FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – The Religious Support Office hosted its Annual Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 6 at the Thunder Mountain Activity Center.
Before breakfast was served, prayers were offered for the nation, Fort leaders, Soldiers, and a blessing on the meal. Following breakfast, Network Enterprise Technology Command Chaplain (Col.) Richard West, introduced the keynote speaker, Chaplain (Col.) Doug Ball, chief, personnel branch, Office of the Chief of Chaplains, Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
“Chaplain Doug Ball is the total package for a chaplain,” West said. “[Ball] is physically fit, he’s wicked smart, he is super confident with Army systems and processes, and most importantly he is a pastor, and he has maintained his pastoral identity and pastoral heart, his love for God and love for people in a way that is a model for all chaplains to emulate.”
Ball began his speech by talking about how America’s religious freedom distinguishes it from other countries.
“The fact that we’re gathered for prayer breakfast [with] a bunch of people from different faith groups, and I mean, if you think globally speaking, this is really pretty weird,” Ball said. “… America is unique in the way that we allow religion into this civil space.”
He continued relating how the celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday also coincides with the Chaplain Corps’ 250th birthday. The theme for the Chaplain Corps’ birthday is “250 Years of Spiritual Readiness.”
Ball’s advice to the Soldiers in attendance who want to be spiritually ready was to “go to church, go to chapel, go to your synagogue, or go to the mosque.”
When it comes to spiritual readiness, he said it doesn’t make sense to talk about it without embracing the idea of community and that being involved in a community leads to health in many different aspects of life.
“If you look at the areas in the world where the most people live past 100, it’s not because of their individual choices, it’s because the culture and community around them contributes to this super healthy lifestyle,” Ball said.
He continued by talking about how people who go to religious services typically engage in “less risky behavior” which in turn leads to a healthier lifestyle and making sure they are spiritually ready in their everyday life.
“They live longer, they are healthier, more resilient marriages, they are happy with life, they work better with larger society, and lower rates of depression and suicide,” Ball said.
In conclusion, Ball reiterated the importance of being active in your religious community and the joy and blessings you will receive from that.
“If we learn to abide in God’s love, by loving each other well in religious community, then the fullness of his joy and blessing abides in us,” he said. “Literally, we could say joy and blessings pitches its tent in our lives when we choose to pitch our tent in God’s love.”
Following Ball’s speech, Maj. Gen. Richard Appelhans, commanding general of U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence & Fort Huachuca, thanked Ball for speaking at the breakfast and presented him with a gift bag and a certificate of appreciation.
(Editor's note: See the complete photo album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/us_army_fort_huachuca/albums/72177720323756869/.)
# # #
Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, 2-13th Aviation Regiment, Electronic Proving Ground, Joint Interoperability Test Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
Social Sharing