by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Whether delivering God’s blessings or karate chops, there’s nothing routine about 1st Lt. Rebekah Savage, the Florida Army National Guard’s first female chaplain.
A karate instructor in her civilian life, Savage said she joined the Army to “balance the ministry and the warrior” within her. Now based in St. Augustine, where she recruits others to serve God and the Army, Savage said her gender only raises eyebrows among those who don’t wear uniforms. In today’s armed service, when every soldier faces the real possibility of combat, Savage said most are just happy to have someone with which to discuss the spiritual possibilities of life and death.
“Any deployment, any mobilization of forces, makes everything more real,” she said following the Chamber’s Military Appreciation Luncheon last week. “People realize they really are in the military, they really could die.
“That brings up a lot of questions. People question what will happen to them, but they also question what will happen to their families.”
Questions about wives or children are most frequently fielded by Savage. She has a lengthy list of families that departing soldiers have asked her to check on. Far from a hindrance, Savage’s gender might actually put the soldiers at ease in those situations she said.
When Savage enlisted last year, she was prepared for a lot of resistance from the male military culture, “a lot of macho chest thumping,” as she puts it. She was surprised, and gratified, to find across-the-board acceptance.
“The concept is that these guys are more brawn than brains, but that’s just not the case,” she said.
Following graduation from Seminary Union, a New York theological school, the ordained Unitarian said the Army answered her need for “tradition, honor and discipline.”
In exchange, Savage has brought compassion and tolerance to an increasingly diverse military. Savage’s congregation not only comprises different ethnic groups, but religious backgrounds as well. She calls her faith’s understanding, “her greatest gift.”
“I’ve really tried to be respectful of other beliefs and to understand their faith from their point of view,” she said. “I’ve learned as much about other faiths as I have about my own.”
Tolerance is particularly important in a military that increasingly finds itself aligned against foes fighting in the name of a holy war. Savage said she wants to raise awareness of the Muslims fighting for her army.
“People can be faithful Muslims but faithful soldiers as well,” she said. “It’s the unfortunate ignorance of too many that you can’t do both.”