The Fort Jackson Religious Support Office hosted its annual National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 4 at the NCO Club. The theme of this year's speech included the importance of spiritual fitness as well as love and respect for one another.
"It is no secret that our Army has talked a lot about winning, how important it is to win," said Chaplain (Brig. Gen.) William Green Jr., the Army's 26th Deputy Chief of Chaplains and guest speaker.
Green said true winners are those who have balance within their lives that includes physical and mental fitness, resiliency and spiritual fitness. He explained how each supported the other to create a solid foundation for the whole person. He explained that winning and the road to victory starts at Fort Jackson through its Soldiers and civilian staff.
"You see, Victory Starts Here, literally, it starts right here," he said. "For so many men and women coming through Fort Jackson, victory starts here because you teach them how to think, teach them discipline and teach them how to love and respect other individuals. You teach them how to be resolute in terms of going after different things in life. So with that, you also help them to understand the importance of having a spiritual life."
Green continued to explain that almost everyone needs to have someone they can confide in and lean on it times of great stress, need and even in happiness to build a solid foundation of spiritual fitness and happiness. He also explained the difficulties of trying to maintain a solid foundation in life without the help of something bigger than one's self.
"See you can't make it all by yourself. I can't make it all by myself. I've tried and let me tell you I made a mess of things when I tried to do it that way," Green said. "Once I discovered that there was somebody that I needed to lean on, someone that I needed to depend on, I realized that it was important to have a spiritual journey. We need to pray. We need to find the time to talk to our God, commune with our God and let that be an experience and an intentional act on our part."
According to Green, through prayer those in need can unburden themselves of stress, gain focus and clarity and celebrate in their spirituality. As he spoke to the room, he said that spirituality and spiritual paths are not based solely in Christianity but in all faiths.
Three prayers were offered during the breakfast. Prayer for the nation was offered by Chaplain (Maj.) Joseph Messinger of the Jewish faith, prayer for cadre was offered by Chaplain Pawel Zemczak of the Roman-Catholic faith and a prayer for Families was offered by Imam Omar Shaheed of the Muslim faith.
"It is my prayer that you instill in our hearts a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and humility," Messinger said. "Lord, bless this great land and its government and let us eat our swords, two plows so that we will know war no more."
Attendees of the annual prayer breakfast were also treated to music provided by the Chapel Next Praise Team while they enjoyed a meal together in fellowship.
As the breakfast came to an end, attendees were offered words of encouragement to take along with them as they carried on their day by U.S. Army Training Center and Fort Jackson Commander Maj. Gen. Milford "Beags" Beagle Jr.
"We owe it to ourselves, Families and teams we are a part of to place equal weight on all three aspects of the triad," Beagle said of building and maintaining a solid foundation of physical, mental and spiritual foundation "To keep all three, the physical, mental and spiritual, illuminated in our lives and keep them in balance every single day. So with that I wish all of you a great morning and Victory ... Starts Here."
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