CAPT MARRERO: My name is Emilio Marrero. I am a Captain in the Navy Chaplain Corps.
A Navy Chaplain is a clergy person who is a minister; a rabbi, a priest - who is endorsed or
commissioned by their church, to come and represent that church,
and take care of people spiritually - within the Navy ranks.
LCDR MUNOZ: I'm Lieutenant Commander Frank Munoz; I'm a Chaplain in the United States Navy.
A calling to be a Chaplain is a unique calling. Just like a calling to be a minister of any denomination.
After many years of searching in civilian ministry I found an opportunity, to come into the Navy,
and exercise a desire, and a dream that I've always had, to serve as a Naval officer,
but also to marry that - that calling that I - that dream of being a Naval officer,
with also the response to the call of God to be a Chaplain as well.
CAPT: Being a Navy Chaplain - you get the opportunity to serve with some very special people.
And interacting with those communities, and getting to know these young people,
and seeing the kind of courage and the kind of strength, and the kind of talent that's there,
it-it's really a lot of fun, and it's just also very heart warming,
because it allows us the opportunity to-to be able to make an impact.
LCDR: My congregation is wherever I am. I go with them where-wherever the Navy ship sails,
there is my congregation. And I can go anywhere on the ship.
You can go visit the sailors in their workspaces.
Talk to them, and you begin-and you share their experiences. If it's hot, you're hot.
If they're hungry, you're hungry. And that common bond is able to create an
incredible experience between the Chaplain, and-and the sailor.
CAPT: Most people assume what happens when you come into the Navy is that somehow you'll be
disconnected from family, and you'll lose that flavor of family; and I have to tell you -
I have not lost connection with my family. If anything it's given me opportunities and resources
to be able to stay even more connected, and the Navy holds very dear to family values.
They value the family, they caring for them, and as a Hispanic and as a Chaplain -
those are easy values for me to support.
LCDR: If we start to lose track of the fact that we're a family,
its sort of the Chaplain's job to help everybody get back on track and to see ourselves as a family,
and to take care of each other; and that's, after all, a Hispanic value.
I'm just amazed, every single day, that I'm always drawing from my life, in the wellsprings,
in the fountain, in the experiences of my life to be able the help people.
CAPT: One of the most important things I've learned through my ministry in the Navy;
has been to trust God, to serve people, and everything else will fall into place.