Avoiding the Chaplain

When I first came to Ft. Bliss, there was a chaplain assigned here as part of the unit that was in charge of our preparation and deployment. I did not like her at all. I don't know if it was that she was loud, irrelevant, grossly overweight, or pretentous, but there was something....she complained about how the unit did not respect her position and tried to take her vehicle away, and how she maneuvered around the command to get an expensive 4 wheel drive rental at government expense...she whined about how she was not being fully utilized. She complained about how hard it was being a Reservist. Plus, she wanted me to help provide ministry to the soldiers while I was here...
I wondered if the rest of the folks going through the process with me were "requested to assist?" Did the cadre ask the mechanics who were deploying to go the motor pool and work on vehicles? Did they ask the medics to help with sick call or the clerks to handle the paperwork? Then why ask me to help do her job?
I wondered how the reunion briefing by the chaplain would go. I thought that her outgoing briefing was the next thing to horrible. How would the welcome back be?
As it turned out, the Chaplain Assistant did the briefing. Many of the assistants are quality soldiers and fully capable of doing the briefing. I am moderately impressed with him, and the briefing was, shall I say, "brief?" It was the shortest that I have ever seen; five Powerpoint slides, less than 4 minutes long. Obviously a "check the block" briefing and, to tell the truth, that was about all that we could stand or want at this point in the getting home game.
I just saw the Chaplain this evening as she was standing outside on my way into the offices.
She has actually gained weight, or else her dress uniform has shrunk. I was embarrassed for her, the Corps and myself. I turned another direction and walked behind her so that she and I would not meet.
I don't need this.