Chaplains Bring Value Added Benefits to Seabees in the Field

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. (NNS) -- Along with the equipment operators, builders, construction mechanics and other Seabee ratings that Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 21 brought forward on their recent field training exercise was help from another source.

A chaplain and religious programs specialist joined the Reserve component Seabees of the "Blackjack Battalion", during the 17-day Winter Talon field training exercise at Camp Shelby, Miss., mid-March.

Chaplain Lt. j.g. Jonathan Stephens and Religious Programs Specialist 3rd Class Tina Brawdy accompanied NMCB 21 to the Logistics Support Activity set-up at Camp Savannah, living in 12-person tents and then moved with the battalion to their fighting positions at the forward operating base (FOB), entrenched in foxholes, and eating MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) side-by-side with their fellow Seabees.

Stephens is on staff at his church in Chicago as well as personal assistant to the senior pastor at the Chicago Tabernacle. He received his Masters of Divinity at Moody Graduate School in Chicago and intends to be a chaplain in the active-duty Navy.

But, for now, he will continue to minister to the needs of Reserve component Seabees.

"I held field services everyday while out in the field, sometimes two or three a day, to make sure that everyone who wanted to worship had the opportunity," Stephens said.

"But what I did for the majority of my time was simply made myself available," said Stephens. "I did not have an office that someone could come and make an appointment at, so I would go out to the fighting holes, or the smokepit, or any other area where people had some time on their hands and made those places my potential offices. If they needed to talk, I tried to be there. The main thing I did to help the troops was to be available to serve them."

Brawdy, of Billings, Mont., a former yeoman who changed rates to become a religious programs specialist is a full-time nursing student and co-owner of a restaurant with her husband, himself a former postal clerk who previously served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CV 61).

"I always wanted to do something where I could help out in a different way, and this was really such a good experience," Brawdy said. "At my NOSC [Navy Operational Support Activity], I am a lay leader, where I lead services for Sailors on drill weekends.

"Here in the field, the chaplain and I are here with the guys and girls to work out personal problems or even act as advisors or mediators in issues that arise from time to time."

Ensign Lurdes Gil, a chemical engineer from Perth Amboy, N.J., said having a chaplain brought value added benefits during the field exercise.

"He read from scripture to help rebuild us, helped us to find our interior strength to focus on mission priority and to make this exercise the success that it was."

Fellow Seabees echoed Gil's sentiments.

"He [Stephens] spoke to us about the Word, and eased the days we had at the FOB," Steelworker Constructionman Gabriel NazarioRamirez of Highland Park, N.J, said.

"This was my first field exercise, and it made things easier, not so harsh. He [Stephens] walked around and talked with everyone, keeping up their morale."

NMCB-21 is based at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, N.J., with detachments at Navy Operational Support Centers in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Its mission is to train for mobilization readiness and construction operations in support of Commander, First Naval Construction Division.

For more news from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 21, visit www.navy.mil/local/nmcb21/.