We all know that this is the year of the Noncommissioned Officer, but did you also know that it is the 100th Anniversary of the Chaplain Assistant. War Department General Orders No. 253, on December 28, 1909, recognized the functions of a chaplain’s assistant. Since 1909, the Chaplain Assistants has been recognized as an integral part of the Army’s commitment to provide for the spiritual and religious needs of Soldiers and Families. The chaplain assistant, assists the chaplain in all aspects of religious support. The Unit Ministry Team consists of only two people – the chaplain and chaplain assistant. As a team, they coordinate religious support for all religious faith groups. As a chaplain assistant, it is our duty to provide security during UMT operations. A chaplain cannot bear arms; therefore, the chaplain assistant must provide protection on the battlefield. A chaplain assistant has to be the eyes and ears for the chaplain and focus solely on providing religious support regardless of the faith or the environment.” General of the Army George C. Marshall once stated, “The Soldier’s heart, the Soldier’s spirit, the Soldier’s soul, are everything. Unless the Soldier’s soul sustains him he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his commander and his Country in the end.”
This morning I am want to share with you some of the ways the chaplain assistants influence and live the Army Chaplaincy’s three traditional corps values of Nurture the Living, Care for the Wounded, and Honor the Dead. But before I go into these values I would like to tell you the story of a chaplain assistant who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is summer 1900, and young Army bugler Calvin P. Titus is marching toward Peking in scorching heat as part of an international military rescue. Their task: to free a desperate legation of trapped foreigners. Titus had been stationed with the 14th Infantry in the Philippines when the Boxer Rebellion escalated as a violent reaction to exploitive “spheres of influence” established in China by colonial powers. Foreign business and diplomatic communities found themselves in peril and joined Chinese Christians in barricading themselves and pleading to the outside world for help. The international relief force of 14,000 troops liberates Tientsin, and now is marching to Peking. As they approach the besieged compound, they come face-to-face with a 30-foot wall. Colonel Daggett gazes up and wonders aloud if it is possible to climb it. Titus utters his now-famous reply, “I’ll try, Sir.” Daggett looks at his 5-foot-7, 120-pound bugler and replies, “Well, if you think you can make it, go ahead and try.” At that time CPL Calvin P. Titus worked with Chaplain Leslie R. Groves and became one of the earliest chaplain assistants. Daggett later writes: “With what interest did the officers and men watch every step as he placed his feet carefully in the cavities and clung with his fingers to the projecting bricks! The first fifteen feet were passed over without serious difficulty, but there was a space of fifteen feet above him. Slowly he reaches the twenty-foot point. Still more carefully does he try his hold on those bricks to see if they are firm. His feet are now twenty-five feet from the ground. His head is near the bottom of the embrasure. All below is breathless silence. The strain is intense. Will that embrasure blaze with fire as he attempts to enter it? Or will the butts of rifles crush his skull? Cautiously he looks through, and sees and hears nothing. He enters, and as good fortune would have it, no Chinese soldiers are there.” Titus, the first U.S. soldier to scale the wall, inspires others to follow his bold lead. “I’ll try, Sir” becomes the motto of the 14th Infantry. The Allied troops lift the siege, the Boxer Rebellion is quelled, and the 14th Infantry is ordered home. Titus is a hero.
He was issued the Congressional Medal of Honor on March 11, 1902. In honor of his heroism, President McKinley granted Titus a West Point appointment. In 1902 this first-year plebe attended a ceremony marking the academy’s centennial and received a shock when he was called in front of the entire assembly. The commandant and McKinley’s successor, President Theodore Roosevelt, walked over to Titus and pinned the medal on Titus’ coat, saying, “Now don’t let this give you the big head!” After the group was dismissed, a second-year classman named Douglas MacArthur approached Titus, looked at his medal, and said, “Mister, that’s something!” CPL Calvin P. Titus was the earliest chaplain assistant to make a difference in his unit and he would not be the last.
What are chaplain assistants doing to support the first chaplaincy corps value of Nurture the Living? I want to tell you about two great chaplain assistants that have greatly influenced the Army in their own ways to support the first chaplaincy corps value of Nurture the Living. I just want to ask everyone here if they have heard of Strong Bonds and Single Soldier Retreats? These are programs that the unit chaplains are involved in. During the late nineties the Army began to realize that they had to do more for the families and they needed new ideas. So a chaplain and chaplain assistant stationed in the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii developed a program called Building Strong and Ready Families (BSRF) which later became Strong Bonds. The chaplain was CH (MAJ) Jonathan McGraw and his Brigade Chaplain NCOIC SSG Kelly Vanwinkle. SSG Vanwinkle along with CH McGraw developed a program that the Chief of Chaplains director of ministry initiatives CH (LTC) Bloomstrom came to evaluate to see if the Army could adopt the program. He came to Hawaii and was briefed and saw the results of how it drastically it improved the quality of life for the families in the brigade. The chaplains saw a decrease in the level of marital and family counseling and the command noticed a difference on the MP blotters. The program worked and now after 11 years is still going strong. I would like to once again thank SFC Kelly Vanwinkle and CH (LTC) Jonathan McGraw for this great program. The next chaplain assistant I would like to talk about is SFC Augustin Mendez. SFC Mendez has devoted nearly 20 years of service to the U. S. Army. During the last 15 years he has been the All Army Soccer coach. Last year SFC Mendez was voted coach of the year for the Army. He is the only soccer coach who has won either gold or silver medals during the last 10 years in soccer. This year the Army men’s soccer team once again won the gold medal. SFC Mendez does not just mentor the Soldiers who he coaches on the soccer field but has made an impact in every assignment he has been assigned. He knows what it means to nurture the living. Mendez always says, “You have to be a mediator. You have to be sometimes even be a psychologist, because not everybody responds to the same form of leadership, the trick as a coach or NCO is to take everything good in an individual and use it for the better of the team.” SFC Mendez shows his passion in everything that he does. Currently SFC Mendez is the Religious Retreat Center NCOIC in Yongsan. This retreat center is used by all the units throughout Korea. Since SFC Mendez arrived last August, he has single handily made over 1.5 millions dollar worth of renovations and purchases of new equipment to enhance the comfort and well being of the Soldiers and family members who utilize the retreat center. SFC Mendez thank you for your great leadership and commitment to excellence.
