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Fort Gregg-Adams RSO starts Army’s first official Native American service

By Chad MenegayAugust 14, 2024

Fort Gregg-Adams RSO starts Army’s first official Native American service
1 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Maj. Patrick Sorensen (left), the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Public Affairs Office operations officer, gifts a juvenile bald eagle feather fan to Sgt. Jacob James, a movement officer for 16th Ordnance Battalion, Aug. 10, 2024, as part of the Fort Gregg-Adams Religious Services Office’s first official Native American worship service at Heritage Chapel, Fort Gregg-Adams, Va. “Because you took this step, and you’re so courageous to start this ministry, I want to give you this fan,” Sorensen said. James is the first in the Army to have led a Native American worship service as a Distinctive Religious Group Leader. (U.S. Army photo by Chad Menegay) (Photo Credit: Chad Menegay) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Gregg-Adams RSO starts Army’s first official Native American service
2 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Maj. Patrick Sorensen (right), the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Public Affairs Office operations officer, fans a sage stick with golden eagle feathers to prepare Sgt. Jacob James, a movement officer for 16th Ordnance Battalion, for his first worship service Aug. 10, 2024, as part of the Fort Gregg-Adams Religious Services Office’s first official Native American worship service at Heritage Chapel, Fort Gregg-Adams, Va. James is the first in the Army to have led a Native American worship service as a Distinctive Religious Group Leader. (U.S. Army photo by Chad Menegay) (Photo Credit: Chad Menegay) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Gregg-Adams RSO starts Army’s first official Native American service
3 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sgt. Jacob James, a movement officer for 16th Ordnance Battalion, holds a juvenile bald eagle feather fan and a sage stick in an abalone shell that Maj. Patrick Sorensen, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Public Affairs Office operations officer, gifted him Aug. 10, 2024, as part of the Fort Gregg-Adams Religious Services Office’s first official Native American worship service at Heritage Chapel, Fort Gregg-Adams, Va. “Because you took this step, and you’re so courageous to start this ministry, I want to give you this fan,” Sorensen said. James is the first in the Army to have led a Native American worship service as a Distinctive Religious Group Leader. (U.S. Army photo by Chad Menegay) (Photo Credit: Chad Menegay) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Gregg-Adams RSO starts Army’s first official Native American service
4 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Sgt. Jacob James, a movement officer for 16th Ordnance Battalion, leads discussion Aug. 10, 2024, as part of the Fort Gregg-Adams Religious Services Office’s first official Native American worship service at Heritage Chapel, Fort Gregg-Adams, Va. James is the first in the Army to have led a Native American worship service as a Distinctive Religious Group Leader. (U.S. Army photo by Chad Menegay) (Photo Credit: Chad Menegay) VIEW ORIGINAL
Fort Gregg-Adams RSO starts Army’s first official Native American service
5 / 5 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Lyde Andrews (right), U.S. Army Fort Gregg-Adams Garrison chaplain, discusses the importance of inclusion and diversity as a strength Aug. 10, 2024, during the Fort Gregg-Adams Religious Services Office’s first official Native American worship service at Heritage Chapel, Fort Gregg-Adams, Va. “The religious support office fully supports the diversity of faith traditions and cultural heritages,” Andrews said. “We are proud to be able to sponsor these types of initiatives.” Sgt. Jacob James (left), a movement officer for 16th Ordnance Battalion, is the first in the Army to have led a Native American worship service as a Distinctive Religious Group Leader. (U.S. Army photo by Chad Menegay) (Photo Credit: Chad Menegay) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. — A tribal member from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (Umpqua and Rogue River) fanned a sage stick with his golden eagle feather fan, spreading the sweet smoke over a Haida Alaskan Native to cleanse him before starting his new religious leadership role.

This is the way to properly honor a new voice in the U.S. Army Native American community—with a traditional Native American sage smudging ceremony and the gifting of a juvenile bald eagle feather fan.

This is the way the Fort Gregg-Adams Religious Services Office began the Army’s first official Native American worship service Aug. 10 at Heritage Chapel.

“We are the first officially-sanctioned, formal Native American worship service, and that’s been indicated by [how] the Chief of Chaplains office has had to create a brand new line of accounting for the Native American service specifically for this event,” said Lt. Col. Lyde Andrews, U.S. Army Fort Gregg-Adams Garrison chaplain.

The pre-ceremony started just outside the chapel’s front door, where Maj. Patrick Sorensen, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Public Affairs Office operations officer, fanned Sgt. Jacob James, a movement officer for 16th Ordnance Battalion, in the practice known as smudging.

