The Air Force is reducing its number of chaplains at a time when airmen and family members are seeking their counsel more than ever.

As of this spring, 544 chaplains were on active duty, but as many as 79 positions will be trimmed over the next two years, Air Force officials said.

The reduction of up to 15 percent in the chaplain corps stems from efforts to make certain that the most crucial positions in the Air Force — such as manned and unmanned aircraft pilots — are filled, and ensure that no field has more than the mandated number of personnel, officials said

Personnel cuts phased in about four years ago will leave the Air Force with 465 funded chaplain positions by the end of fiscal 2011. How close the Air Force gets to that goal depends on how many chaplains opt for voluntary separation and how many are given early retirement and involuntary separation, said Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ann Stefanek.

The cuts are fiscally motivated, an effort to balance competing mission requirements with limited resources, Air Force officials say.

Chaplains “contribute greatly to the Air Force mission and to joint operations,” Col. Joan Garbutt, Military Force Management Policy Division chief, said in a written statement to Stars and Stripes. But with high retention, the chaplain corps has grown too big, she said, adding, “We are merely trying to move the chaplain corps toward the right size for the Air Force.”

Boards will begin meeting this summer to decide whether to institute any early retirements for chaplains; then whether to consider any involuntary separations.

(Editor’s Note: PCA Chaplain (Major) Mike Curtis, the senior Protestant chaplain at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, tells The Aquila Report:
“At my base, we are working at capacity with counseling, worship services, and pastoral care to lead our nation’s warriors spiritually. As we lead through this change, we will provide excellent ministry across our base and on deployments. Our dependence on God will not change, nor the fact that people still need care. We are prayerfully working to bring God’s grace to our troops every day.”
This can-do attitude is typical of most chaplains who are working on the front lines. Force-size changes up and down are part of life in the military. But usually the downsizing does not happen during times of war.)

“We‘re a nation at war” said Chaplain (Brig. Gen.) David Cyr, Air Force deputy chief of chaplains. “We‘re deploying our warriors repeatedly. They‘re separated from their family, home, loved ones. They turn to their chaplains for help.”

Marriage and family issues remain the most-cited reason airmen and family members sought a chaplain‘s counsel, but from 2007 to 2009, combat-stress counseling cases jumped 350 percent, by far the largest increase, according to the Air Force.

The spike could be a result of more airmen deploying and for longer stretches, chaplains say. Across the Air Force, most 90-day deployments have moved to 120 days, and critical career fields — including the chaplain corps — have moved to 179- and 365-day deployments, according to Air Force officials.

Chaplain counseling sessions have increased 37 percent in recent years, from 130,329 in 2007 to 179,944 in 2009, according to the Air Force chaplain corps office.

The pending cuts in the chaplain corps also come at a time when the service‘s suicide rate is climbing. Through May 7, the Air Force suspects that 22 active-duty airmen have killed themselves this year, according to Air Force officials, more than half the total number of active-duty suicides in 2009. The service has not completed investigations in all the cases.

Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Cecil Richardson, Air Force chief of chaplains, said he understands the need for force-shaping, but laments trimming chaplains during wartime.

“We‘re fully engaged in the desert,” he said, “and we‘re fully engaged stateside.”

Source: National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces Newsletter Vol 5, No 1, June 2010