Start of Chaplain School

I left ODS in Newport and drove down to New Jersey. I got to spend a couple hours with Kelly and my new niece, Morgan Grace. I stayed over in Toms River and headed toward South Carolina the next day.  I stayed in a hotel in Emporia, Virginia close to North Carolina.The next morning was Sunday, so I went to mass at St. John the Baptist, in Roanoke Rapids, NC. It was a nice, little Church. There were maybe 150 people in church. I saw a couple ushers at the doors as I walked up. I noticed they were Knights of Columbus, so I introduced myself (dressed in slacks and a polo shirt) and asked to see the priest. The Knights brought me to the sacristy where Fr. Pius grabbed my hand and welcomed me in. He was from Africa and had been the pastor there for four years. I asked to concelebrate and went out to the altar with Father. I noticed how happy the people were to see their priest; he had been on vacation a couple weeks. It was nice to see a small, tight-knit Catholic community (since we have mostly very big parishes in New Jersey). I concelebrated mass and helped distribute communion. Fr. Pius gave a good homily and asked me to say some words at the end of mass. I told the people a little about me being in training to be a Navy Chaplain and encouraged them to listen to where Good Shepherd was leading them.

After mass, I drove down to Fort Jackson. It is a huge base, with a department store, food store, golf course, and a number of lakes. My class of chaplains is housed at Jack’s Inn, a set of on base apartments. They are nice:  two bedrooms, little kitchen, little dining room, porch and living room. It has internet and a nice flat screen TV. I signed up for a free month of Netflix. Oh yeah.

We all arrived okay and got situated. We were a bit anxious since Marine Gunnery Sergeant Morton [who was to lead our class and PT] was totally intimidating. However, when we arrived at class, the Class Officer, Lieutenant Commander Moore, and Gunnery Sergeant may it clear that they would be treating us like adults. It was quite a refreshing change from ODS.

Classwork and Physical Training (PT)

The first few weeks of Chaplain School are very academic. We PT at 0530 usually three times a week and most of us do additional PT. The Gunnery Sergeant seems to enjoyed “massacring” us at PT. We started Intro to “GunneyFit” during the second week. He enjoys CrossFit type workouts. My heel started hurting more and more, so I went to medical and the doc put me on limited duty – no running or jumping – for 10 days. I also was put on Anti-inflammatories. This stunk since I had to work out separately.

I did do abs this past Friday. We warmed up and then were tasked to do as many rounds we could of:

• 30 second planks
• 30 second each side planks
• 20 flutter kicks
• 20 jack knifes - laying down and lifting legs and upper body straight up
• 10 push jacks – like a push up, but in the middle you spread your legs and bring them back to center.
• 20 planks with side crunches - bring one leg at a time up to your armpit
• 20 side twists – on the ground , legs up, torso at 45 degrees, arms in front, rotate twisting side to side
• 20 russian prayers – on the ground, torso at 45 degrees, hands folded in prayer while you kick your legs out almost like bicycles
• 20 leg lifts
• Two point planks 15 seconds each side – front plank but lift one arm and opposite leg off the ground.

I did 2 rounds and then a third round dropping each number by 5 (so 25 sec planks). The Gunny brought out ammo cans that some people used in some of these exercises like jack knifes and then ran down to the edge of the field with the ammo cans and back up hill. Some of these chaplains are nuts (very fit).

Our Daily Schedule

After PT, we go to the schoolhouse for worship at 0730. We have different “labs” are basically chapels for each faith group. We have an Orthodox priest who say morning prayers, three liturgical protestants, me and the rest are non-liturgical protestants. I usually say mass in the morning, though I have joined the non-liturgical guys for praise and worship. Some folks have joined me for mass. It is cool that we are learning to appreciate each other’s beliefs and practices.   That is probably the coolest thing about this time together. I am growing as we hang out and pray and discuss faith and ministry together. In John 17, Jesus prayed that all would be one. Maybe one day, we Christians will be united.

