The FORSCOM Chaplain Section
By U.S. Army Chaplain Corps
| Military
Chaplaincy Review, November 2023 Edition
Read Time:
< 5 mins
Welcome to “Get to Know Your Chaplain Corps,” a new and ongoing section of
the
Journal that highlights a particular organizational element
within the Chaplain Corps. For the May 2023 issue of the Journal, we are
pleased to focus on the FORSCOM Chaplain Section.
Tell us about the mission and purpose of your element:
FORSCOM is an Army Command (ACOM), a U.S. Army 4-star headquarters. The
FORSCOM mission is to train conventional forces to provide military
options for the National Command Authority and to meet Combatant Commander
requirements. The Commander’s vision is to produce combat ready Total Army
forces (Regular Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve) that can
deploy and win now in Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) against near
peer threats.
The FORSCOM Religious Support Endstate is: Combat-ready, trained, and fit
FORSCOM Unit Ministry Teams that provide world-class religious support for
the Total Army to accomplish the Commander’s mission to deploy and win in
LSCO and multidomain operations. UMTs build the spiritual core of the
Total Force by investing in people, connecting them in spirit, and
cultivating community.
What’s one thing you’d like the rest of the Chaplain Corps to know about
your element?
The FORSOM Chaplain Section (CS) plans, trains, and produces combat-ready
and globally responsive Religious Support Professionals that are well led,
disciplined, trained, and expeditionary. These professionals are ready now
to deploy and provide religious support in LSCO against near-peer threats
by assisting the combatant commanders in providing for the free exercise
of religion and providing religious, moral, and ethical leadership. We
align the U.S. Army’s religious support training with the Chief of
Chaplain’s training priorities and operationalize them across COMPOS 1
(Active duty), 2 (ARNG), and 3 (USAR), to reach a total of 750,000
personnel.
Tell us about a typical week or month in your element:
Our environment requires continuous analysis and assessment for the
purpose of shifting fully trained and combat-ready military assets at a
moment’s notice as global demands and Combatant Commander’s require. Our
office is involved in every aspect of the analysis and assessment process
with respect to religious support requirements.
Each week consists of communication with the various DACH Directorates to
coordinate resources and planning efforts. The FORSCOM Chaplain and SGM
regularly interact with the CCH, RSM, and OCCH to inform them of training,
trends, and recommendations from as Corps and Divisions deploy and train
in support of the nation’s military objectives. FORSCOM CS also daily
interacts with the Army Corps and subordinate RS UMTs.
Tell us about a project your element has been working on:
The FORSCOM CS has identified a gap in pre-assignment training of DIV CSs
and has instituted a DIV CS training program. The training includes all
incoming DIV CSs, current DIV CSs, Corps CS, and CMD CHs and covers
everything from expectation management and Technical Chain interactions to
implementation of Spiritual Readiness Training and Building Strong and
Ready Teams.
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Dec 4-7 FORSCOM will have its Annual Training Conference aligning
Battle Focused Training with MCTP/1st Army/JRTC/NTC/ JMRC trainers,
USAREUR-AF, UASRPAC, ARCENT, and all Army Components.
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Chaplain Leadership Assessment Tool (C-LAT): The FC Chaplain
Directorate is piloting a talent-management and leadership counseling
tool, the Chaplain Leadership Assessment Tool (C-LAT), for the
Chaplain Corps. C-LAT captures subjective talent assessment of 11
performance categories from supervisory chaplains two levels up to
assist in recommendations for talent management and developmental
follow-on assignments. The C-LAT provides a metric to assist
supervisory Chaplains with leadership counseling and feedback for
subordinate chaplains.
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Improved communication and synchronization between FORSCOM and TRADOC.
To better pass along operational religious support TTPs (tactics,
techniques, and procedures) and deployed religious support lessons
learned, FORSCOM has established a quarterly leader sync with the U.S.
Army Religious Leader Academy. This will ensure that operational force
is regularly providing feedback to the RLA to improve training and
readiness of Chaplains and Religious Affairs Specialists.
Why is your element so crucial to the mission of the Chaplain Corps?
We are a critical asset to the Army Chaplain Corps mission because we not
only provide thoroughly trained and combat-ready deployable Soldiers for
religious support but also have direct contact with operational and
tactical formations. Having the ability to convey innovations, challenges,
and recommendations brings the strategic to the field and the field to the
strategic. In the transition from COIN to LSCO getting new information
from CPXs and WFXs to the strategic level helps to shape doctrine that
will save lives and win the next war.
The FORSCOM Chaplain Section also advises the Commanding General and his
command team on the impact of religion, ethics, and morale of the FC
formation. Specifically, we are part of FORSCOM-wide commander dialogues
and provide a unique perspective that otherwise would not be considered.
It is a great honor to develop relationships with our leaders to serve
them in this way.
Take us inside your team and its dynamics:
There are seven team members assigned to the FORSCOM Chaplain Section.
FORSCOM Command Chaplain – CH (COL) David Bowlus
FORSCOM Command Chief Religious Affairs NCO – SGM Keisha Archer
Chief of Operations and Sustainment Chaplain (Deputy Command Chaplain) –
CH (LTC-P) Steve Bryant
Force Structure and Management Chaplain – CH (LTC) Mike Smith
Operations and Training Chaplain – CH (LTC) Bill Robinson
Administrative Officer / Executive Officer – Mr. Alex Vergara
Program Analyst – Ms. Deb Yuhas
The team is a close-knit family that prioritizes service to FORSCOM so
that UMTs and CSs can accomplish their commanders’ missions as
combat-ready, trained, and fit religious support leaders. As we serve, we
enjoy providing pastoral care, prayer, and counseling to the FORSCOM HQ in
Marshall Hall and building the spiritual readiness of all.
Serving at FORSCOM is a significant responsibility and tremendous
blessing.We seek to honor the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps’ legacy as we
proudly serve God and Country at FORSCOM.