Sermons, church services and prayer. 

These are the words that may come to mind if you were to ask someone with no military ties what they thought a military chaplain does. In reality, spiritual leader, jump master and paratrooper are the words that would most likely come to mind if you were to ask a paratrooper.

To further cement themselves as military leaders, chaplains across the 82nd Airborne Division and Fort Bragg led more than 200 paratroopers during the St. Michael's Jump onto Sicily Drop Zone at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, May 8. The Saint Michael's Jump is meant to celebrate the airborne community's patron saint and promote spiritual resiliency across the Division.
Known to many as "All American Shepard" Col. Randy Griffin, the 82nd Airborne Division chaplain, said the Saint Michael's Jump is significant in several ways, starting with the way a paratrooper qualifies to get on the jump.

"You have to go through a spiritual training event with your unit chaplain," said Griffin, a native of Kinston, North Carolina. "That could be a physical fitness spiritual event or some other type of formal spiritual fitness event, but that connection is made with the paratrooper and their unit chaplain before the jump ever takes place."

Then on the day of the jump, with the connection and relationship firmly in place, the chaplains have an opportunity to help instill encouragement, hope and courage into their paratroopers. Sometimes this is through prayer, sustained airborne training or when they perform jumpmaster duties during the jump.

Griffin said it all comes together at the end of the jump. "We give the history of the St. Michael's jump and the history of St. Michael," said Griffin. "That gives paratroopers an opportunity to learn something about the airborne community that they would never have known had they not been on a St. Michael's jump."

For Griffin the St. Michaels Day Jump is nothing new, but for Capt. Juman Kim, chaplain for the 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Abn. Div., this was his first chance to experience the jump that's so closely tied to his chosen profession.

"This was a little windier than the rest, but I liked it a lot because I got to lead, and we got to pray and see other units together," said Kim. "It was great."  Though he's only been in the U.S. Army for a little over a year and this was his first St. Michael's Jump, Kim said being a paratrooper has helped him be a better chaplain.  "I can share and I can listen to what paratroopers go through," said Kim. "Then, I can fully support and understand their agony, their suffering and their excitement as well."

After the jump, Capt. Hank Mauterer, chaplain for Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 82nd Abn. Div., led Family resiliency training for the paratroopers and dozens of Family members in attendance. He said that the most critical and influential factor in paratroopers' lives is their relationship with God, spouse and family. 

"Connected paratroopers, who develop a purposed approach to maintaining and growing these relationships, discover a synergetic treasure trove that empowers them to great heights," said Mauterer.

full article here

 

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A former Buffalo VA employee has been charged with threatening an Army chaplain.

Morgan Fallon, 37, of Buffalo, was charged by criminal complaint with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure the person of another.

According to the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, Fallon had been employed by the VA as a veterans claims examiner, responsible for reviewing education reimbursement claims submitted by military members and veterans.

The Army chaplain had submitted a claim to the VA for reimbursement of expenses related to his religious education. In Nov. 2017, the claim was denied by letter, which was "unusual in tone and contained sporadic bolded and underlined text".

The Army Chaplain appealed the denial and complained about the unprofessional nature of the denial letter. Fallon was terminated in May 2018, "based on, among other things, his interaction with an active-duty, commissioned Captain in the United States Army assigned as a Chaplain in the State of Louisiana."

The defendant was given a packet upon termination which explained his grounds for termination, including the complaint from the Army chaplain.

Later on the same day, the chaplain allegedly received a phone call from a 716 area code, which contained many expletives and threats. The caller also told the chaplain he "had all [the chaplain's] information".

The chaplain felt threatened and believed the caller wanted him dead. He contacted military police, at which point he received another call from a 716 area code. Military police directed him to let it go to voicemail.

According to the complaint, the caller left a voicemail that lasted over a minute, in which he identified himself as Fallon and "the VA employee you want fired so badly".

If convicted, Fallon faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

from WIVB.com Channel 4 Buffalo