{"id":17994,"date":"2013-08-29T16:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T20:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=17994"},"modified":"2013-09-16T10:24:36","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T14:24:36","slug":"seminary-alum-ministers-to-soldiers-in-afghanistan-and-other-army-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/seminary-alum-ministers-to-soldiers-in-afghanistan-and-other-army-posts\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminary alum ministers to soldiers in Afghanistan and other Army posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Jacobs Jr., the only chaplain in his U.S. Army battalion, stood on a blood-soaked plywood board as he conducted a worship service for soldiers at a tiny combat outpost in the mountains of Afghanistan. Many wounded soldiers had been brought to this spot for transport back to a base hospital.<\/p>\n

This lonely outpost was one of numerous stops for Jacobs as he traveled 5,000 miles \u2013 mostly by helicopter \u2013 to visit the 750 members of his battalion during his 10-month tour of duty in 2009.<\/p>\n

Jacobs, who graduated from Eastern Mennonite Seminary<\/a> in 2004 with a master of divinity degree, planned to return to EMS this fall to enroll in Clinical Pastoral Education<\/a>. The intensive hospital-based program would prepare him for chaplaincy work among veterans and in hospitals and hospices. But he recently received notice that he is being called up in early 2014 for a 9-to 12-month \u00a0<\/span>deployment to the Middle East, to be stationed in Qatar.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile other military chaplains have enrolled at EMS this fall. \u201cSeveral new students this school year have expressed interest in being chaplains at veterans\u2019 hospitals or with active-duty personnel,\u201d said Laura Lehman Amstutz<\/a>, the seminary\u2019s admissions director and communications coordinator. \u201cThe EMS focus on chaplain ministry and peace-and-justice theology is a valuable mix to these students who are sorting out how to care for those who have experienced war and military service first hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobs is part of the Virginia National Guard<\/a>, so he must be ready for duty at any time \u2013 at home or abroad. Stateside duty includes accompanying a senior officer to notify parents that their son or daughter has been killed.<\/p>\n

In a war zone, a chaplain\u2019s duty is to nurture the living, comfort the wounded, and honor the dead. In addition to leading Christian services and performing various sacraments, Jacobs prayed with wounded soldiers from the battlefield and accompanied them to the operating room. \u201cIn general, we are supposed to bring the presence of God,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jacobs also did a lot of marriage counseling for the many soldiers who were separated from their spouses.<\/p>\n

Since Jacobs is a Protestant chaplain, he was also responsible for making sure that members of his battalion who were not Protestant had access to Catholic or other appropriate members of the clergy.<\/p>\n

Jacobs loves people \u2013 all kinds of people. He enjoys the diversity he finds in the Army and the variety of people he met in Afghanistan. He learned to understand the motivation of the Taliban and enjoyed interacting with Muslims. One man, using the Muslim word for clergyman, called Jacobs his \u201cAmerican imam.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seed for military chaplaincy was planted in Jacobs\u2019 mind after he completed nearly 13 years of active duty in the U.S. Army. First he had to finish an undergraduate degree and then find a seminary to attend. He picked EMS, arriving with his wife and three children in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cEMS offered me a safe place to be myself and bare my soul,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t make me feel like I had to be a perfect person.\u201d<\/p>\n

While in seminary he took part-time jobs, making sure that he was able to interact with \u201ccommon people,\u201d which he figured would help him in future ministry. In fact, ministry started for him on the job. \u201cI talked about faith with people who would never come to church,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jacobs and his wife, Diana Patterson, are both from Lancaster County, Pa. John was raised Presbyterian and Diana was Mennonite. They were married when he enlisted in the Army at age 21. His first Army career took them to Alaska, South Korea, Pennsylvania, and Colorado.<\/p>\n

Since his seminary days, the Jacobs family has been based in nearby Broadway, Va. He hopes that a future job in hospital chaplaincy will bring more stability to his life and more focus to his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Jacobs Jr., the only chaplain in his U.S. Army battalion, stood on a blood-soaked plywood board as he conducted a worship service for soldiers at a tiny combat outpost ... read more about Seminary alum ministers to soldiers in Afghanistan and other Army posts<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":17999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,264,265],"tags":[8046,7182,11044],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-17994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-graduate-programs","category-seminary","tag-clinical-pastoral-education","tag-laura-lehman-amstutz","tag-u-s-military"],"yoast_head":"\nSeminary alum ministers to soldiers in Afghanistan and other Army posts - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/seminary-alum-ministers-to-soldiers-in-afghanistan-and-other-army-posts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seminary alum ministers to soldiers in Afghanistan and other Army posts - 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