With a sense of humor that quickly made him a hallmark on Redstone during an abbreviated assignment, Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jim Benson said goodbye to the local Arsenal community and to the Army.
After almost 25 years of service, Benson is giving up the military life to return home to his wife, Joanne, who is a special education teacher in San Antonio and his youngest daughter, Samantha, who is in architecture school in San Antonio. He is looking forward to spending the next month or so with an entire family in one house because his eldest daughter, Kate, who is an Army nurse in Hawaii, will be in Texas to attend an ICU medical course.
Having an entire family - their health all intact - under one roof is a blessing to a chaplain who has balanced his commitment to ministering and counseling Soldiers and Soldier families with providing support and care to his daughter Sam, who survived a liver transplant as a baby and lymphoma at age 7.
Benson has been stationed at Redstone Arsenal for 11 and a half months, living in a 24-foot travel trailer at a park near the chapel. He and his goldfish Fred have kept each other company through the family separation.
Other assignments have taken him to Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Lewis, Wash., Fort Huachuca, Ariz., Korea, Panama and Turkey. He has served as a brigade chaplain three times and a battalion chaplain twice. He has served various garrisons for 16 years of his career.
"Because of Sam's health, many of my assignments had to be near hospitals," Benson said. "She made it through. But we've seen so many others who did not and to look into the eyes of their parents is so sad. It is terrible to see parents lose a child."
Benson had already served seven years as a Lutheran pastor in Arizona before he joined the Army as a chaplain.
"I received a call from the Lord," he said. "I wanted to go into the Navy. But I had a knee surgery that disqualified me from the Navy. The Army took me and said 'As long as you can run a straight line, we don't care.'"
Through the years, Benson's job as chaplain has varied in responsibilities from job to job. But the mission has always stayed the same.
"Our primary mission is to provide worship. That's the constitutional justification for our existence. Every Soldier has a right to their freedom of worship," he said. "Besides worship, we primarily focus on command support, community activities and morale issues. We look beyond the worship service to support Soldiers."
Army chaplains often are called on for marital and family counseling.
"Most of it requires listening and providing support while people work things out," Benson said. "Stress is absolutely enormous in the Army. Even in peacetime it is the equivalent to the stress of a police officer or a firefighter. Nowadays, with deployments, that stress is even tougher. It takes a toll on marriages and families."
He has especially enjoyed his service at Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville.
"This is a lot like San Antonio," he said. "It's one of those little secrets. It's a city with a little town feel. There is so much here. The smartest people in the world are here and they don't want to leave."
While at Redstone, he has overseen activities at the chapel; preached at Protestant services; provided support for the formation of My Soldier, My Fallen Hero, a support group for military widows; assisted the Girl Scouts with studies for the God and Country award; and supported programs of the Garrison's various directorates.
Of all his duty assignments and responsibilities, Benson said he's enjoyed the people he's worked with the most.
"It's been more work than I ever imagined. But the people have been fantastic," he said. "And the people here at Redstone have been the best. The Garrison staff is the best group of people I've ever encountered. They sincerely like working with each other."
Benson said serving as a chaplain is a duty from God.
"If you have the calling, you just need to trust in the Lord," he said. "No matter where you think you are going or what you'll be doing, it will change. God changes it. So, trust in the Lord and pray a lot because you will be tested in ways that are not like anyone else. You are under fire, in a sense, to watch yourself spiritually and physically."
Besides spending time with his family, Benson hopes to continue his other career as a fiction writer. He is already the author of the first book in a trilogy titled "Beneath the Shadows." He also plans to spend time enjoying BBC mysteries and disc golf. And then there's this kitchen remodeling project he has committed to undertake. It seems retirement will be busy for the Arsenal's funniest chaplain.
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