Chaplains answer a higher call to duty

When Daniel Pruitt graduated from seminary in 2006, he took a job that literally put him on the front line of ministry: serving as a Virginia National Guard chaplain.

The Virginia Guard has only eight chaplains, well below the 19 slots it is allotted, said Chaplain J.D. Moore, a full-time chaplain with the Guard.

Because of the shortage, prospective recruits know that "if you join as a chaplain, you're pretty much guaranteed to deploy," Pruitt, 25, said.

Pruitt, who lives in Poquoson, went to the Middle East in September with a Portsmouth-based Army Guard unit, the 2nd Squadron 183rd Cavalry. Three of the Guard's eight chaplains are deployed overseas.

The shortage in Virginia mirrors the National Guard's overall shortfall of 350 chaplains out of the 700 it is authorized, said Chaplain Randall Dolinger, spokesman for the Army Chief of Chaplains Office in Arlington. The Army Reserve has filled only 220 slots of the 650 allotted, he said.

The wartime needs of an expanding military are a big reason for the shortage, Dolinger said. Active-duty units without their own chaplain often request a Guard chaplain to fill the post when deployed overseas.

Guard chaplains not only accept those assignments, but are "double-volunteering" - accepting deployment more frequently to make up for the chaplain shortage, Dolinger said.

"You're looking at us doing twice the amount of duty if there are less of us to cover a full-time National Guard," said the Rev. Jeffrey Bell of Providence Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. He served as a Guard chaplain for nine months in Iraq, returning home in 2006.

Though a sense of calling and sacrifice drives chaplains' volunteerism, Dolinger is worried clergy may burn out with more frequent deployments.

"When you're gone a year and back a year, gone a year, back a year, that's too much," Dolinger said. "That is very difficult on individuals."

Virginia Chaplain John Weatherly, who oversees the state's Guard chaplaincy, agreed last month that "we're overutilizing our chaplains."

Weatherly said the Virginia Guard has enough chaplains to supply deploying military units from the state for the next three years. "But after that, who knows?" said Weatherly, an Episcopal priest.

Weatherly, who spent most of 2006 in Iraq, and Moore, who was there in 2004 and 2005, are hoping new chaplain recruits can ease the shortage.

The Army Guard nationally has beefed up chaplain recruitment with incentives including a $10,000 signing bonus, up to $4,500 a year in tuition assistance for seminarians headed for the Guard, and a $20,000 student loan repayment plan.

The military also is offering a $30,000 retention bonus for current Guard and Reserve chaplains who commit to staying in the service an additional three years, Moore said.

But if the Guard offers a lot, it also asks a lot of chaplain recruits.

"You need a four-year college degree, three years of seminary and be willing to go to a war zone without a weapon. That's the advertisement," Moore said.

Additionally, federal law that ensures guardsmen can return to their civilian jobs does not apply to clergy serving churches, Dolinger said.

"No pastors will go and serve in the Guard or Reserve without the support of their church," Dolinger said. His message to congregants? "You've sent us your letters and cookies, now send us your pastor."

A bright spot for Virginia's Guard lies with seminary students who have agreed to serve after graduation. Moore said six such chaplain candidates are training with the Guard while at school.

"Once they complete their degree they can become a full chaplain or decide, 'This is not for me,' " Moore said. Those who join the Guard have to serve at least a year.

"Under the current operations tempo, you'll probably be deployed within those 12 months," Moore said.

In Lynchburg, Liberty University has about 40 seminary students enrolled in a two-year military chaplains master's degree program started in 2006. Courses include chaplain history, leadership and counseling.

Charles N. Davidson, the retired Air Force chaplain heading the program, said most chaplain students are headed for active Army duty.

Only two or three are focused on the Guard, though the school has 20 scholarships available to students who go that route, he said.

Pruitt, a Southern Baptist, said in a recent telephone interview from Kuwait that he counsels troops, holds Bible studies and helps support morale.

"We try to get out with the soldiers as much as possible; it's the ministry of presence," he said.

Bell said serving as a chaplain in Iraq was "worlds apart" from the safe, orderly life of a civilian minister. Troops approached him with burdens ranging from loneliness and fear to family troubles.

"As a chaplain, you're always on - you're never not a chaplain," he said. "I can say without a doubt after 20 years of pastoring that it was the most raw and engaging ministry that I've ever participated in," Moore said of his tour in Iraq. "We weren't worried about stained glass, but whether someone would lose their leg, or life."

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com