SAN ANTONIO - Chaplains from Third Army and imams from the Jordanian Armed Forces met for an information exchange in San Antonio, June 21-25, to discuss how each provide religious support to their respective forces.

"The intent of the exchange was to enhance the capabilities of religious support in contingency operations of both the Jordanian Armed Forces Chaplaincy and the U.S. Chaplaincy through face-to-face discussions of both religious support doctrine and operational experience," said Col. Richard Pace, command chaplain, Third Army.

The exchange began with a discussion from Maj. Warren Haggray, the deputy chaplain at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, about the tips, techniques and procedures U.S. forces chaplains use in hospital ministry. He highlighted chaplain integration in all phases of medical operations at BAMC, to include trauma, rehabilitation, family and medical staff religious support and the role of spiritual nurture and healing in rehabilitating wounded warriors.

JAF imams also shared how they integrate religious support in hospital settings.

Brig. Gen. Al B'Toush, the Mufti for the JAF, and Brig. Gen. Al Kasasbeh, said that from their experience of providing spiritual guidance to JAF units who fought in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, they are beginning to see imams serving in a deployed hospital as an extension of their service member's family.

After the discussion, chaplain and imams toured BAMC and the Center for the Intrepid, a state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility exclusively for the use of wounded warriors.

Other topics of the exchange included providing religious support in civil and military operations, humanitarian and assistance and disaster relief operations and in conjunction with civil affairs operations.

"This event strengthened the military-to-military relationship of Third Army with members of the Jordanian Armed Forces who serve alongside U.S. forces as a coalition partner in Afghanistan and as a partner in peace in the Middle East," said Pace.