POHANG, South Korea - Imagine a life where in one year you travel more than 143,000 miles via air for work. Headquartered out of Wiesbaden, Germany, Bishop F. Richard Spencer, the Archdiocese of Military Services, is no stranger to life on the road. He added more than a few miles to this year's travel in order to visit with the Chaplains and soldiers of 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, 2nd Sustainment Brigade and 168th Multifunctional Medical Battalion, Apr. 15.
"What brings me here to South Korea, the land of the morning calm, is to visit with our troops, to assure them of the prayers and support of the people and also to help in enabling their resiliency to surface and to be reassured that there are people supporting them in their military duties," said Spencer.
A retired U.S. Army colonel with 34 years of service, seven of which were spent in the Republic of Korea, the bishop has had the opportunity to become familiar with Korea and its culture. During his tenure throughout the ROK he witnessed much of the country's growth and development.
"When I first arrived, there were only three paved roads in all of South Korea," shared the bishop. "Everything south of the bridges of the city of Seoul was vacant farmland."
After being ordained as a Roman Catholic Bishop in 2010, Spencer went on to continue serving in the military by transitioning from active duty to the reserves. During his career, he provided religious support services in Iraq on five occasions and in Afghanistan twice.
The bishop's footprint encompasses all military chapels and the U.S. State Department Embassies throughout Europe and Asia. He aims to visit each chapel once a year. Typically requests are received for him to attend a special event, be it a confirmation or prayer breakfast. This dictates his schedule throughout the year as he makes an effort to attend what events he can.
"I try to spend as much time as I can with the troops, the families and the embassy staffs," said Spencer. "It is a diverse experience and very much calls for a lot of creativity and also a lot of energy to be able to sustain such a pace."
While visiting with troops in Korea during this year's scheduled visit, he provided both Good Friday service at Camp Humphreys for the U.S. Army and Easter Mass at Chinhae for the U.S. Navy. In addition, he conducted a site visit to each of the Operation Pacific Reach nodes in order gain a clear understanding of what the 19th ESC soldiers are doing on ground for the exercise.
After concluding his visit to Korea, the bishop will return home to Germany for a short time before continuing on to Italy to visit with the service members at each of the military chapels throughout the country.
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