AF Chaplain visits Dyess

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman James Schenck
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The man in charge of religious and moral welfare for all the Air Force’s 850,000 military and civilian employees honored Dyess with a visit last week.

Major Gen. Charles Baldwin’s two-day visit included a prayer breakfast at the Heritage Club for 200 Dyess Airmen and the dedication of the base chapel’s new religious education building.

The Chaplain Service’s National Prayer Breakfast tour of 46 bases has Chaplain Baldwin scheduled to attend about 30 of them with Dyess being the first; the remaining will be visited by Chaplain Baldwin’s deputy, Chaplain (Brig. Gen.) Cecil Richardson.

“Every Air Force base has a national prayer breakfast each year; its purpose is to remember that those of us in the military who serve are grateful for the freedoms we have,” said Chaplain Baldwin.

Chaplain Baldwin’s speech for Dyess’ prayer breakfast was titled ‘Masquerade,’ and focused on the virtues of being true to both yourself and others. You cannot hide who you are from God, so why hide it from everyone else, he said; why hide from challenges and difficulties? God will see you through.

Chaplain Baldwin also spoke at the religious education center dedication. Construction of the new 1300 square-foot state-of-the-art religious education center cost around $270,000. Ground was broken in July of last year and construction finished in December.

At the dedication ceremony, the chaplain spoke about the three words on the seal of the chaplain service -- freedom, faith and ministry.

“These three words really do represent what the building was built for,” said Chaplain Baldwin. “It is a great thing for the chaplain service because we don’t get many religious education buildings built.” But he also noted, “we are not here to build a church for ourselves, we’re here to take care of the religious needs of the Airmen and their families.”

Having only recently returned from a nine-day visit to Iraq over the holiday season, Chaplain Baldwin put things into perspective. “Military Chaplains are different than civilian clergy -- not any better, just different,” he said.

Following a Christmas Eve service in Baghdad held by Dyess Chaplain (Capt.) Cody Broussard, he and Chaplain Broussard participated in a Patriots March.

“He and I walked two coffins onto an airplane and had a moment of dedication before the plane took off,” said Chaplain Baldwin. “That’s different than the normal role as a pastor of a local church.”

This sort of duty does make those differences painfully obvious. “I think that they [Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom] helped us clearly understand our role in the military.”

This sort of event is not new for chaplains, he said.We have always taken measures to be close to Airmen -- for instance, having offices near the flight line, or in the maintenance hangers. Deployed environments are no different; Air Force chaplains go where the Airmen go.

“We are not only serving the families at home,” said Chaplain Baldwin, “we are in theater as well, taking care of the Airmen who are fighting the war. In fact, one of your chaplains is in Baghdad tonight, and that’s what he is doing.”

Chaplain Baldwin seamed humbled by his trip to Iraq where he said he saw many Dyess Airmen. “I want to say to their families how much we appreciate their sacrifices in this war, because it is hard to be separated.” But it is for a worthy cause, he contends, “our children and grandchildren will be grateful that they paid the price at this time.”

Dyess and its chaplain service were privileged to have him visit, said Chaplain (Capt.) Marianne Kehoe, “it was important for the chapel staff to be able to show the Chief of Chaplains the work that they have been doing and receive feedback and guidance from him.”

Dyess chaplains have deployed in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.