The next chaplaincy corps value I would like to talk about is caring for the wounded. The date was February 25, 1991 and during the Gulf war. The 14th Quarter Master Detachment was bedding down for the night in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. At 8:30 p.m. an Iraqi Scud Missile pierced through the patriot missile defenses and struck the area were the Soldiers were housed. That attack killed 13 members of the 14th Quarter Master Detachment and injured 43 other members of the unit. In all 97 Soldiers were injured. After the scud missile hit, SSG Gregory Washington and Chaplain Triplett headed to the area where the casualties were. They started to provide religious support to the Soldiers who were dying and helped comfort them. Than they went around and prayed and counseled with the Soldiers who were wounded. During this whole time they did not worry about their own personal safety but the welfare of the Soldiers of that unit. SFC Gregory Washington is one of the finest chaplain assistants that had ever served in the U.S. Army. CSM Kim, the Area III CSM, when I first met him, asked me if I knew SFC Washington, that they served together during the Gulf War. CSM Kim shared with me some of the things that SSG Washington did during the war. SFC Washington made an impact in his unit by his actions along with his chaplain. Thank you SFC Washington for what you did everyday as a chaplain assistant in your unit. Chaplain assistants across the Army continue to live the chaplaincy corps value of “Care for the Wounded”, by providing religious support to our wounded warriors on a daily basis.
The last chaplaincy corps value is honor the dead. Every memorial service or ceremony the Army conducts, a chaplain and chaplain assistant are involved. Usually the chaplain and chaplain assistant are from the same unit as the deceased Soldier so it makes it even harder to do the ceremony or service. The chaplain assistants are doing an outstanding job honoring the dead. Either by coordinating and supporting the command or by helping assist the chaplain with the death notification. I want to tell you of an experience that I had while I was deployed that changed how I viewed life. CH German the Deputy ARCENT Chaplain Forward was asked to go and provide some religious support to the KCIA mortuary affairs team since the Marine Chaplain who supported them was on leave. I was Chaplain German’s Chaplain NCOIC so I went to provide support with him. While I was there I was able to speak with the different mortuary affairs Soldiers and they talked about how they processed Soldiers Killed in Action. We were taken to the room where the bodies are brought from Iraq and Afghanistan. The room felt strange and I could feel death in the room. I saw an ice maker in the corner of the room and it has signs posted on how much ice was used on each part of the body. I met with PFC Ramirez and he shared this story with me. He received a phone call from his brothers unit in Iraq that his brother’s convoy was hit with an IED during a mission and that is all he was told. That next day he was alerted that they would process some remains that day. He was on shift that day so when the vehicle with the KIA’s drove up. He helped off load the three remains. On the body bag he noticed that it had his brothers unit on the tag. He realized at that time this could have been his brother. Later on, PFC Ramirez found out that it was a Soldier who was in the same vehicle as his brother. I wanted to share this story to let everyone know here today that God is in control of everything in our lives and sometimes we forget the bigger picture.
I have personally met with the Chief of Chaplains from the Korean Army, Jordanian Army and other countries and they envy the professional chaplain assistants that we have in the United Stated Army. We have the best chaplain assistants out of all the branches of the services. The Air Force, Navy, and Marines are now looking for us to provide them the training necessary to conduct religious support across the full spectrum of operations. As the division chaplain NCOIC, I am able to mentor, coach, and train all the chaplain assistants in the division. We have some outstanding chaplain assistants who will become our future leaders in our corps. I would like to ask for all the chaplain assistants to please stand so we can give them a round of applause. And finally, in every story I have told today. I have mentioned the chaplain alongside the chaplain assistant. We are a team and I just need to say that this division is blessed to have the spiritual leadership of CH Spencer. I have worked with a lot of chaplains in my career and the level of caring and professionalism Chaplain Spencer brings with him is unmatched. I see everything behind the scenes and I can honestly say that CH Spencer’s loves Soldiers and cares for their welfare. CH Spencer can you please stand so we can give you a round of applause for your Spiritual Leadership of the division. And in closing I would like to leave you with a Bible verse for inspiration.
Isaiah 40:28-31 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Pro Deo Et Patria
For God and Country
Thank You

I am an army reservist. I had an unfortunate experience where I was in deep depression and anguish. I had no job, no money, and had just given birth to my 2 month old son. SGT Williams, Jocquette, a chaplain assistant, called me to check up after the birth. She lent me her shoulder and came to my house that very day with my first sergeant. Thank you God and thank you for SGT Williams calling to see about me.