Chief of chaplains visits 379th AEW

Published Aug. 20, 2007
By Senior Airman Clark Staehle
379th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- The Air Force Chief of Chaplains visited the base this week.

Ch. (Maj. Gen.) Charles Baldwin came to the Desert Eagle Team in the latest stop on a tour that took him throughout the combat theater to visit Airmen and chaplains ensuring their spiritual needs are taken care of.

As the chief of chaplains, Chaplain Baldwin has three priorities - glorifying God, honoring Airmen and serving all, regardless of faith or beliefs.

"Number one, I want to bring glory to God in everything I do," he said. "Secondly, I want to honor Airmen. That means some of our time today is spent finding you, and finding any Airmen anywhere and telling them how valuable they are. Lastly, serving all is terribly important, and that kind of goes along with 'It doesn't matter what you believe; we're going to care about you.'"

His priorities fall in line with Gen. T. Michael Moseley's priorities as Air Force chief of staff: fighting the Global War on Terrorism, taking care of Airmen and their families, and recapitalizing the force.

"We're going to want to listen and care for you," Chaplain Baldwin said. "We kind of fit into point two on Gen. Moseley's strategic plan, which is taking care of Airmen. I think that's our main role in (his priorities), although I do believe if we help bring people to God and God to people, we're going to help win the Global War on Terrorism as well."

Deployments for chaplains often bring the same type of work and challenges that work at home station might.

According to Chaplain Baldwin, deployments often give Airmen a chance to reassess and explore their spirituality.

"These deployments are interesting because it's been a long time since folks have thought about the spiritual side of their life and they take this opportunity to check that out," he said. "Being away from family or other circumstances may give them a chance, or permission to kind of seek out that spiritual dimension of who they are. We're very glad to be present for those times."

The chaplain also said the support his contingents provide on deployments is two-fold.

Not only do they deploy with Airmen here, but they also take care of families at home.

"Equally as important back home is taking care of the families and providing the spiritual care and watch care over the families as well," Chaplain Baldwin said. "We're very engaged in the reintegration and reunion times when those happen."

According to Chaplain Baldwin, the presence of chaplains in the Air Force helps foster a nurturing environment.

"I think the best thing we bring to our culture of Airmen is heart, love and respect," Chaplain Baldwin said. "We bring a climate of respect into the room so that people would know when somebody says "Oh, the chaplain's here!" that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. For the most part, people are glad because we bring a heart for them and we care about them."

The 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Chapel resources are available to all servicemembers regardless of rank, religion or service.

"I hope that the Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines and civilians who hear about a chaplain would know they are a safe person," Chaplain Baldwin said. "You can run to that person and they're going to take care of you. We're not going to check your dog tags at the door to see what religion you are. We're going to want to listen and care for you."