Bolling chaplain returns from Ali Base, Iraq; says troop morale best in region

  • Published
  • By Mike Campbell
  • 11th Wing Public Affairs
As he approached the eight-year mark of his priesthood in 1999, ministering to the faithful in the staid suburban diocese of Newark, N.J., in towns like Maywood, Westfield and North Bergen, the Rev. James A. Hamel came to the growing realization that God had called him to more than the safe and predictable life of the American parish priest. His father's work had taken the family of eight from their home town of South Orange, N.J., to Japan and Hong Kong for 10 years of his youth, so the seeds, deeply planted, inevitably grew into a new calling, one that brought new challenges and major changes of scenery. 

Eight years later, Chaplain (Capt.) Hamel, the 11th Wing's Catholic priest in residence, returned to Bolling in late January after a four-and-a-half month ministry at Ali Base, in south-central Iraq, his third deployment to the region since his entry into the Air Force on July 4, 2000. And like most returning from Iraq, Chaplain Hamel, whose "job success" depends on getting an up-close-and-personal-view of the lives and spirits entrusted to his care, says troop morale at Ali Base is the best he's seen anywhere. 

"I was pleasantly surprised to see that the morale was very high in Iraq, higher, I think, than in the other countries in the AOR (area of operations)," the chaplain said. "I don't know about Afghanistan, but you take Kuwait, Qatar, UAE (United Arab Emirates), some of these other countries that support the mission in Iraq, I think the morale in Iraq is higher than in those surrounding countries." 

Although Ali Base is outfitted with such basic conveniences as computers, phone service to the states and an "unbelievable dining facility," Chaplain Hamel said the otherwise stark living and working conditions in the Iraq war zone actually help create an environment where great morale and an enhanced spirit of teamwork can flourish. 

"We have less in many ways (at Ali Base)," he said. "We're living more sparsely, which I think helps, unintentionally, to create bonding and espirit de corps, a reliance upon your wingman. We're so mission-focused that we don't miss the fact we don't have a giant movie theater there, or all the niceties. Most people work 12-hour shifts and there's a couple of TV tents, or you can play pingpong. So I think the more primitive nature of the base helps the espirit de corps ... the mission helps the espirit de corps. I think the fact that we were facing real and imminent danger all the time brings people together." 

Chaplain Hamel, who left Bolling in early September 2006 and returned in late January 2007, was one of two Air Force chaplains assigned to the 407th Air Expeditionary Group at Ali Base, the main airfield in that region and home to about 9,000 U.S. Army, Air Force, Romanian, Australian and other coalition forces. With an Air Force population of less than 600, he said his workload was steady, "but not overwhelming," and described a few of the many ways his former duties as a parish priest contrast with life as an Air Force chaplain. 

"The major differences are that in civilian parish life you deal mostly with your own kind," he said. "The only people that I knew in town, for the most part, were Catholic parishioners and priests. All I did revolved around just doing Catholic stuff, whereas in the military it's a pluralistic, interfaith environment. I not only deal with Catholics and Catholic things, I deal with all kinds of issues. I go to war, I deploy, I move around the world, I PCS (permanently change stations). There's a fluidity and a stimulation in the military that did not exist for me in civilian parish life. ... I'm here to assist in the spiritual concerns and needs of my fellow Airman. Obviously I pay particular attention to Catholics, because that's what I am and that's what I'm here to do. But as a chaplain in the Air Force, we're here for everybody as well. I can't just say, 'I'll only talk to Catholics' or 'I'll only see Catholics.' I'm here for all of the Airman. I see my role as kind of a spiritual brother in arms." 

Events some might consider "stimulating" can be extremely stressful for others, especially those working in the unstable environments found in many areas of Iraq these days, where sudden death lurks around every corner. Chaplain Hamel said he had a few of those moments himself, when he had to leave the relatively safe confines of Ali Base to perform his priestly duties for his Army brethren when their chaplain wasn't available. 

"I had to venture 'outside the wire' three times to say Mass at forward operating bases for the Army, because the Army Catholic priest (was on leave)," he explained. "So my chaplain assistant and I went where he normally goes, bases a half-hour, forty-five minutes off site. So we went and had the convoy there - Army convoy vehicles, gun trucks. I went out three weekends in a row; it was then that I really had to pause for a moment and run down a quick checklist in my brain of all the military training I had received - how to survive, how to operate in a hostile environment. Because when we're on the base we're inside the wire, we're safe from ground attack, except rockets. When you go outside the base, that's where the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are, that's where the ambushes are, that's where you meet enemy ground forces. It was then that you gulp, say a quick 'Ave' (Hail Mary) and hope that nothing happens - and nothing did. But the training all gets crystallized in that one moment as you're getting into a Humvee and driving out in the countryside. You're like, 'OK, am I ready for this?'" 

Though not everyday events, occasional rocket attacks keep the troops at Ali Base on their toes, he said, recalling one near miss that was memorable for the damage it didn't inflict. "How it didn't kill about 18 people who were standing right there is a miracle," Chaplain Hamel said. "The rocket landed 20 feet from where all these people were standing and all the frag (fragmentation) blew one way. And they were all knocked to the ground by the concussion of the explosion, but no one was hit with frag. It totally destroyed one of those bathroom trailers, thousands of holes, so all the frag blew that way. I wasn't standing there, I was about 200 feet away, but I'm diving down, going to get my helmet and flak vest. Yeah, it was a moment of excitement. 

"A lot of the stuff that I saw as a chaplain," he continued, "people would face their own mortality, especially after rocket attacks that would kind of create a little bit of spike in my counseling and in people's nervousness and anxiety. Outside of the rocket attacks, I mainly dealt with the normal problems people face in a deployment - loneliness, separation, a lot of time to reflect on the meaning of their life and their relationship with God. A lot of those things come to the surface." 

Despite the vast distance separating Camp Ali from his Bolling parish, Father Hamel said the connection remained strong throughout his time in Iraq, thanks to the overwhelming support and generosity of the Bolling community. In fact, so great was their outpouring of kindness, he said, that it affected nearly everyone at Camp Ali - a shining example of good will in action that means far more to our deployed troops than most realize.

"The support that we got from Bolling, especially the parishioners, the whole chapel staff just inundated me with gifts, food, cards, letters from the kids and all this stuff," he said. "I couldn't consume it or use it all personally, so it became a gift to the troops. It's those little things, those niceties, those touches from home, those letters of concern and 'Here's some baked goods' or 'Here's a card' that really lifts our spirit. And so, although Bolling didn't have many troops deployed to that location - I think I was one of three from this base there - the people of Bolling, especially the chapel community, played a vital role in keeping the morale of the entire base high. They were beyond generous to me and the troops." 

Now in his 15th year as a priest, Chaplain Hamel, an avid reader and music connoisseur - "rock, jazz, classical and a little opera" - who, amazingly, doesn't keep a TV at home - seems determined to continue answering God's call as an Air Force chaplain. "I'm here (in the Air Force) as long as I want to be," he said. "My archbishop ... has indicated to me that I can stay as long as I want. I like this better than civilian parish work. It comes with a cost as well, but the benefits of being a military chaplain outweigh the personal costs."