UNIT MINISTRY
UNIT MINISTRY TEAM:
CH (CPT) Vincent GarciaSGT Justin McKinnon
MISSION:
Provide comprehensive religious support and quality pastoral care to all personnel assigned or attached to the 40th Signal Battalion and their families, in keeping with the core tenets of the U.S. Army Chaplaincy to "Nurture the Living, Care for the Injured, and Honor the Dead."
HIGHLIGHTS:
In FY08, the Unit Ministry Team took on the daunting task of supporting the religious needs of the battalion's 657 Soldiers and 603 civilian employees deployed across the countries of Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan on 26 operating bases and never missed a beat. His presence on the battlefield served as a source of inspiration and solace for our troops during the 15 month deployment.
CH Garcia and SGT McKinnon generated a battlefield circulation matrix and quickly set about to visit all of the bases that our Soldiers and civilians were stationed to not only offer counseling and ministry support, but provide critical suicide prevention and combat stress management training. In this capacity, and at increased risk to their personal safety, they conducted over 90 site visits with 112 Movements, logging in excess of 35,376 miles of travel to meet with every one of our Soldiers throughout the CENTCOM AOR at least once.
Recognizing the complexities of the modern battlefield, CH Garcia authored several training packages tailored to address the challenges of deployment separation on today's Soldiers when no such curriculum existed in the Chaplain's Corps. The training included topics such as effective communications with modern media and long distance relationship enrichment.
As another demonstration of his commitment to comforting and improving our Soldier's morale during the deployment, CH Garcia and SGT McKinnon personally engaged and solicited donations from several volunteer organizations in the United States and created the battalion's own Team 40th-Care Package program. They collected, packed, and distributed in excess of $32,000.00 worth of religious support resources, sundry, and quality of life materials to our Soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.
The Unit Ministry Team of the 40th Signal Battalion lived according to the mottos of both the battalion and the Corps of Chaplains: "Team 40th!" and "Pro Deo et Patria!", "For God and Country!"
