Blog Posts tagged with "deployment"
Clergy converged in Carpathians
I read about the economic and natural crises in Romania this week and I couldn't help but think about a recent trip I took to the beautiful Carpathia Mountains not far from where the flooding is happening now.
I went to Romania in May to visit our military chaplain partners and to share ministry initiatives and best practices/lessons learned in missions to Iraq and Afghanistan. I was also able to worship with our Defense Attaché and other Americans at a lively contemporary Christian worship service in Bucharest. It is a great faith community, rich in ethnic and cultural diversity, nurtured by their common belief in God.
Chaplain Van Sickle provides a briefing to the IAEC at the Harghita Christian Camp conference center in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, Romania.
Additionally, I was invited by the International Association of Evangelical Chaplains to participate in their 5th annual international training conference and present EUCOM mission priorities and ministry activity in Europe and U.S. Central Command. Conferees were military and civilian clergy working with soldiers from Bulgaria, France, Latvia, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, Uganda and the U.S. My intent was to reinforce our command priorities and understand the strategic ministry goals and challenges from each country's perspective.
The IAEC conference in the Carpathian Mountains with the chaplains was an especially good event, with lots of time to hear joys and concerns from the head Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Chaplains. The training sessions addressed: Ministering in a Pluralistic Society and Proselytizing; Inductive Bible Study; Ethics and a Biblical View of the Military Profession; Pastoral Crisis Counseling; Deployment Ministry; Suicide Awareness and Prevention & Next of Kin Notification; Para-Church Organizations; Chaplain-Commander Relationships; Professionalism and Ethics; The Military Pastor; and Varieties of Military Chaplaincies. These were especially relevant sessions for the three chaplains among us preparing for their own deployments to Afghanistan.
Samuel & Maria Jose Coias, Military Christian Fellowship President; Chaplain Van Sickle; Portugal BVS Luis Goncalves, Pastor, New Life Church, Portugal; Salvador Martinez, Military Christian Fellowship President, Spain
It became evident throughout the week that the chaplains from single-confession chaplaincies -- where all personnel are from the same faith: all Orthodox or all Catholic or all Protestant -- need encouragement to stay engaged with their military members who are not free to exercise their faith in the restricted military settings in which they serve. It was also very evident that they are joyfully passionate about their service to God and their fellow servicemen and women.
Proud to serve! Clearly, we are ‘Stronger Together!’
Chaplain (Col.) Brian R. Van Sickle
Command Chaplain, EUCOM
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Real life issues addressed at the Quality of Life Conference
The life that a man or woman experiences while serving in the military is often one of sacrifice, hardship and honor. A normal day is often long and stressful. Families aren't perfect outside the military and they are no different inside except the normal stressors on a military family are extraordinary. Families break all the time. Some breaks are permanent, some temporary, some caused by the stressors of a military life. Now throw in deployments to overseas locations where families cope with strong cultural challenges, language barriers, and being a thousand miles from their own homeland. Now we have to throw 9 years of combat operations into the mix. Deployments mean more sacrifice, hardship and places fragile families in danger of breaking and solid families endure loneliness, depression and loss of intimacy.
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Off to Washington!
I’m on Capitol Hill next week to update Congress on the successes and challenges of U.S. European Command and the security environment in Europe. As you’d expect, this is a BIG deal for us, and we’ve been preparing for months.
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Redeployment Ceremony of the Czech Republic’s 601st Special Operations Force
601st Czech SOF’s multiple deployments they were embedded with our own Special Forces
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Christmas Presence – Another Holiday Separated and Away
American and NATO SOF units work to increase the capacity of Afghan National Security Forces
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Delegates Present Issues for Commander's Consideration
Our fifth Quailty of Life Conference since 2004 is coming to a close. The conference culminated with five delegate spokespersons briefing their group's top issues to the EUCOM Commander, component commanders, Senior Enlisted Leaders, Senior Spouses, and conference participants. Below are the issues brought forward by the focus groups:
Comments: 1
I think it wonderful to see religious leaders of different faiths and countries come together to help each other understand the challenges to ministering to diverse groups. I spent part of my deployment to Iraq in a very remote location and every other week a different chaplain would fly in to provide us with religious support. Each one was of a different faith, but all of them did an excellent job in providing us spiritual guidance. I believe that it’s training like the IAEC conference that makes our military chaplains so good at what they do.