KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - The religious support team for Joint Sustainment Command - Afghanistan ministered to troops April 8 and 9 on multiple austere forward operating bases as part of the joint-service mission Easter Contingency Operations to provide religious support in South-Eastern Afghanistan.
Along with U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force teams, The JSC - A team visited FOB Lagman, FOB Cobra, FOB Baylough and numerous other FOBs to perform services and provide religious support.
Spc. Lindsay A. Canterbury, a chaplain's assistant in the JSC - A religious support team, visited several FOBs as part of the mission.
"Every Soldier has the right to practice their religious beliefs according to Army Regulation 165-1," said Canterbury. "The [mission's purpose] was to provide religious support to those FOBs that might not have chaplains assigned to them because of their size and location. There are just not enough chaplains mobilized to cover all of the bases out here."
Many of the Soldiers deal with stress over rough accommodations and a lack of phones or computer access, said Canterbury. They have a lack of religious support, and many of these Soldiers go on missions for weeks at a time.
"The mission was successful for the same reason there was a mission," said Canterbury. "We provided Soldiers the means for religious support and services that they are not able to receive on a daily or weekly basis."
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