Chaplain assistant provides care, patience

By Amy Newcomb, Fort Campbell CourierDecember 12, 2014

Chaplain assistant provides care, patience
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- Only three days after Christmas, the Army will celebrate its 105th year since the creation of the chaplain assistant position, and will dedicate this day to honoring the men and women who were given the special duty of assisting chaplains in performing their duties by providing religious support for all Soldiers and their Families.

Chaplain Assistant Sgt. Aaron LaBarge, 716th Military Police Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, arrived at Fort Campbell in October and has been fulfilling his duties with enthusiasm since joining the Army in 2007.

"My understanding of the position at the time I joined the Army was that I would be working with multiple religions. I find religion very interesting ... and, I also have my own personal religious beliefs that I am very serious about. Being able to take that and help Soldiers and other individuals just seemed very exciting to me," he said.

LaBarge joined the Army as a chaplain assistant after graduating from Malvern High School in Malvern, Ark.

"I was in my senior year and had no plans at the time because I didn't know what I wanted to do as far as college. I was already in ROTC, so I already knew the recruiters in the area. One was already trying to recruit me for the National Guard to become a chaplain assistant, but he ended up filling his slot," he said. "The regular Army recruiter was there and I knew I wanted this job, I had already researched it -- I wanted to do this."

Since joining the Army, LaBarge has served at multiple duty stations. He was stationed in Korea, and he also deployed to Iraq and served as a Forward Operating Base chaplain assistant. However, the position he remembers with the most fondness was when he served at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Texas.

"I loved when I worked at the hospital. It was a huge organization, so it was really fun. I was a specialist at the time, and there was supposed to be an NCO but the NCO ended up leaving so I was there by myself with three chaplains and we had a brigade-size element underneath us," LaBarge said. "We made crazy things happen. We had retreats every month and had all these different things we were doing. It was fun because I love that kind of intensity, it was just go, go, go."

LaBarge said the hospital had many events, but one he remembers the most was a balloon ceremony for people who had lost their children in the womb.

"It was one of the things we did that was on such an emotional level that you won't find in any other organization because there we were dealing with the sick and the hurt," he said.

Helping Soldiers and their Families is what makes the job worth it, said LaBarge.

"Being a part of Soldiers' lives -- being actively a part of them -- especially as a NCO now, I get to be super involved. I get to break the boundaries that most NCOs won't because we are supposed to be more caring in our job, if that makes sense," LaBarge said.

"So that, in a sense, is awesome because you get to see Soldiers who are in need a lot of times because they are scared of an NCO or an officer. As a chaplain assistant we are typically one of two people in the entire organization that does not cause a sense of fear. So, they can come to us and they are honest because we are there for them and we meet their needs. It's incredible to be a part of that."

LaBarge said the best thing about being a chaplain assistant is he gets to see a lot of things that most other Soldiers won't see since they usually stay within the confines of their Military Occupational Specialty.

"I have worked at a hospital. I have worked with cavalry scouts, and now military police. I have gone out with EOD even," he said. "I have gotten to see so many different things that you wouldn't get to see in a normal job because you have that freedom with Soldiers."

However, the 56M MOS is not without hurdles, LaBarge confided.

"It was difficult when I first came in because I was just a Pfc. and you are by yourself and you are your own NCOIC in a way, so It was hard in the sense that you are by yourself and you are trying to make great things happen," LaBarge said. "You can be trained on this only so much, but a lot of stuff you have to figure out on your own and its hard walking in that door completely alone."

Other issues to overcome involve people not understanding what chaplain assistants really do, he said.

"That is probably the most difficult thing is getting people to realize what you actually do because people don't see you until they need you a lot of times," he said. "Until they are in that crisis moment, they don't even know you exist."

These moments of need, which come in many forms, are exactly what make chaplain assistants important to the overall spiritual Army mission, LaBarge said.

"… We are on the ground and in the dirt with them and in the muck doing everything that they are doing and wearing the uniform," LaBarge said. "We provide that on-the-ground spiritual ministry, moral support and ethical support. We go with them wherever they go …

"To do this job correctly it takes a lot of care and patience, and you have to truly like what you are doing," he said.

Editor's note: This is the seventh in a series on chaplain assistants at Fort Campbell leading up to the 105th anniversary of the Army position at the end of this month.

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