Right now I am struggling with how the Lord interacts differently with different groups of people. There is clearly some authentic worship expressed by the different groups. However each group acknowledges times when they have seen what appears to be lack of authenticity in worship.

Classes are from 0800-1600 or 1700. We have had to do three reflection papers and have two exams. We have been having some fun going out to dinner and barbecuing on the weekends in between. During the second week, we encountered the Government Shutdown, as did the rest of the country. Our civilians had to go home without pay. They were able to come back the following Tuesday. An ethics professor from the Naval Academy, a captain, was not allowed to travel, so we had to move our ethics classes to the end of training (hopefully). We found out at the end of week three that our “field trip” was cancelled, because we had no travel money. We were supposed to go to Mayport naval base in Jacksonville, Florida and Parris Island Marine base.

This week we celebrated the Navy's 238th birthday. The actual date is October 13, 1775. He we are in the break room.

Navy Chaplain School Class 13030 Bravo company

Columbus day is this weekend, we have liberty all weekend long. Most chaplains went to visit family or other places, like Charleston. I am enjoying some free time, relaxing. A group of us had homemade taco bar last night. Yum.

A bunch of us at Chilis

Some chaplain dudes at Fuddruckers.

Not sure what we are doing this week in lieu of the field trip. In two weeks we have Field Training. Four days in the field (somewhere in the woods on base), a confidence course, land navigation and a distance hike. We supposedly end the hike with a pizza party. Then we have teams week where we gather tools useful for ministry in the fleet. Graduation in November 15.

After Graduation

After Graduation, I will head back to New Jersey to pack, then drive to San Diego. I will be in San Diego until January 10, then I will go to Pascagoula, Mississippi to meet up with the ship. Eventually, we will get back to San Diego, which is the homeport for USS America. 

My Experience at ODS (Officer Development School)

Well, I survived the five weeks of Officer Development School. My class, 13100, consisted of 106 officers. They were JAGs, Doctors, Nurses, Dentists, Pharmacists, Psychologists, Nuclear Instructors, and 19 Chaplains. We were divided into two companies: Oscar and Papa (pronounced Pah PAH).

Our class officers were: Lt. Washington and Lt. Randle. Our Class Chiefs were both women: Chief Sowinski and Chief Nestle. So, Lt. Randle and Chief Nestle were in charge of Papa company.

ODS students in King Hall in PT uniform.

typical night studying, polishing shoes...

or getting uniforms ready.

The first two weeks were like a nightmare. We started at 0400 Monday morning outside our hatches (rooms) in PT gear (Yellow Navy athletic shirt, Navy blue shorts and Sneakers.) I was mostly delirious this whole week due to lack of sleep, lack of coffee and stress. I would wake up at 3:45 or 0400 most days, I would shave and make my bed (this required precision 45 degrees mitred corners).  

Creative bed making...how to get it tight and sharp corners?

We would muster (gather) in the hallway and make sure our uniforms were matched perfectly. This make that shoe laced were laced the same, laced were tucked in, glow belts on, and all in sweatshirts or no sweatshirts. We had to match (regardless of who was cold or hot.)

We would do PT exercises usually at 0500 most mornings on the football field. We would be sweaty, wet and covered in black astroturf pellets. Then we would either run over to the chow hall and have 15 minutes to eat (after everyone got their food), or we would go to head and hygiene first in 20 minutes and then go to chow.

The rest of the days included going to an auditorium and trying to stay awake during briefs on Navy benefits or Classes on history, Naval warfare, Rank Structure, Navy Law, etc. There were the occasional urine test, medical exam and immunizations and administrative task.

Class at Perry Hall. Notice the empty seats. 

That is because a large group of students are standing trying not to fall asleep!!

We had no freedom to go to the store or anywhere without a buddy and permission. I ran out of shaving cream, but couldn’t just go to the store for a couple days. I was frustrated.

