Chapels excel after joint basing

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The former Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson joined together to form Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson July 30, 2010.

It is a transformation which has taken a lot of work, but now, less than a year later; the benefits are starting to show for many work centers.

Air Force Master Sgt. Eric Martin, the superintendent of chapel operations, said there were many challenges to overcome at the start.

"It was a tough adjustment for us especially financially," he said. "Our biggest challenge was the cultural differences."

He said the two services had different ways of doing things and the chapel's leadership made every effort to ensure most of the programs lived on under the one umbrella of joint basing.

He said despite their differences, when it came to the big picture of the chapel mission, both services were on the same page.

"Taking care of people is our number one priority and we have been successful at that," said Martin.
 
"It is a core value that both the Air Force and Army 100 percent agreed on."

Martin said he saw how strong joint basing had made the chapel during the aftermath of the crashes of the F-22 Raptor and the C-17 Globemaster III.

He said there were Army chaplains lined up and down the hallways of the chaplain center ready to pitch in.

"During the crashes you wouldn't know the difference between who was an Air Force person and who was an Army person," he said.

"They stepped up and asked what we needed. I don't think that would have happened like that before joint basing."

There have been other successes as well.

Martin said the Protestant Religious Education program has been a program which has bloomed since it was moved over to the Army side of the installation.

Another benefit has been seen in the religious education director position. The Air Force had always giving those duties to an active duty military member.
 
With the high deployment rates in the career field it often meant the person in charge of the program was gone for half of the year.

The Army contracts that position to a civilian employee.
 
Martin said having a person in charge of the program that is here for the whole year has been a great benefit to the program.

The sergeant said to prepare for the merger, chapel leadership looked at how other joint bases handled the transition. In some cases the chapel here has had to trailblaze its own path.

He said with every decision the spiritual welfare of Arctic Warriors is kept in the forefront.

"This is our family and we take care of it regardless of the uniform they are wearing," he said.

"If it is something that is for the best of the joint base community we are going to press forward with it."