Religious Affairs NCO has made the most of his many assignments

WIESBADEN, Germany – Growing up near Macon, Ga., Sgt. 1st Class Tysean Chapman had some influential military role models, including one of his aunts. After Chapman graduated high school and tried his hand at college, his aunt, Avie, who was on active duty, took a keen interest in motivating and keeping him disciplined.

“She showed up at my house, and she said pack your bags. She said you’re going with me,” said Chapman, now the noncommissioned officer for IMCOM-Europe Religious Affairs . “So I stayed with her for about two years before I actually joined. I was back-and-forth, like ‘I’m not joining the military.’”

But then he did. In 2003, about two-and-a-half weeks after enlisting, Chapman was on his way to basic training at Fort Benning, now known as Fort Moore, followed by training to become what was then called a chaplain’s assistant at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Within two months of arrival at his first duty station, Fort Lewis, Wash., Chapman was in Kuwait.

“I went to 29th Signal Battalion but, upon getting there, I was asked to volunteer to go to the 2nd Infantry Division, because they were getting ready to go on a rapid deployment,” Chapman said. “So I decided that it was probably better to go with the Infantry guys than the Signal guys. That was my thought at the time. Literally as soon as I got to Lewis, I was on my first deployment.”

Following that 12-month mission, and after re-deploying, resetting and training rotations, Chapman was on his way to his second deployment to Iraq, this time for 15 months. He followed this with what he calls “one of the best assignments I’ve had,” which was also his introduction to working in a garrison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

“I can honestly say I haven’t had a bad duty station, and I think my family and I are somewhat the reason for that, because we don’t allow ourselves to get focused on the negatives. We figure out the positives, the travel, and the different things that we can do in each location,” Chapman said. “Make the place. Don’t let the place make you.”

There was one assignment that stands out for Chapman, though, and that was his arrival at Fort Johnson, formerly known as Fort Polk, La.

“This was probably one of the roughest times of my career, because I literally dropped my family off and deployed. I knew I was deploying,” he said.

“We went in knowing, I was going to in process, and I left on the third day, because that was the last day to put your bags in the Conex. So I had to leave at the half-day, go draw my gear and put it in the Conex to ship,” Chapman said, and, after getting his family settled, he was on his way to Iraq for a third time.

Looking back on his career, which also included additional assignments at Fort Sam Houston, Tex.; Fort Meade, Md.; and Eighth Army in South Korea, Chapman appreciates being able to meet and get to know people.

“Our job is all about networking, learning about people, getting to know people and finishing out how you can better support them,” he said. “The more you know about a person and their section, their job, the better you are when it comes to supporting them.”

“You have to have those interpersonal skills, to be able to identify Soldiers and people who we think may need that extra hug or that extra love. Everybody has their days,” he said.