ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. –Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Myung (Tim) Ryu, the new command chaplain of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command and APG senior chaplain, said his life philosophy is “LLC”-listen, learn and care. This philosophy is undergirded by love, he added.
“This [philosophy] applies to everybody in any setting, whether it be a chaplain, commander, NCO [noncommissioned officer] or civilian.”
Ryu said his father also served as a military chaplain in the South Korean Army, and he felt called to the ministry at a young age.
“We kind of have a family legacy,” he said.
Ryu is an ordained minister in the Korean Evangelical Church of America. He served as youth, music and associate pastor at the Korean Hope Church of Boston for five years before joining the Army as an active-duty chaplain in April 2003. He is a pastoral caregiver, a staff integrator and an executive coach.
At APG, Ryu has a dual role, he provides religious and spiritual support to CECOM staff and subordinate commands and provides supervision and oversight for all the chaplains on the installation, he said.
“It is a privilege to get to know people in so many diverse backgrounds and walks of life,” he said about his Army career. “It is a privilege that people share their joys and pains with me.”
Ryu said when he first joined the Army, he didn’t intend to stay in as long, but through the years he felt the call to serve. During his career, he met many different, uniquely gifted people, he said.
According to Ryu, one career highlight was being selected to serve as a hospital chaplain at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, located in Bethesda, Maryland.
“I couldn’t turn that down, I have always wanted to do that,” he said.
His most recent assignment was serving as executive officer to the Director of Strategy, Plans, Policy, Resources, and Soldier/Family Readiness at the Pentagon.
Ryu and Jeong “Jamie” Oh of Busan, Korea, married in 1999, and have three children: Karis, Shannon, and Christopher. He said his family enjoys singing and playing musical instruments together. They even recorded a CD of devotional hymns.
Additionally, Ryu has translated two books from English to Korean, “Practicing the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence and “Loving the Jesus Way” by Maxie Dunnam.
“I am thankful for the ordinary, the extraordinary and the eternal,” he reflected.
In the new year, he looks forward to getting to know more members of the CECOM and the APG workforce.
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