Naval Chaplain School

After ODS, chaplain school seemed like a walk in the park. I moved into a hotel room that I shared with no one. I could sleep in til 6am and come and go from base whenever I wanted. It was really nice. It made staying awake in class a lot easier. We mostly did our PT on our own. I played basketball a little (we weren't allowed in ODS) and even got to play some racquetball.
During ODS we were mixed with doctors, lawyers, etc. But during chaplain school it was only chaplains. We had all different religious represented. There were two rabbis, a horde of evangelicals, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Nazarene, Pentecostals, Catholics, etc. It was great to get to mix with all of them. Every morning we had a little devotional. We were assigned days to be in charge of the devotional. Protestants did their own devotional. Catholics had theirs as well as the Jews. We were welcome to visit any of them. When the list came out showing who was in charge on what day, I wasn't on any of them. It think they didn't know where to put a Mormon chaplain. The last Mormon chaplain had asked to do his own thing, so they had given him his own room. I really thought that sounded like a bad idea. I am a protestant chaplain, and I want the other chaplains to know that we are included in the "christian" family. I asked several times to be added to the list, but they never did anything about it. I had several of my chaplain friends who had been given two assignments offer to give me one of theirs. Finally, one day when we had a field trip scheduled they didn't have a devotional scheduled so I got an opportunity. It was a great chance for us to get to know each others worship styles. We had everything from "high church" style to techno music. I learned a lot and will always remember those mornings sharing worship with these wonderful chaplains. I really gained a lot of respect for them.
The typical day in chaplains school consisted of morning devotional at 7:30 am, then class would begin at 8. Once again it was comprised of hours of powerpoint presentations that for the most part were interesting and relevant to our work as chaplains. They included such things as confidentiality, performing weddings, funerals, etc., and all the other things that chaplains need to know. There was some repeat from ODS. Unfortunately it was kind of like drinking from a fire hose. It was all good and important information, but there was so much that there was no way to retain it all. Then there was the problem of questions. We had a couple of people who loved to ask questions. It sometimes seemed like they did it just to sound smart. It made us go over time a lot. We had several presentations that we had to do. In groups we had to plan a special occasions (funeral, wedding, memorial service, etc), one presentation for a CO on some issue (mine was a enlisted sailor who wanted to become a conscientious objector), and then write a couple of prayers for special occasions (mine was the coast guard birthday).
We went on a few field trips as well. First we had a sort of spiritual retreat. We went to what looked like a summer camp and had a lot of free time to ponder and discuss spiritual things. It was really nice, but the bugs were unbearable. Later we got to go to the Coast Guard Academy and then to a submarine base in Connecticut where we got to tour a submarine. Near the end of chaplain school we went to a battle ship and stayed overnight on the USS Massachusetts. It is this giant world war 2 battleship. We slept on these cots. Mine was so squeaky that it kept myself and everyone else around me awake. I finally moved around 5 am to avoid being murdered by other chaplains. The next day, I went exploring around the town to check out all the cool old churches. Unfortunately they were all locked and nearly all closed down. When I asked about it I was told that New England is just not very religious any more.
After 5 weeks of chaplain basic training we began AMEX, the training intended to help us prepare for serving with the Marines. We were issued camo uniforms and all kinds of gear that we would use in the field. We went out to a National Guard post, set up our tents and started eating MRE's and hiking. That night I didn't sleep a wink. But the next morning we went to an obstacle course. They wouldn't let us do anything very high because they had some pretty serious injuries in previous groups, but it was still fun. That night we learned how to use night vision goggles. Then it started to rain. I had just fallen asleep in my tent and was really sleeping well when our gunnery sargean woke us up and made us get inside because of the rain and lightning. The floor was nice and hard so, of course, I slept very little. The next morning we did a leadership reaction course that was an absolute blast. We were divided into teams then given obstacles were we had to work together to solve a problem and get past the obstacle. The teachers called our group the "all star" group. Once we got it down we worked together quite well. But we definately weren't the most entertaining group to watch. One group had a leader who set up a chain of command in his four person group and required that any ideas be routed up the chain of command. He spent so long explaining the process that they ran out of time before they even did anything. Later, when he was trying to cross a water obstacle and was balancing on a plank above the water, his teamate got even by letting go of the rope supporting him, causing him to fall directly into the water.
On the way home from the LRC we encountered severe rain storms. By the time we got back to our camp, lightning was striking everywhere. The teachers decided it wasn't safe for us to stay, so we went back home for the night. I slept well. The next day we went back to camp, and cleaned up the mess caused by the rain. Then we had some classes and learned all about land navigation. Then they put us in groups, gave us maps and compasses, and sent us out to find checkpoints. This effort continued all day and into the night, all the time with rain pouring down. Then they had us paint our face and we went out on patrol. About midnight they called us in and showed us a movie about the marine corps and fed us pizza. We then got a shower and went to bed. The next morning we cleaned up and and went home. AMEX was definately my favorite portion of chaplain school.
After AMEX, we began something called TEAMS, which was kind of a waste of time. It was some skills such as PREP, which is a relationship program, and dealing with PTSD. It was good stuff, but I say it was a waste of time because they gave us all the information including powerpoints anyway. The teachers were really distracted, though, because there was a change of command that week. The most eventful thing that happened that week was the presentation I did for the other chaplains about Mormons. We did it at the church building. The bishop did the first part, then I did the end. It went pretty well, but only 9 chaplains came. I think they appreciated it and gained some respect and understanding for our church through it.
Finally the day of graduation came. It was really strange to think that I was officially a chaplain. I didn't feel ready. One of the RP's (chaplain assistant) there was LDS and had been having a hard time finding her faith in the Navy and had had a hard time with a anti-mormon chaplain she worked for. I think seeing an LDS chaplain gave her a little boost. One of my good friends who was a chaplain candidate said that he could see how much it meant to her to see an LDS chaplain. It was a very exciting time. Then, everything got turned upside down when I found out that afternoon that my orders were being changed. (to be continued)