Photo By Mel Slater | Chaplain (Col.) Emmitt Furner, Institute for Religious Leadership deputy commandant,...... read more read more
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Soldiers and Families travel the world, meeting and saying goodbye to many others as they go.
Chaplain (Col.) Emmitt Furner, Institute for Religious Leadership deputy director, has found a novel way to remember people he’s encountered with over the years - he collects military nametapes.
“It all started with one nametape that left in my office by a Soldier who had left his nametape because he was redeploying from Afghanistan and he stopped by to see me. I wasn’t there, so he left his nametape attached (on the) wall where we lived,” Furner said. “My chaplain assistant, now known as religious affairs specialist, thought it was a good idea to encourage other Soldiers to leave their nametapes before they redeploy so I could remember them and pray for them.”
The names on his wall are a constant reminder of those Soldiers.
“Every day I have to walk in and see what I refer to as the pacing item for a chaplain which is the people,” Furner said. “Each one of those names represent a story and a life that I was invited into, a sacred experience and privilege to know people and serve with them in the Army.”
It’s interesting that his own nametape is present on the wall.
“As you can see my name is on the board but not representing me, representing my father who’s a Vietnam veteran, who lost his right leg in Vietnam in 1969,” Furner said. “I think it’s important to have him on that board because without him and his sacrifices he made for me and my brother raising us by himself, it taught me about service and sacrifice though he struggled from not only the physical but mental and spiritual wounds of participating in armed conflict in Vietnam.”
Several of the names remind him of the costs that come with the profession of arms.
“I’ve taken Gold Stars and pinned to the names of the Soldiers that have passed away, that we’ve lost.
“I wanted to identify them as a reminder of their life and the sacrifice they made for the country,” he said.
After all this time, Furner is still collecting names. He has collected close to 300 nametapes. He says he will keep the names with him even after leaving the military.
“It’s a reminder of why I joined the Army as a chaplain, it’s people,” Furner said.
“It’s always been people. It’s an opportunity to engage people and connect them to God and be present as they live their life, good or bad.”
| Date Taken: | 01.28.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2025 09:33 |
| Story ID: | 490234 |
| Location: | FORT JACKSON, SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Chaplain remembers teammates, one nametape at a time, by Mel Slater, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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