FORT SILL, Oklahoma (July 18, 2019) -- An enlightening moment has led a Fort Sill field artillery officer on the path to become an Army chaplain.
Capt. Ray Goins, most recently an operations officer with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Field Artillery, will leave active duty to study at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., in August.
After completing the six-year program, he'll be ordained as a Catholic priest and then have to lead a civilian parish for three years. After that he'll attend the Army Chaplain Center and School at Fort Jackson, S.C.
What will keep him motivated the next decade to achieve his goal?
"I'll be thinking about serving the Soldiers and their families," said Goins, a 2014 United States Military Academy graduate, "but at the end of the day it's God and His grace which enable any and everything I do."
During seminary school he'll be an Army Reserve Soldier serving as a chaplain candidate, drilling one weekend a month, and performing two weeks of active-duty training a year. He said he's still waiting to be assigned to a reserve unit.
Goins, age 27, said it was during his senior year at West Point that he had "a pretty intense conversion experience."
A classmate invited him to the fall Catholic retreat at a spiritual life center just across the Hudson River, he said. "I went to confession for the first time in several years, and God touched me there."
During his adoration of the blessed sacrament, God spoke to him, spiritually not audibly, Goins said.
"He said, 'You are so far from what I want you to be,'" Goins said. "He said it as gently as He could, and it was exactly what I needed. It was very heart-rending, life- changing."
Childhood
Growing up in Herndon, Va., Goins attended Catholic schools until high school. "I got the fundamentals of the faith; it was a great environment," he said.
At Oakton High School in Vienna, Va., Goins said that he maintained good grades and played football, basketball, and soccer.
It was in his junior year that he that he began thinking about military academies, and Army and Navy ROTC programs at other schools.
"My cousin graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., and that planted a seed. My parents were excited to foster that," he said.
Although Goins' father, Raymond, had graduated from The Citadel he never put any pressure on him to join the military, he said. And, his dad did not serve in the military, but instead has a career in real estate.
His mother, Sally, graduated from the College of Charleston (S.C.), and was a certified public accountant. She took a hiatus from her career to raise their three children, and resumed work, part time, while her children were in high school.
"My parents were awesome," he said. "They were encouraging about the military academies, but there was no pressure."
As a high school football player, Goins was a punter, kicker, and wide receiver.
"I was decent, but I wasn't a stellar player," he said. "I was trying to use football to get into schools, which I may not have been able to get into on academics. It was a profile builder."
Goins accepted an Army ROTC scholarship at Cornell University and to play football there. However, the football coach left to coach at Duke University, and his scholarship was rescinded.
He had also applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but early-on accepted an appointment to West Point, so he didn't complete the Naval application process.
Goins' younger brother, Eric, played football for four years at The Citadel just like their father. Eric is now an infantry officer (lieutenant) in the Army. Goins' sister, Katie, did her graduate work at William and Mary University and works as a high school teacher.
At West Point, Goins was in the football conditioning program for one year.
"I got to lift weights and run all through my plebe (freshman) year, and I got to play spring ball with them, but then I was cut," he said. "It was a great time to grow, and it endeared me to Army football."
Goins majored in international relations. He said the closest major West Point had to theology was philosophy.
BOLC
When Goins learned he would be going into the field artillery branch, he said he embraced it. "It's a great branch, and 2-2 (2-2nd FA) is a great unit," he said.
After graduating from West Point, Goins attended the Field Artillery Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Sill beginning in July 2014. Six months later he graduated BOLC, and was at Ranger School.
"I lasted two weeks," he said, "that was about all I could handle."
Then he went to Camp Casey, Korea, for one year. He returned here as a first lieutenant to be part of 2nd Battalion, 4th Field Artillery, as a liaison officer, assistant operations officer, and a headquarters and headquarters battery executive officer.
He would deploy to the Middle East as a member of the 75th Field Artillery Brigade staff in 2017.
At Fort Sill, Goins met with then Installation Chaplain (Col.) Matthew Pawlikowski at his rectory.
"He said you need to look into this (Army chaplaincy), you need to pray about this," Goins said. "I wasn't really receptive at the time."
Father Phil Seeton, Holy Family Catholic Church pastor in Lawton, mentioned it again to Goins, and said that he needed to pray daily about it.
"That was the kicker, when I prayed daily," he said. "I've always been friends with chaplains at my unit, whether they were Catholic or not.
"I've always admired the work they did, and in a way I tried to emulate it with my Soldiers," he said.
A third chaplain, Catholic Chaplain (Maj.) James O'Neal, suggested that Goins go to a retreat in Menlo Park, Calif., to pray and meet other chaplains.
"It was beautiful, it was like paradise," he said. "I can see why they send people there to discern."
Goins' command was understanding about letting him attend a follow-up retreat for those considering Army chaplaincy and priesthood, which was coincidentally conducted at his home diocese in Arlington, Va.
Goins begins seminary classes Aug. 11, and said he is very excited about his future. Between then and now he'll be out-processing and taking leave to visit family and friends.
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