Multi-National Task Force-East
116th Public Affairs Detachment
News Release 09-031
For Immediate Release
Nov. 17, 2009
Contacts:
Capt. Dan Murphy at daniel.m.murphy@eur.army.mil
Cell - 774-638; DSN - 314-781-5076
Sgt. 1st Class David Dodds at david.dodds1@eur.army.mil
Cell - 774-634; DSN - 314-781-3024
Sgt. 1st Class Mike Hagburg at m.hagburg@eur.army.mil
Cell - 774-633; DSN - 314-781-5200
PAO-CampBondsteel@eur.army.mil
A 'Call' to Serve God and Country
CAMP BONDSTEEL, KOSOVO - After completing his seminary studies in April
2008, Chaplain (1st Lt.) Brock Sailer of Cando, N.D., wanted to go straight
to the Army Chaplain's school. Unfortunately, things didn't work out. So he
moved his family to St. Cloud, Minn., and started training to be a hospital
chaplain with the Veterans Administration.
Then, in September 2008, Sailer got a call from Chaplain (Maj.) Maurice
Millican.
"He said he had a mission for me," Sailer said. "It was this trip to
Kosovo."
Sailer's life suddenly became very busy. He moved his family back to Cando
in December, buying a house two blocks away from his parents' home. He went
to chaplain's school from January to April of 2009. He returned to North
Dakota in the midst of a flood fight. Then he served at Camp Grafton over
the summer, helping train other Soldiers on their way to Kosovo as they went
through annual training.
And in May 2009, Sailer and his wife, Esther, had their fourth child.
"That added to everything going on in our life," he said. "My family has
done quite well with it all, amazingly, through quite a bit of time away
already this year."
Sailer is now serving on a NATO peace-support mission in Kosovo. He is the
chaplain for the 231st Maneuver Task Force, of Valley City, N.D. On the
deployment, Sailer and the 231st will be part of Multi-National Task
Force-East, which is based here.
Sailer arrived at Camp Atterbury, Ind., on Aug. 15 for the first phase of
his post-mobilization training.
"They had a pretty aggressive program for chaplains there at Camp
Atterbury," he said. The training included hand-to-hand combat, learning to
move with a chaplain's assistant, and classroom study."
Interacting with "Kosovo citizens" was a particular challenge, he said. The
chaplains would arrive at a simulated village with a goal of engaging the
religious leader. There, they would be confronted by role players.
"Sometimes we would come in and they would be hostile to us, other times
they would be calm. We never knew what to expect," he said. "They ran us
through some good scenarios there, really put together a good little
program."
The scenarios kept coming during the exercises that followed the
introductory training at Camp Atterbury.
"They did some role playing with counseling sessions," Sailer said. "We'd
handle it on computer first, making our decisions, and then they would say
let's go role play that scenario. We also experienced working with an
interpreter. That was a good experience, using my assistant as a scribe and
then typing up a report after that."
As part of one exercise, there was a simulated soldier death. As chaplain,
Sailer was in charge of the memorial ceremony.
"This was probably the biggest piece for me, putting that together, getting
about 20 soldiers together," he said. "Putting together a program that's
very formalized, everything has to be very tight. That was very good
training, kind of stressful at times, but I was very glad to have gone
through it."
Real life did not stop during the exercises, and Sailer never lost sight of
his main mission.
"When you're doing these exercises, people are still having real emotions,"
he said. "There are still real situations back home. The real world things .
. . take precedence over our exercises."
Exercise and scenarios designed to teach and test the chaplains continued in
October when the training venue moved from Camp Atterbury to the Joint
Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. At Hohenfels, Camp
Albertshof played the part of Camp Bondsteel, where Sailer is now based in
Kosovo. Albertshof is surrounded by a wooded training area, in which there
are eight simulated towns representing the communities that surround the
real Camp Bondsteel.
"This one feels a little more realistic because you've got the towns," said
Sailer. "We can actually go out and meet with religious leaders, which is
going to be a big part of the chaplain mission in Kosovo. It's unique for
chaplains to have something besides the religious support piece, which is
our primary function."
Like the towns, the religious leaders at Hohenfels were simulated.
"I don't know for sure if the role players are real religious people or if
they requested those roles," said Sailer. "Some of them seem to be very
understanding of the religion they're representing. I have been impressed
with their knowledge of their roles and how they play them."
After training at Hohenfels, Sailer said he was prepared to go to Kosovo.
"This final piece here at Hohenfels has really set a good base to do
ministry," he said. "I think there's a comfort level about leader
engagements, how to put together rides to get out and meet those leaders,
and how to do this job at the same time as the regular religious support
role."
"Not too many chaplains get to be a part of that unique opportunity to be
engaging leaders. It's a unique mission, one that I feel privileged to be a
part of."
While Sailer finished chaplain's school in April 2009, he has been a member
of the Guard since 1997. Now 30, Sailer was a 17-year-old high school
student in Cando, N.D., when he joined up.
"My Dad was a recruiter for quite awhile," Sailer said. "I am the fourth of
four children and all three of them had gone through the Guard before me."
Sailer said his father, retired Sgt. 1st Class Bill Sailer, never pressured
him to join the Guard. His mother Deniece, however, thought it would be a
good idea for Sailer to join for the college benefits.
"At the time, the only positions in our battalion that were open were
chaplain's assistant and water treatment," Sailer said. "My Dad knew I was
pretty serious about my religious beliefs. For a time I had mixed feelings
about the military and war. The chaplain assistant position got my
attention, and after prayer, I felt peace about serving in the Army Guard."
Sailer spent five years serving as a chaplain's assistant with the 136th
Quartermaster Co. at Camp Grafton. He then changed jobs in order to try
something new and increase his chances of getting to do work in other
countries, becoming a water treatment specialist with his hometown unit, the
132nd Quartermaster Co., in Cando.
Meanwhile, Sailer was pursuing his education.
"I did two years at Minot State when I got out of high school. I was
pursuing a degree in elementary education," he said. "At some point during
the second year I decided I wanted to be a pastor, felt called to that. I
just felt like I would rather study Scripture than the books I was reading."
Sailer found a bible school close to his hometown, Providence College in
Otterburne, Manitoba.
"It's a small town, they don't even have a gas station," he said. "But it's
only about 40 minutes out of Winnipeg."
Sailer earned a bachelor's degree in theology at Providence, and then
returned to attend seminary there, completing his studies to be a pastor in
April 2008.
-30-
Multi-National Task Force - East is a U.S. led task force commanded by Brig.
Gen. Al Dohrmann. The Headquarters is the 141st Maneuver Enhancement
Brigade from North Dakota. MNTF-E includes nearly 2,200 Soldiers, including
Task Force Hellas and Task Force PPOL/U KR (Polish/ Ukraine). The charter
mission of MNTF-E is maintaining a Safe and Secure Environment and providing
Freedom of Movement for the people in Kosovo.
Please contact the MNTF-E Public Affairs office at the above phone
numbers/e-mail for media engagements or to follow-up on this information.
Cutline:
sailer.jpg - Chap. (1st Lt) Brock Sailer, of Cando, N.D., role plays with a
simulated religious leader during an exercise at Hohenfels, Germany. Sailer
is deployed with Multi-National Task Force-East in Kosovo.
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