Chaplains have been a part of the U.S. Military for more than 200 years, and on Memorial Day 2013, these men and women will be honored for their dedication and service to the United States of America As they transition to civilian life, one emerging trend has been of their migration to the workplace chaplaincy world.
Marketplace Chaplains, America’s original and largest workplace chaplain organization, has many chaplains on staff who use their acquired military skills to help those in today’s stress-filled and problem-riddled workforce.
“When we interview to possibly hire them as a Marketplace Chaplain, we know they have experience and have performed their chaplain duties under stressful conditions,” said Greg Duvall, Michigan-area Marketplace Chaplains’ division director, who served as a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Military in Somalia. “Certainly the servant leadership model in the military works well in the marketplace,” he said.
There are 2,700 + Marketplace chaplains serving in 44 states, four countries and one commonwealth, with a wide variety of backgrounds. Many in leadership capacities have extensive service in military chaplaincy as well, including Gil A. Stricklin when he founded the organization in 1984.
“For some 239 years, America’s military, the finest and most successful military force the world has ever known, has relied on dedicated chaplains to help calm and comfort soldiers, sailors and airmen in harm’s way, and a great many of those same people continue to do so in today’s workplace,” said Stricklin, who retired as a military chaplain in 1994.
Among the other Marketplace Chaplains who have taken their military chaplain skills into the workplace is Doug Underhill, a former Navy chaplain who served as a Marketplace Chaplains Regional vice president until his recent retirement; Indiana chaplain Maurice Stonecypher served on a Navy submarine, and Northeast Regional vice president Andy Bunn, was commissioned as an Army officer from West Point.
“I think Marketplace Chaplains has a long history of transferring the skills needed as a military chaplain to those of a workplace chaplain, helping those hurts and hopes in the combat zones of the military and in everyday life,” said Bunn.
Stewart Wiggins, President of client company McLane Northeast Food Services, spent 9 ½ years in the Army in logistics, retiring as a captain, and said he sees an easy connection between chaplains in the military and Marketplace Chaplains at McLane Northeast. When he was hired at McLane and found out the company had chaplains, Wiggins reverted to his military experience and knew what a good management tool it was for his staff. “People will absolutely tell chaplains things that are going on in their lives that they won’t tell their bosses,” said Wiggins.
“It’s vital as we enter into this Memorial Day season to thank the many men and women who have served us so well in the military and those who have taken their valuable chaplain skills to serve others in the workplace, “said Richard S. De Witt, president and COO of Marketplace Chaplains and an Air Force veteran himself.
For more information on this unique service which has been featured on NBC Nightly News, CNN and in the Washington Post, the New York Times and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, visit www.mchapusa.com.