VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — If there are not enough chaplains to go around in a future mass casualty event, the Navy is now reaching out to civilian clergy to provide a helping hand.
The U.S. Fleet Forces Command Chaplain Corps has launched a partnership with Hampton Roads faith leaders to discuss joining forces during future times of crisis, believed to be the first-of-its-kind such collaboration in the Navy.
Under Thursday's training scenario, participants discussed how the civilians could assist if a missile struck a local aircraft carrier and destroyer. The civilian clergy volunteers would serve as force multipliers, helping chaplains perform duties such as casualty notifications and family care.
"It's part of our duty, part of our calling as ministers to meet people where they are, to be able to respond when terrible things happen like this," said Father Jared Grant of Christ & Saint Luke's Episcopal Church.
"And I just want to do my part and I would be honored to serve with our Navy members if anything happened," said Minister Mowyah Mason of Oakwood Chapel Church.
Hampton Roads has already experienced real-life military tragedies, including the 1989 USS Iowa explosion which killed 47 sailors, the 2000 attack against USS Cole which killed 17 crew members, and the 2001 Virginia Air National Guard crash in which 18 local airmen and three Florida Army National Guard soldiers perished.
"We need to be ready for those events in the future. You can't really put something like this together when something happens, and you discover a need. We have to think beyond the horizon. So, we put something like this together now. So, we're ready," said Captain Brian Stamm, U.S. Fleet Forces Fleet Chaplain.
Stamm continued: "We haven't had the potential for a huge number of casualties since World War II. And 1945 was a long time ago."
Stamm said gatherings like the one Thursday at the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story Chapel between active-duty chaplains and local civilian clergy will be an "ongoing, annual event."