Week 6 - End of Phase One

Greetings from the long lost blogger. Some of you have been wondering if I have fallen off the earth, or if the Army finally got the best of me. But, I am still alive and well! After recovering from a bad case of CHBOLC, I found the energy to blog again and to try to catch up a little.

The best news I can share with you is that my family arrives here in just a few hours. It has been over six weeks since I have seen them, so the reunion will be good. We will spend time swimming, fishing, playing at the playground, and going to the water park here on base.

The last two weeks have been spent mainly in the classroom covering military stuff. A few noteworthy things to mention however are interesting enough to pass along.

One of our afternoons was spent covering the history of the Chaplaincy. In the next two pictures you will see many of the items the chaplain school historian brought to class that represent the many eras of the chaplaincy. There have been chaplains in the Army ever since the Revolutionary War. Today there are well over 2000 chaplains serving in the Army as well as those serving in the other branches.



On Thursday of this past week, we took what is called a "Staff Ride" out to a place called Cowpens. A Staff Ride is opportunity for commanders to take his or her staff out to a historic military site in order to help them gain a better perspective on military history. Cowpens is a battlefield located near the South and North Carolina borders that was a critical Revolutionary battle field. The battle of Cowpens was the pivotal battle in the Southern campaign of the war.
This week began the involvement of student chaplains in the chapel services. Pictured here are Ch. May, and Ch. Kay. They are both fellow bloggers and good friends. Ch. Kay led worship that day in chapel.
On Wendnesday of this past week, our school sponsored a pray breakfast at the NCO club. The breakfast was designed to give us experience in putting a prayer breakfast together so that when we get to our future stations, we will have some idea of what is going on. Here is myself with Ch. Kevin Nagy.
One last thing worth mentioning. Here is the motor that runs the chaplain school. With out it, life would not exist.

Thanks for your prayer. Stay in touch.

Chaplain Mark

Week 5 - Days 1-3 (Monday-Wednesday)

This weekend I attended worship at Vangard Chapel here on base. It was good to see so many young soldiers in one place worshiping the Lord. It was a really good service with good worship and a good message.

The new Chief of Chaplain came to visit the school this week. General Carver was a great encouragement and seems to be a true man of God.
Most of our class time this week has been taught by Chaplains Palmer and Crisp. We are now getting into the meat of what it means to be a chaplain. I find myself hanging on every word because what they have to teach now so directly relates to my days and years that lie ahead

I feel sometimes as though I have jumped into a lake with shores in site. I can swim well, but what direction do I swim in. The challenges are great and many, but I keep swimming. I imagine with time, the things I am learning now will become old hat, but for now I struggle on.

Today is the Fourth of July and our class had the day off. We had a family BBQ this morning from 10am until 2pm. It was a great time of fellowship. There are fireworks going on outside right now, but without my family here, they don't mean all that much to me. I sure do miss them.

Thanks for your emails and encouraging messages.

Happy 4th of July!
God bless you, and God Bless this great nation!