Wing’s chaplains deploy to Southwest Asia

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kevin Tomko
  • 927th ARW
SELFRFIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, MICH, --  Take one trained servicemember, send him to a location where the enemy has no uniform, where car bombs and death are a daily occurrence, and where life seems cheap. Now let him watch a friend die or have a loved one become ill back home. 
Most servicemembers will come home unscathed emotionally while others may not be so fortunate. 

This is where Wing Chaplain (Maj.) Douglas A. DeWitt and Chaplain’s Assistant Staff Sgt. Walter M. Connolly met their challenge. This past summer they completed separate tours in Southwest Asia while assigned to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing.
Their job was to hold services for all branches and to provide counseling.
Sergeant Connolly said his job was to provide protection for chaplains and schedule chaplains’ events. 

Chaplain DeWitt said he was one of two chaplains on location.
“We had services and Bible studies every day,” he said. “When we weren’t leading a service, we were counseling troops.” 

The chaplain said many times he was called to a forward position or downrange.
“It was not uncommon to get a call in the middle of the night from someone in a remote location who needed counseling,” he said. 

Chaplain DeWitt said the most common counseling needs were separation from family, stress of isolation, separation of relationships, sexual assault, and the soldier that took a life for the first time. 

“Sometimes a soldier would come back from a group and he was the only survivor from an attack,” he said. “He may have a lot of guilt and wonder why he was spared.”
A servicemember may have questions about his moral responsibilities when taking a life, said the chaplain. 

“I tell him there is evil in the world and God calls people to go against that evil,” he said. “We are defending these God-given rights to people and the protection of the innocent.”
Both Chaplain DeWitt and Sergeant Connolly said they received good training for these situations at Silver Flag training facility located at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.
Chaplain DeWitt said he had prior training as a police chaplain. 

Sergeant Connolly said his training in family support and his civilian job as a junior high school teacher also helped him. 

“My most memorable experience was when a security forces airman came in distraught because his mother needed a kidney transplant and he just wanted to talk to someone,” said Sergeant Connolly. 

“The war changed me in that now I appreciate more of the little things in life.”
Chaplain DeWitt said he had many memorable experiences and touched many people’s lives. 

“Everyone is changed from a war, but we are seeing success in Iraq,” he said. “We worked longer hours, but had more of a sense of accomplishment.”