As a chaplain, there are times you feel like you can never be off , you always have to be on. Yet they (crew) see who you are and I can tell you I want them to see God in me. I want them to see a person who is genuine…even with all my bumps, bruises, warts and scars.
“You have to have a very forgiving spirit of the people around you,” says Holcombe. “You tolerate what they do and they tolerate what you do. There’s a camaraderie that is built and tested in a refining fire. It’s amazing to watch the interpersonal relationships that go on and how an individual begins to grow close and the word ‘shipmates’ becomes a term of endearment, not a derogatory one.
“As a chaplain, there are times you feel like you can never be off, you always have to be on. Yet they (the crew) see who you are and I can tell you I want them to see God in me. I want them to see a person who is genuine… even with all my bumps, bruises, warts and scars.”
Holcombe says what earns military chaplains the right to be heard is the very fact that they are present and accounted for among their soldiers, airmen or sailors—as in the case of the USS Enterprise.
“The saying is true that people don’t care what you have to say or what you know until they know how much you care. The ship’s crew knows I’m there enduring the same things they are—the separation from their families, the hardships and the long hours. They work 24-36 hours straight sometimes because that’s what it takes to get the job done.
“The American people would be absolutely amazed and astonished and proud of these kids— their sons and daughters—serving on the Enterprise.”
“Orchestrated chaos” is how Holcombe describes activity on the Enterprise’s flight deck, day or night. Imagine flying in to land on the Big E’s deck on a moonless night, when the only light for 100 miles is the small amount of light the carrier gives off with its landing lights. To a pilot, the landing deck must look like a floating postage stamp as the aircraft carrier— although mammoth—pitches to and fro at the mercy of a much larger ocean.
“You have so many people moving around doing so many different things, if you go up on the flight deck you’d better keep your head on a swivel,” says Holcombe. “You’re constantly looking around—over your shoulder, behind you, in front of you.”
The Navy chaplain believes it’s the military spouses—both men and women—left behind to keep the home fires burning who are the real unsung heroes of the Navy.
“When you think about leaving your home for six months and you’re married, there are things that happen. You leave one person and when you go back home, something mysterious has happened. You’ve changed and so has your spouse. So you begin to have these anxieties of the reunion because you wonder how she has changed, what’s she done and how you have changed in ways you may not even recognize.
“The amazing thing about my wife, Wendy, is that she is just as sold out to do this for God as I am,” Holcombe says. “I think that is such a quality in her life that God is able to give her the strength and dependence on Him to endure the separations and the hardships we have.”
Back home in Virginia, they have two sons— Brent and William—who also endure the long months without their dad’s presence. Fred and Wendy celebrated 16 years of marriage in May.
Sadly, when their anniversary rolled around, Holcombe was deployed somewhere on the other side of the world serving his country, but most importantly, serving God. OM
Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.
ACTION ITEM:
To view a video about Chaplain Holcombe, visit
www.onmission.com/Big-E. Pray for the more than 1,350 military chaplains endorsed by NAMB serving throughout the world.
ON MISSION • Winter 2012 39
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