FORT IRWIN, Calif.- As Brig. Gen. (CH) Donald Rutherford, U.S. Army deputy chief of chaplains, spoke at Fort Irwin and the National Training Center's National Prayer Breakfast on Monday morning, he emphasized the mission of the National Training Center, which is "Train the force."
"Every one of you is here for a reason. There is a reason you are here," Brig. Gen. Rutherford told the more than 100 soldiers gathered for the event. "Because you are chosen, you are gifted. Because you are individuals who are called to every day to impart that vision to train the force, to prepare them for what may lie ahead."
Everyone at Fort Irwin and the National Training Center is called to do exactly that, he said.
"To see the vision, to dream , to communicate and to do. That is our calling the Lord has asked us to do that we're all about," he said.
The Bible is filled with examples of people of vision like in the Book of Revelation and in the Old Testament as prophets like Zechariah, who spoke about a city of no more walls, he said.
"You are the master builders, the ones who have the vision to go out and help them," Brig. Gen. Rutherford said.
Everyone at Fort Irwin and the National Training Center has been given a vision and build upon the past as they impart that knowledge to those who are about to deploy, Brig. Gen. Rutherford said.
As Fort Irwin/National Training Center Commanding General Brig. Gen. Robert "Abe" Abrams introduced Brig. Gen. (CH) Rutherford, Brig. Gen. Abrams called him a "muddy boots kind of chaplain."
"His bio is in the program and you'll see he's had quite a variety of assignments in the Army," Brig. Gen. Abrams said. "He's one of those guys you look at and wonder what's that chaplain, what's that general all about. The combat badge was well-earned on his part. He's been to all the places all of us have and endured the same hardships."
Fort Irwin/National Training Center chaplain Col. (CH) Dennis Newton told everyone that Fort Irwin and the National Training Center are committed to serving everyone as he welcomed the Jewish and Muslim communities to the event.
"It's a special day. We have come together to think about spiritual things and not just our own traditions perhaps, even though those are important to us," Col. Newton said. "As we open up, just want you to be reminded from all the religious groups everyone is reminded to take care of each other, even as Jesus said, 'No greater love hath anyone than that they would give their life for another.'"
During the course of the ceremony a Jewish soldier read from the Torah and a Muslim soldier read from the Koran and Maj. (CH) Jacques Vaillancourt from the Canadian unit currently training at the National Training Center gave a prayer for world peace as Fort Irwin and the National Training Center came together to fellowship during the National Prayer Breakfast.
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