsibilities - and maybe all they need to do is vent. Just because the pot isn't whistling, doesn't mean the water isn't hot. We're here to listen to them."
When it comes to delivering sensitive messages to recruits, such as a death in the family, chaplains are on hand to be present for spiritual and moral support.
In 2016, RTC received 724 AMCROSS messages from recruit families. Personnel and RDCs deliver the messages when the issue is non-life threatening or involve an extended family member while chaplains deliver messages when immediate family members are involved. The chaplains always provide both direct and follow-on care when requested or as is necessary.
"All of our efforts, whether they be official training briefs, individual counseling sessions, or shared Religious services are designed to equip, replenish, and strengthen the spirit," said Stallinga. "I think if we're honest though, there are a lot of days the RDCs, RTC staff, and the recruits themselves teach the chaplains and RPs a thing or two about what it means to be resilient or to be a person of character -and on those days, we're just grateful for the opportunity to serve on the RTC team."
U.S. Navy basic training is approximately eight weeks long and all enlistees into the Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control, along with lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. About 30,000 to 40,000 recruits graduate annually from RTC and begin their Navy careers.
For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 01.26.2018 13:17 |
| Story ID: | 263419 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 188 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Sailors Making Sailors: RTC Chaplains, RPs Provide Spiritual Support to Recruits and Staff, by Susan Martin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
