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High Desert Warrior January 4 , 2019
www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin
WHO WE ARE
Brig. Gen. Jeff Broadwater
Commanding General
Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Lowe
Post CSM
Col. Seth Krummrich
Garrison Commander
Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Edwards Jr
Garrison CSM
Darryl Darden
Public Affairs Director
High Desert Warrior Staff
Janell J. Lewis Ford, Editor (760) 380-3450
Ken Drylie, Associate Editor (760) 380-3303
Jason Miller, Staff Writer/Photographer
(760) 380-3073
Renita Wickes, Staff Writer/Photographer
(760) 380-3078
David Dupree, Staff Writer/Photographer
(760) 380-8917
Agustin Rodriguez, Editorial Assistant agustin.rodriguez1@us.army.mil
Aerotech News Emma Uribe, Graphic Designer
HiGH Desert WArrior
High Desert Warrior, a civilian enterprise newspaper, is an authorized publication for members of the United States Army and Fort Irwin community. Contents of this newspaper are not necessarily official view of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, Department of the Army or Fort Irwin and the National Training Center. High Desert Warrior is prepared weekly by the Public Affairs Office, National Training Center and Fort Irwin, P.O. Box 105067, Fort Irwin, CA, 92310-5067. Telephone: 380-4511 or DSN 470-4511. FAX: 380-3075.
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NEWSPAPER AWARDS
2nd Place, 2017 U.S. Army IMCOM
Newspaper Competition — Feature Photograph
Honorable Mention, 2009 U.S. Army IMCOM-West
Newspaper Competition — Tabloid category
3rd Place, 2008 Dept. of the Army
Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware Newspaper Competition — Tabloid Category
seND Us FeeDBACK
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Bringing blessings to the Box
NTC Chaplain Brown, fellow chaplains charter new programs, offer counseling & communion during rotational trainings in the field, as they ‘plant a spiritual rose in the desert’
Story and photos by Janell J. Lewis Ford
Garrison Public Affairs
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Post Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Ric Brown wasn’t even a teen- ager when he first knew he had a calling to minister to the masses—specifically, servicemembers.
“At 10 years old, I felt a calling to minister to military,” Brown said. “I didn’t understand the term ‘chaplain’ but I had a draw for the military for as far back as I could recall as a kid.” He made be clear that he also felt a ‘calling’ to go outside and play at that age.
The son, and grandson, of ministers, Chaplain Brown went on to join the Na- tional Guard at 17 years old and has now been serving his country and his community for 34 years.
He came to Fort Irwin in July 2018 and before his first visit to the National Training Center, he prayed about how he could best serve the installation.
“Before I got here, I felt a burden upon my heart for Fort Irwin and began to pray and really truly weep for Fort Irwin,” Brown said. There was a pain upon my heart for Fort Irwin and I began to learn that it seemed to be a place that was hurting and needed some care, some love, somebody to listen and love on the people, so coming here, that’s been my biggest goal.”
In just six months, Chaplain Brown and his team have hit the ground running in an effort to shore up existing programs, offer new ministries and be as inclusive as possible.
He said he wants to put emphasis and bring heavy support to programs like the AWANAS and PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) programs to keep them popu- lar. But Chaplain Brown and his team also started Life Groups on post.
“These are home studies that individuals are leading and the intent is to get people comfortable coming to those and they may, then, come to a chapel; because some people are just not comfortable coming to a chapel...but they’ll go to somebody’s home and do a study with them in a friendly set- ting,” Brown said.
The Life Groups include the “Truth Project,” “The Art of Marriage” and “Mak- ing Disciples.”
Then there’s the Youth of the Chapel ministry. Chaplain (Cpt.) Dan Kim recently kicked off this program and is leading this ef- fort to reach a group that doesn’t have many, fun options in this environment.
“My main focus for the youth groups has been to provide a fun, safe place where they can learn a little about the Bible,” Kim said. “But my end state is to make it a place where they can seriously pursue faith and have fun
at the same time, so to maintain that space where you can feel safe to be themselves.”
Bringing the Bible to the Box
Not every new move has been met with optimism from everyone on post. Before Chaplain Brown arrived at Fort Irwin, there was an additional chapel service at the Blackhorse Chapel. After meeting with fel- low chaplains and the community, he made a strategic move to end that service, leaving only two services on post— one for Catholics and one for Protestants.
“By reducing that, we build up a qual- ity Protestant service, versus two mediocre services,” he said.
“We may have reduced the number of services, but the service we have now reaches a broader range of people,” Chaplain Brown said.
He’s not opposed to adding another ser- vice, however, if the numbers grow.
He said one of the most important things the change affects is that chaplains can now be out in the Box without worrying about coming back in to run a service.
While looking at the training/rotational calendar, Chaplain Brown noticed some enti- ties at the chapel were not coinciding with the calendar, so the chapel wasn’t meeting the needs of the soldiers and families.
“So I looked at communion and where they had it set every second Sunday of the month and had a conversation with a couple and the husband said ‘You know I
haven’t had communion in months, I don’t remember the last time I had communion.’” The Chaplain then moved the dates of when communion is taken at the chapel, so soldiers can take communion with their family. The chaplain team also brought com-
munion to the Box.
The 11th ACR has what’s called the “God
Van” and their lead unit takes it out to the Box. In the summertime, they give out snow cones and soldiers line up for the treat.
“What they’re actually getting is a little bit of love because they come for the snow cones, and they get a little bit of spiritual fitness as chaplains talk with them,” Brown said.
Chaplain Brown speaks highly of the senior Operations Group chaplain, (Maj.) J.P.Smith,whoheservedwithatFortDrum and said they wanted to take church services to the soldiers in the field.
Chaplain Smith said, “We witnessed a need from our Observer Coach Trainers, that they wanted some kind of religious service. Many would go to service on post while they’re not in rotation and their families attended each Sunday and the OCTs don’t have the opportunity to go to services at least two Sundays per month because they’re in the box.”
What started during the summer of 2018 was chaplains and ministry teams traveling around the box and ministering through prayer meetings, Bible studies, communion services, religious services and counseling.
For more information go to www.irwin.army.mil