455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
7/24/2013 - BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Comprehensive Airmen Fitness pillars are important to maintain at both home station and abroad, and Chaplain Capt. Myung Cho and his assistant Staff Sgt. Frank Rivas, travel day and night across Bagram Air Field, to ensure the airmen assigned to the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Group are spiritually fit.
Prior to a chaplain deploying they usually find out what unit they will be assigned to; In Cho's case, he found out a month beforehand.
"At home station, I was the chaplain for the mission support group," said Cho, on his first deployment from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. "So to be prepared, I immersed myself with the security forces Airmen to learn about their deployment experiences."
Currently at Bagram there are five chaplain and assistant teams: flightline, SFG, wing chaplain, and two medical group teams.
"Our primary mission here consists of visitations and counseling 24/7 with the unit we are assigned to," said Rivas, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing chaplain assistant, deployed from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. "I go everywhere the chaplain goes to provide protection. Also during our visitations, I help him gauge morale to see how the Airmen are, mentally, physically and spiritually."
According to Rivas, because of the reduced amount of paperwork here compared to home station, the chaplain teams get to spend more time with the Airmen, or in their case, the defenders of the base. Due to the 24-hour operations here, chaplain teams have to work shifts to support everyone. Cho and Rivas work weekly rotations, alternating with one week of days, and the following week at night, to make sure they get to visit everyone.
"Daily, Airmen here work 12-hour shifts at entry control points, towers, operation desks and patrols, often staring at the same person every shift," said Cho. "As people can imagine, there are only so many topics the same two Airmen can talk about before they run out of things to say to each other. And since they are not allowed any entertainment materials at their post, we visit them at their place of work to lift up their spirits, raise morale and to listen to what the airmen have to say, complaints and all."
Everything chaplains hear is confidential. The teams also make sure the members are getting to talk to their families and maintain strong relationships.
Sunday and Monday before defenders go to work, the SFG chaplain team travels to all five base sectors to make sure everyone has the opportunity to worship. Currently they offer 10 worship services and four to five different devotions at each one. Cho also plays his guitar and sings a song at each session.
"We work all over base lugging fifty pounds of gear daily to keep the base safe and allowing other members to do their jobs, but we need encouragement too," said Master Sgt. John Smith, 455th ESFS member deployed from an 164th Airlift Wing Memphis Air National Guard Base, Tenn. "The source of true encouragement comes from God and chaplain Cho is God's ambassador to us. He provides great chaplain services, but he also puts his vest and helmet on to come see us in our work place, because everyone needs encouragement."
According to Smith, spiritual fitness is one of the most neglected pillars with all that we have going on but Cho and Rivas make sure everyone has the opportunity to worship.
"My favorite part of being deployed would be full integration with the Airmen and knowing that I can help them in any way I can so they can carry out their mission," said Rivas, a native of Miami on his fourth deployment.
Cho said his passion here is to make sure the defenders are taken care of.
He said,"Our goal every visit is to make sure we bring a smile to their faces."
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