“The symbolism of smoke, it represents our prayers and our wishes,” Sorensen said. “Sweet grass and sage purify us literally and scientifically against pests and diseases and bugs, but they also help us purify our spirit.”

The juvenile bald eagle feathers used are symbolic of a new start or new beginning, Sorensen said.

“Using our feathers, wearing our feathers is symbolic,” Sorensen said. “It can have a lot of different meanings, but I think the most important meaning is the symbol that prayers can be lifted to God.”

For James of the Double-Finned Killerwhale clan, the new beginning is that of a Distinctive Religious Group Leader for Native American worship services to be held the second and fourth Saturdays of each month from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Heritage Chapel.

The position came to fruition when James approached Chaplain Andrews with different intentions—to educate him on what possible religious accommodations Native Americans may ask for—but then Andrews challenged him to be a DRGL.

A DRGL is a volunteer who works with installation chaplains to provide religious and holiday services and support to service members. Their responsibilities may include advocating, teaching, organizing or running programs.

“If we want to have services, but we don’t have a chaplain to conduct that service, then we can authorize individuals to provide these services with the lack of chaplain coverage,” Andrews said.

James is the first in the Army to have led a Native American worship service as a DRGL, Andrews, James and Sorensen said.

James decided that to grow as a person, he should get out of his comfort zone, he said.

“If you don’t, you’re just going to be stuck in that same path,” James said. “The reason why I’m doing this is because I want to show Native Americans that it’s honorable to serve in uniform.”

Some tribes see the military as a negative entity, James said.

“But, the Army and the military in general is an opportunity to get out of that circle of the reservation life which can be difficult,” James said.

Mentoring and teaching young Native Americans is a driving motivation for James, in part, because it’s a key value of his tribe.

“I’m here to help people,” James said. “That’s what I like to do, and that’s my passion—to be a teacher.”

Certainly passing on the torch of knowledge is also a value that resonates well at an Army training base like Fort Gregg-Adams.

“During your time here at Fort Gregg-Adams, we want you to leave here stronger as a person than you were when you came here,” Andrews said. “Whatever your faith tradition is, if you’re a Native American, we want you to be a stronger Native American.”

Another way Native Americans can become stronger in the practice of their faith is through religious accommodations.

When James and Sorensen talked about how to help Native Americans across the military for accommodations and to practice their religion in uniform, James wondered if reaching out to Andrews would prove useful—to educate him to possibly help with accommodations, James explained.

So, Andrews invited James to speak at the Fort Gregg-Adams RSO’s Unit Ministry Team training Aug. 8, 2024, also at Heritage Chapel.

“Sergeant James came in and provided education and training to every one of our chaplains and religious affairs specialists and NCOs here, so that they can in-turn go to their units and effectively inform their command and advise the commanders on religious accommodation considerations to make sure they’re making effective decisions and recommendations,” Andrews said.

Native American Soldiers have approached James before on the issue of religious accommodations, and he tried to help them through the process, he said.

“I want to bring awareness and to be an advocate for Soldiers and their families if they want to get those accommodations,” James said. “Natives need that help. We’re a very family, close-together-oriented people.”

In addition to being able to express and practice Native American faith traditions—which is the core of this bi-monthly worship service—it creates a space to have candid discussions about issues like religious accommodations, Sorensen said.

“One of the challenges that Sergeant James and I discussed is how to use this platform as kind of like a chautauqua or this formal gathering of folks to have a specific conversation, so that people can learn about the different tribes and how they honor their spirituality,” Andrews said.

Represented in attendance were Native Americans from several tribes across the greater U.S. (Midwest, Pacific Northwest, West Coast and Alaska) and non-natives who were curious and interested in learning.

Despite the great physical distances between these tribes, a spiritual commonality and camaraderie was apparent for those in attendance.

“I think the important part to recognize is how low density our population is—1.8% maybe closer to 2% at times,” Sorensen said. “Then, if you look at the U.S. continent, we’ve got roughly a thousand different tribes, so our beliefs are different.”

Still, the common denominator for the Native Americans in attendance at these worship services is that they are all natives, Sorensen said.

“We have different beliefs, and we’re just going to be here to support each other,” Sorensen said. “I don’t know of another Haida in the Army; [James is] the only one I know. We’re kind of like cousins because my people are from Oregon, so we’re just right down the road. The ability to practice our religious beliefs, it almost requires that we come together and honor that.”