That weekend we had “on base liberty.” So we could go to the uniform shop, commissary (food store), "NEX" - Navy Exchange (department store/pharmacy), the Internet Café or the “liberty center,” which had a bowling alley, video games, computers, pool tables and food different from the galley. 

There was a little prayer room on the (2nd deck 2nd floor) that I had permission to say mass in. Each weekend I went to the base chapel for the 0900 Catholic mass. It gave me comfort and strength to go on. 

Some cool training

In the second week, we start wearing Khaki uniform. This can be worn anytime in normal work (Not formal occasions, I’ll explain later). The inspection leading up to this was nerve racking. We had to know our "knowledge" - ranks, Sailor Creed and hymns, and various things we were learning. We gathered at 0500 in Kay hall and were quizzed and our uniform and military bearing was inspected.

We stood at attention while we were inspected.

Lt. Patron grilling Chaplain Dan Chester 

(cool guy btw -- we were interviewed at the Pentagon in the same group.)

Our Division officer and Papa company standing at parade rest.

We did a 3^rd class swim test which included jumping off a 10 foot platform, do a 5 minute dead man’s float (can take breaths), and a 50 yard swim.

We did firefighting training. Were we sat in class for a few hours. Then we dressed in full firefighter gear with SCBA – Self Contained Breathing Apparatus and grabbed a fire extinguisher and went into a dark, smoky room with a kitchen fire. Then in groups of five, we grabbed a fire hose and went into a darker, smokier room to fire a 5-foot high, 20 foot wide  (propane) fire. It was super-scary and hot and sweaty. My mask kept leaking air so I thought I was going to suffocate. However when I came out I had 30 minutes of air left! Did I mention we were so tired that we were almost falling asleep standing up?

Learning how to tackle a runaway firehose!

Trainer explaining what we are about to do...

In full firefighting gear, we had 5 people on each hose, carefully step into a dark, smoky room to fight a 20 foot wide (propane) fire! Note that the door is a typical hatch on a Navy ship.

We also did Damage Control training on the “USS Buttercup” a free-floating trainer that is a 2 deck ship floating in a 30,000 gallon pool. We sat in class to learn about firefighting aboard ship. Then we put on boots and got training in how to plug a large hole or secure a hatch with a rubber gasket and wood 4x4s. This was a lot of fun. We were floating around in 4 feet of water trying to assemble wood to close a hatch that had more water flooding in. In the second go around, my team waited and waited and there was about 5 minutes left until the ship “sunk.” SO I asked the Damage control guy if my team were needed. Turns out that a compartment in the corner had a hatch that was leaking. SO my team was ready to go, we climbed down the ladder, grabbed the wood, assembled the brace structure and hammered the wood shims into place – just in time to save the ship!!! High fives all around.

Week 3

The third week got better. We continued with classes. Had and exam and our summer whites inspection. Starting to get it a little…. We were given off base liberty, so we could go into Newport. My roommate, Chaplain Jon Maruszewski set up a lunch at the Mooring restaurant in Newport which was awesome.

A bunch of us in khakis and six ladies who wore summer whites outside of the restaurant.

Standing at the dock of the bay-ay-ay....

It got better...

Fourth and Fifth weeks were good. Being treated more adult. Still PT at 0500 and 15 minute chow during the days. But we were doing so well with no catastrophes that we were given more liberty, but still were in classes from 0800 until 1600 or so.

Class 13100 Papa Company with Class Officer, Lt. Randle and Class Chief, Chief Nestle.

Last week, we wore NWUs and prepared for graduation. Mom and Jill (big sis) came up for graduation. There was a nice reception at the "O club" officer club the night before. It was a great ending to a tough five weeks.

Here's the Papa flag. It stands for "P" in the alphabet and also means "Return to ship, heading out to sea." see http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=273

Sideboys posted and about to ring in the Commanding Officer and guest speaker.

Ready to start the ceremony.

Can you find me in the formation?

Mom Jill and me, in "choker" white - Dress Whites uniform.