931st welcomes chaplain

Published July 3, 2012
By 1st Lt. Zach Anderson
931st Air Refueling Group Public Affairs

MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. -- Chaplain (Maj.) John Key never really planned to be in his current position.

In 1984, the former enlisted Airmen left the active-duty Air Force after four years of service with no intention of ever again wearing a military uniform.

"I said goodbye to the Air Force and had no plans to ever step foot in it again," said Key.

But, as Key will admit, sometimes life doesn't exactly go as planned. In 1996, he found himself making a return to the military world he thought he had left behind for good.

"My pastor mentioned there was a spot open for a military chaplain. It was something I had never thought about doing, but I talked to my wife and we prayed about it and we agreed it was the right thing for me to do," said Key. "So, in 1996, I came back into the Air Force as a 2nd lieutenant."

Sixteen years later, Key is still in uniform as an individual mobilization augmentee assigned to Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. For the remainder of the fiscal year, he will be serving as chaplain to the 931st Air Refueling Group here.

As chaplain, Key said he wants 931st Airmen to know he is available to them, and can provide a safe haven to discuss any topic, be it emotional, spiritual, or other issues.

"One of the main things a chaplain can provide is confidentiality. An Airman or a family member can come to a chaplain and share anything that may be going on in their lives and it remains 100 percent confidential. They don't have that fear of their record being tarnished or of it going back to the commander. It stays right here," he said.

Key said one of his main jobs as chaplain is to simply listen and to help members work out solutions for various issues.

"We can help a person find some direction of where they are and where they need to be. For the most part, Airmen are able to identify what is going on with them and they can identify ways to fix their issues. A chaplain's job isn't to make them resilient and able to bounce back. It is to give them the tools they need to help themselves bounce back. Many times, they discover that they already had those tools within themselves. In a nutshell, many times we simply help them to help themselves," said Key.

Key said chaplains are available to provide a wide variety of services for military members, including weekly religious services, as well as burials and weddings.

"We provide pastoral care, spiritual fitness, and resiliency and mission readiness," he said. "We also provide advice for leadership on issues dealing with readiness and religious accommodation."

While with the 931st, Key said he wants to be as visible as possible and make as much contact as he can with the members of the group. His availability to group members, he said, is "100 percent."

"If I can speak to every UTA warrior that comes on this base, I will feel like a success. Just touch base with them and see how they are doing and how their family is doing."

He continued, "I wish I could clone myself and be in fifty places at once, because everyone has a story and everyone has a need. And a lot of times, they want to share that story. Chaplains do a lot more listening than speaking. And I wish I could do even more of that."

Key said he has one very important goal for himself during his time with the 931st.

"I want to be a representative, visible reminder of the holy, whatever the holy means to the individual," he said. "I want to help people understand there is more to life than simply doing a job and putting food on the table. If I can help a person understand there is hope, there is a future and there is more to life than what you are doing just now, then I'll feel like I've accomplished something."