NCSC - Day 51 Graduation Day

28 MAR

0900

We graduated today with salutes, speeches and prayer.

I find myself not ready to leave.

I will miss Gunny warning us that we won't graduate

I will miss Choi's dead pan humor and us adding his name to any song or catchphrase

I will miss getting picked on by the Gunny for everything from my height to my middle name

I will miss Moon's response of "I look confused when I think"

I will miss the Gunny telling Rosenzweig that she has been mispronouncing her own last name her whole life

I will miss Hervey getting picked on for having four kids when Jewell (who sits right next to him) has four as well

I will miss seeing Arant, who has been with me on this journey since ODS (KILO!)

I will miss Byrd's "F----AITH!"

I will miss Gunny saying "Okay. I'll play your silly game"

I will miss the RPs for all the entertainment they provided and the friendships that we established

I will miss the theological discussions and peaceful moments

I will miss the fellowship that I have come to appreciate that has helped me grow as a chaplain, as a rabbi and as a person

I woke up this morning and already missed my shipmates for all of these reasons and more.

I pray that I will see them again soon and maintain the bonds that we have established here at the school house.

May I be privileged to be in the command of my teachers so that I can continue to learn from them in another setting, another stage of my military chaplaincy.

God, watch over my shipmates and our RPs as they go out into the fleet. Let them do good work as they bring peace and hope to the sailors, marines and coasties. May You give their families the strength to support them, wherever the NAVY takes them. And may I join them soon.

OORAH.

NCSC - Day 50 Chief of Chaplains

The Chief of Chaplains (CoC) addressed us today and he focused on his three priorities for the Chaplain Corps (CHC).

1) To serve our people - to serve those of our faith groups and everyone else and "strengthen spiritual readiness and resilience". The CoC has charged us with helping our warriors bounce back and heal spiritually.

2) to serve the leadership of the Naval Services (Marines, Navy, Coast Guard) - we are, according to regulations, responsible for advising the command on issues of religion and morality. Through that relationship we build with our leadership, we will be able to do our jobs.

3) to serve each other - if we work together, we will be stronger and be able to learn from one another. We will be be able to grow, mentor the next group of chaplains and have people we can lean on when we need help.

I am looking forward to seeing this priorities in action.

NCSC - Day 49 Sacred Sabbath

As we are two days from graduation, we never stop learning. Today's mentoring moment came from the commanding officer of the Navy Chaplaincy School and Center.

Carve out time every day, even five minutes, for intense prayer and meditation to recharge your soul. You (we) need sacred sabbath time during the day.

Why is this so important?

Because operational tempo (the life of an active duty chaplain) does not stop.

When the captain said this, I thought to myself how everyone - not just clergy - could use this. Taking 5 minutes out my schedule to talk to God should would probably improve my day.

Could you imagine if EVERYONE took five minutes in the middle of their day to meditate (or talk to God)? How much calmer we could be? How much more in tune with others and our own souls? I may pray in the morning but this is not "prayer" time. This is "I am going to talk to God for 5 minutes and no one, not even God, is going to interrupt me" time.

I am going to start today.

(The captain made clear that trying to take five minutes at night does not work because we'll be so wiped from the day, we'll just fall asleep. Words spoken from experience.)

NCSC - Day 48 Sabbah

Last night, the sky turned a greenish-yellow, the thunder rolled in, you could see the lightening and the rain and hail poured from heaven.

And I thought of my grandfather.

When I told my family that I was coming to Ft. Jackson, my grandmother mentioned that she and my grandfather had been stationed here twice during his active Army service.

I don't know how many people can say that a grandfather and granddaughter were stationed at the same base - especially when they served two different branches of the military.

As I watched the lightening storm, I remembered doing this exact same thing with my Sabbah on his porch in the house in New Jersey. I remembered not being scared of the sounds and sights as a young child but rather found the experience fascinating and exciting because my Sabbah was with me.

And last night, I pulled up a chair and watched the show.

And for the first time in a long time, I wished he was here so that I could share my military journey (as limited as it is) with him.

NCSC - Day 47 Chevre

I have been attending the Conservative congregation in town for services while I have been at Ft. Jackson.

I was embraced so quickly and I looked forward to Shabbat each week.

It was hard to say goodbye to them as this was my last Shabbat here.

The upside is that if and when I come back to Ft. Jackson for the advanced course, I will already have ties to the community.

It made the parting bittersweet.

NCSC - Day 46 Easy Day

It's the last Friday of training.

So how do we celebrate? A morning run with the Commanding Officer.

And what gift did we get?

We were dismissed at 14:00.

And what did I do with all this free time?

I saw 'The Hunger Games'

Shabbat Shalom.

NCSC - Day 45 A little extra RMTEX

Today in Ft. Jackson, the temperature hit 80 degrees.

Our classroom hit 81+ degrees. At one point, it got so hot in the classroom we were given the opportunity to remove our blouses (not the t-shifts underneath).

When even that was not helping and the heat in the room was climbing, we switched rooms and eventually released an hour early from class.

After RMTEX, a little heat is easy to handle.