The Family Letter

Oh my. 'Nuff said.

Some random facts about change and the Air Force that I picked up from my six weeks in Alabama:

• The Air Force has increased deployments by 300% in recent years.
• Air Force personnel are taking more casualties in the present conflicts than they have since Vietnam.¹ In part this is because there are Airmen closer to the conflicts–even pulling convoy duty.
• The Air Force is cutting back in size by around 40%

What does this mean? It means that everyone is going to deploy, especially given that they're looking at this as a 30 year war. IMA's such as myself are still pretty much exempt²… But even that will likely change.

It means that the role of the Air Force chaplain and the shape of the chaplain service may change, too. For years we've operated at home with a strong parish ministry. There's a RC parish on base, a traditional protestant service/parish, etc. But with fewer chaplains and a greater need for ministry, I think we'll be seeing chaplains spending a lot more time out in the units–or deployed–and less preparing for Sunday services. Which will mean relying more on lay people to help pull off Sunday worship or perhaps even cutting back on those sorts of offerings.

I don't think this is a bad thing… The worship and education offered on Sunday mornings is certainly an important ministry. But when it comes to setting priorities, I think we're more needed out in the units, working with the men, women, and families. And yes, needed out there overseas in the desert or wherever our service members are asked to go.

It'll be interesting to see where the Air Force and the Chaplain Service goes from here!

1. Specific statistics not available, sorry. [back]
2. It takes a lot of paperwork to deploy an IMA reservist. [back]

Any of these names look familiar?

Okay, how cool is this? Saturday morning I visited the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and, among other things, sat in an Apollo command module with two friends. "Sat" may be the wrong term. Wedged in on our backs, looking up at the incredible array of switches.

That evening we watched Apollo 13. Yes, we actually recognized many of the lights and switches.

Cool.

Okay, we've had the third and final test! Again, no comment on content, but it was at least as challenging as the first, if not more, in part because last week was so physically tiring… Not classroom time at all. We also got our second tests back today (those were essay, not multiple choice, so took longer to score). Bottom line? I passed all. We have one more set of self-endorsing bullet points due Thursday, and I have to help prepare the final slideshow and pull off a graduation banquet, but other than that we're done. Tomorrow is a spiritual fitness day off site in civvies, and the aforementioned banquet is Thursday.

Yes, I have pictures of much of this. Yes, I'll get them up sooner or later. Patience please. Speaking of photos, though, we had a close encounter yesterday with living history:

That's Lt. Col. (Ret) Herbert E. Carter, one of the Tuskegee Airmen from WWII. We got to spend some time with him yesterday afternoon at the airfield where they learned to fly, in Tuskegee. I can't begin to describe how cool that was. First to hear of his story about how he came to be a pilot, along with all the racism and the like that came with it… And then to hear about his missions over Africa and Europe. First hand. Amazing. I wish we'd had more time, but I'm glad for what we had.

Last item for today's post: I've discovered the AU Press. I wish I had done so sooner. While we're in residence at a school here, we get 10 books a day. Free. And they'll ship them home for us. Free. Oh, yes, and now that I've been to a school here, I can get around 20 a month. Free. And any new ones that come out. Free. AKMA… AKMA… Dude, stop drooling. They're mostly about leadership and military subjects, but still fascinating titles. I did get ten today, but had them shipped straight home, so I can't give you all the titles. Perhaps I'll look them up on the web site and get them up later, so recheck this post.

We've a social event at the commander's home this evening, so gotta go change! Later all.