MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- When Chaplain Christopher Earley arrived at The Basic School just before Christmas 2012, it was at his own request. “I came through here 13 years ago,” he said. “I know exactly what they’re going through.”
With almost 20 years of active duty service behind him, first as an enlisted Marine, then as a Marine Corps officer and for the last four years as a Navy chaplain, Earley can relate to a lot of the personnel he’s assigned to.
In 2006, Earley said, God called him to minister to Marines, and since the Corps doesn’t have its own chaplains, the only way to fulfill that calling was to transfer to the Navy. To become a chaplain, though, he had to earn a seminary degree and serve for two years as a full-time civilian pastor. The 41-year-old managed to accomplish both simultaneously while also working a three-year stint as an officer at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, after which he transferred to the Navy.
Earley pulled all this off as a married father of three by “burning the candle at every end, plus I have a supportive family,” he said. “It was more of God’s timing.”
After his time at the Warfighting Lab, he would have been promoted to major and given his next Marine Corps assignment. Instead, he managed to fulfill all his prerequisites and made a lateral move to become a Navy lieutenant.
He’s still not seeking promotion. While most chaplains of his rank would be diversifying their experience by also doing stints with the Navy and Coast Guard, he said, “I’m not here for promotions. I’m here because this is who I want to minister to.”
Having gone through boot camp at 18 and later marrying a Marine, he said, “My entire adult life has been the Marine Corps.”
Lt. Col. Daniel Tarbutton, executive officer at TBS, said Earley’s experience as an enlisted Marine, a TBS student and a Marine Corps officer adds substance and credibility to his counseling of Marines on the staff, as well as the student officers. He noted that most Marines on the staff have deployed to war zones, and many are reuniting with families and dealing with other post-combat issues.
“He’s seen it all already, he’s got so much experience behind him,” Tarbutton said. “Most of the time you get a chaplain who’s a chaplain, or who has only done religious services, or who maybe knows the Navy side of things. [Earley] is a Marine officer who’s also a chaplain.”
As a chaplain, before his arrival at TBS, he did a stint with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, including a deployment to Afghanistan and a year at Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, Japan.
Earley said he wanted to serve as the TBS chaplain because the position lets him represent the chaplain corps to every future Marine Corps officer.
“Those officers, they’re going to be leaders of Marines,” he said, adding that he wants them to understand the resource that their chaplains will represent to them and their Marines. “I get to teach them what a chaplain does.”
Too often, he said, Marines and especially Marine leaders think of seeking help as a sign of weakness. “I want to show them, ‘Hey, it’s not about a weakness, it’s about making you stronger.’”
Most service members are not aware that, in addition to providing religious services for those of their own denomination, chaplains also help those of other denominations to find religious resources, advise commanding officers on their Marines’ needs and morale, and — “This is our biggest one,” he said — care for anyone facing difficulties, regardless of their faith or lack thereof.
“We can come alongside them wherever they are and help them overcome whatever it is or get wherever they need to go,” Earley said, adding that he is legally bound to maintain complete confidentiality with those who come to him for counseling.
In addition to the more than 2,000 students and instructors at TBS, Earley and his one religious programs specialist also serve Weapons Training Battalion and the Marines at the Infantry Officer Course and the Martial Arts Center of Excellence. And then there are all the family members.
This position as a “single point of failure” is another aspect of the job he said he likes. When he was a communications officer, he wanted to be a battalion S6 officer so he would be the only person responsible for communications success or failure.
Also true to his style, he juggles the job with teaching at Liberty University, where he went to seminary school, and preaching at Open Door Baptist Church in Culpeper, where he completed his pastoral experience.
Earley is also president of the TBS Motorcycle Club, a position that Tarbutton said gives him another platform for outreach to the Marines.
As part of the school’s staff, Earley is also “very involved with the way things are run around here,” Tarbutton said. “He’s one of the best chaplains I’ve ever seen. Having a Marine chaplain is a huge deal and a huge benefit to us.”
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com