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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Nearly nine months after
his assumption of stole ceremony, making history as the
division chaplain for the newly reactivated and restructured
7th Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and its
seven subordinate brigade's unit ministry teams, Lt. Col.
Darryl Hollowell, chaplain, relinquished spiritual
leadership to Lt. Col. Paul Jaedicke, chaplain on July 8,
2013 during a change of stole ceremony.
“As we change
out the chaplains, we tasked Chaplain Hollowell when he
first came here to stand up the division chaplains and to
stand up a unit ministry team from scratch. I don't think we
have ever given that mission to any chaplain since, perhaps,
before World War II,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza,
commanding general of the 7th ID. “More importantly than
just standing up the team for the division is what (he) has
meant to the brigades that (he has) mentored, lead, and
(has) supported. It has been tremendous.”
Lanza noted
that a chaplain's duties go far beyond that of providing
spiritual leadership to soldiers and their families. They
are involved in the readiness and resiliency of the
formation, leader development and building the next
generation of chaplains, and impacting the command climate
by working with commanders and command sergeants major at
every echelon of Army organizations.
“As we do this
transition, what Chaplain Hollowell is handing over ... is
100-percent mission complete,” Lanza said. “He is handing
over an organization that is ready to take it to the next
level. He has built winning systems, he has built a winning
team, and he has built a cohesive chaplaincy corps within
this division that Chaplain Jaedicke will be the benefit
of.”
Nine months ago Hollowell stood in front of his
family, friends, commanders and ministry support teams from
throughout Joint Base Lewis-McChord and vowed to elevate the
amount of religious support available to Bayonet soldiers
and their families, as well as to increase the overall
health of the force.
“When I came here I wanted to
set a standard of ethics for our chaplains,” said Hollowell.
“If anyone is frowned upon, it should never be a chaplain,
so continue to push professionalism and that road of ethics
and standards for your chaplains.”
Hollowell, a
native of Cleveland, will now have the opportunity to do so
at an Army-wide level as he moves to his next position at
Fort Jackson, S.C., home of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps'
Chaplain Center and School.
As Jaedicke took his
place at the podium, the stole now gracing his shoulders, he
was quick to do two things: give thanks to those who helped
with the ceremony and his transition, and let the audience
know that as a young lieutenant he never once thought he
would be where he was now.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Paul Jaedicke, chaplain for the 7th Infantry Division, speaks during a change of stole ceremony
on July 8, 2013 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler) |
“When I was a combat engineer platoon leader in the 7th
Light Infantry (Division), my engineer battalion did not
have a chaplain or even a chaplain assistant. This was sort
of before the days of the unit ministry team concept. So my
battalion commander assigned me the extra duty of battalion
chaplain representative. I'm not sure why I got that
exactly, other than maybe that he knew I went to church on
Sunday mornings,” the Stanford, Calif., native explained.
The extra duty, he said, really only entailed taking
soldiers to the chaplain, or pointing them in the right
direction, when they needed someone.
Jaedicke admits
he wasn't offering them much of anything but, after some
time, he caught the attention of the division chaplain, who
asked Jaedicke to come to his office.
It was there
the chaplain gave him the talk about how he should one day,
too, become an Army chaplain.
“On the outside, I was
very respectful. I was giving him the ol' north-south head
nod,” Jaedicke recalls. “On the inside I was thinking, ‘Are
you kidding me? Are you serious?' Not only no, but heck no!
I wouldn't get to carry my M16, and, besides that, when boys
grow up playing with G.I. Joe actions figures, and this is
very important, nobody wants to be the sailor ... or the
chaplain. Everybody wants to be the 11 bravo with the
crew-served weapon or the scuba diver.
“But here I
am. And there you are,” Jaedicke paused. “Somehow this stole
got placed around my neck. The Bible reminds us, in
Proverbs, Chapter 19, ‘Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails'.”
Jaedicke, a distinguished military graduate of the Claremont
College's ROTC program, received a regular Army commission
as a combat engineer.
He was assigned to the 13th
Engineer Battalion, 7th Infantry Division (Light) at Fort
Ord, Calif. After completing his service obligation, he left
the Army to follow God's call into Christian ministry. After
seminary, he served 10 years as a senior pastor in Michigan,
Colorado, and Illinois.
After the 9/11 terrorist
attack and a 15-year break in service, Jaedicke re-entered
the Army in 2002 as a chaplain.
His previous
assignments include Chaplain Basic Officer Leader Course
manager and developer, Fort Jackson; 3rd Brigade Combat Team
chaplain, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; Allied
Forces South Battalion chaplain, Naples, Italy; and
chaplain, 2-10 Aviation Battalion, 10th Mountain Division,
Fort Drum, N.Y. Jaedicke has deployed in support of
Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
Jaedicke's awards and decorations include the Bronze Star
Medal (1 Oak Leaf Cluster); the Combat Action Badge; the
Ranger and Sapper tabs; the Parachutist, Pathfinder, and Air
Assault Badges; German Jump Wings; and the German Armed
Forces Badge for Military Proficiency (Gold).
He
holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Claremont
McKenna College; a Master of Theology degree in pastoral
ministries from Dallas Theological Seminary; and a Doctor of
Ministry degree in preaching from Trinity Evangelical
Divinity School. Jaedicke is a graduate of the Command and
General Staff College and an ordained minister of the
Evangelical Church Alliance.
The stole ceremony is
among the oldest known rituals. Clergy wear stoles as
symbols of their spiritual leadership responsibility. The
stole reminds us of a chaplain's role as a spiritual-leader,
servant-leader, and as God's representative among the
people.
Jaedicke accepted spiritual responsibility
for, and will now be charged with leading and providing
religious support to the unit ministry teams of, not only,
the division but its seven subordinate brigades. The UMTs of
the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Teams; the 16th
Combat Aviation Brigade; the 17th Fires Brigade; the 555th
Engineer Brigade; and the 201st Battlefield Surveillance
Brigade, combined, provide their nearly 20,000 soldiers with
religious support and spiritual leadership, regardless of
denomination.
More photos available belowbr>
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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