LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
When Chap. (Capt.) John Boulware arrived at the 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing here in 2009 as its new wing chaplain, his primary objective was to provide spiritual and resiliency care to its hard-working people.
His biggest challenge in meeting that goal was visiting wing members located around the world in places like Germany, the Republic of Korea, Hawaii, California, Georgia and Virginia.
"The main focus during my travels was to get to know the men and women in the groups I support," Chaplain Boulware said. "I made sure they received the resiliency guidance to help them meet their day-to- day challenges and pressures."
Resiliency has been the central theme of the chaplain's ministry plan for the past year. When he meets wing members, he reminds them that resilient warriors overcome adversity, bounce back from setbacks and can thrive under extreme, on-going combat pressure, without acting in dysfunctional or harmful ways.
"Resilient people recover from traumatic experiences stronger, better and wiser," he said. "When hurt or distressed, resilient people expect to find a way to have things turn out well. They feel self reliant and have a learning/coping reaction rather than the victim/blaming
reaction."
Chaplain Boulware, with then Master Sgt. Merlin Choice, superintendent for chapel operations, and Staff Sgt. David Cairo, noncommissioned officer in charge of chapel operations, found it challenging, but rewarding, to meet the spiritual needs of a global wing, plus Airmen deployed in-place.
"We wanted to be a visible presence to the deployed-in-place Airmen who perform a 'warrior' role at work and within minutes are in their homes providing a semblance of normalcy for their families," the captain said.
Sergeant Cairo, who handles visitation, administration and logistical support, also provides religious accommodation to the wing.
"Since this is my first stint in an operational ministry setting, I have to develop my visitation skills," Sergeant Cairo said. "The deployed-in-place members undergo great trials many people don't often consider."
Ms. Choice retired from the Air Force in December 2010 after 22 years as a chaplain's assistant.
"This was the most rewarding experience of my career," she said. "Our ministry of presence enabled me to witness the professionalism in our people. The quality of their work to accomplish the mission never ceased to amaze me."