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NEWS | March 10, 2017

Chapel assistants aid spiritual resiliency

By Tetaun Moffett 633rd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. Chaplain services throughout the Department of Defense offer spiritual care, religious services and counseling that allows service members, their families, and military civilians, to practice their constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.

 Military chaplains, who are religious ministry professionals, support spiritual resilience through religious observances, pastoral care, and advising leadership on spiritual, ethical, moral, morale and religious accommodation issues. As spiritual leaders, chaplains are relied upon for faith and personal guidance and they often lean on the support of their chapel assistants.

 “Most people don’t understand that our chaplain assistants do a great deal of the work,” said U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Lt. Col) Brian McCormack, 633rd Air Base Wing chaplain. “They manage facilities, money, contracts, logistics and chapel related events.”

 According to McCormack, although everything that happens religiously is under the instruction of the base commander, the real unsung heroes are the chaplain assistants, who assist with managing funds, coordination, programs and events.

 “As a chapel assistant we are the eyes and ears of the chaplains and our job is to help connect the Airman to every resource that is made available through the chapel program,” said U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Crystal Wiley-Perry, 633rd Air Base Wing Chapel operations superintendent, who has been a chapel assistant for 17 years.  “We are that link that helps service members navigate through military and life challenges.”

 In addition to an annual ministry plan, religious education and worship services, the chaplain staff schedule visits, bibles studies and counseling sessions with several squadrons throughout Langley Air Force Base and work closely with the Fort Eustis Regimental Memorial Chapel.

The partnership between the installations is about working together to further develop spiritual resilience for service members and their families.

 “Because we are a joint base, our goal is to serve the entire military community together,” said U.S. Army Corporal Clinton Pointer, Fort Eustis Regimental Memorial Chapel chapel assistant team leader. “Most of our training requirements for the Army are very similar to the Air Force. Each month we try and facilitate joint training and team building exercises to better service both of our communities.”

 According to Pointer, during the holidays and special events, Ft. Eustis chapel assistants’ work directly with Langley AFB chapel assistants to ensure their religious education and worship services don’t overlap each other. Their efforts help manage various service times and scheduled events. Fort Eustis offers numerous faith based programs that meet the spiritual needs of the joint base community such as, family ministries for all ages, community outreach projects and meditation groups.  There are also accommodations for Muslim and Wiccan faith groups.

 “Currently we don’t have a Gospel service available at Ft. Eustis, but because there is one scheduled at Langley, we’re still able to accommodate Soldiers and their families,” said Pointer.

“Two of our most popular programs at Ft. Eustis are the Marriage Enrichment and Men’s Retreat programs which is often attended by both Airman and Soldiers.”

 The yearly JBLE Chapel program provides religious services and counseling for thousands of military personnel and their families.

 For more information about the Langley Chapel services, call 764-7847 or visit to www.langleychapel.com, or Ft. Eustis Regimental Memorial Chapel at 878-1317or visit www.regimentalmemorialchapel.com.