BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. –
Being an Air Force chaplain is a long way from being a B-52 radar navigator, but Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jerry Helmen has enjoyed the journey.
The new chaplain for the 940th Air Refueling Wing hit the ground running during the unit training assembly July 7-8, 2007. Although he was himself new to the wing, he welcomed other newcomers during their orientation.
The Minnesota native explained that the military has chaplains so members are not prevented from freely exercising their beliefs. "Chaplains are especially important for those deployed to ensure the spiritual area of their lives is taken care of," he said.
The chaplain started out his military service in a different direction. A U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, he was a radar navigator on the B-52 bomber.
"I went from dropping bombs and sending them to the grave to saving souls," he said, smiling.
It wasn't an epiphany that brought Chaplain Helmen to the chaplaincy, but the inspiration of watching Chaplain Jim Elwell minister to the military community while stationed in Guam from 1975-1980.
"I saw what an impact he had on the Airmen, and I wanted to do the same thing," he said. He also started volunteering in the chapel and spending time in fellowship, and found he derived a sense of fulfillment and joy in it.
Chaplain Helmen left the Air Force in 1980, later graduating from the non-denominational Dallas Theological Seminary. In 1985 he came to California with a group starting Sacramento area churches. He started a small Protestant church in a local Sacramento community, and was the senior pastor until 1991. Since 1991 he has been the adult ministries pastor for another Sacramento church.
In addition to that, he is the director of Metamorphosis Ministry, a discipleship training center for college age students, and a part-time staff member with International Students, Inc., which embraces those students at the training center.
From 1985 to1999, at the same time that he was ministering full-time to the church, he was working full-time in civil service at McClellan AFB, Calif., as an electronics engineer.
Still, with these two full-time jobs, he felt the call to return to the Air Force. In 1988, he joined the California Air National Guard, eventually moving to the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield in San Jose.
One of his first assignments took him to South America where he was a traveling minister, or "circuit rider." He was assigned to a radar station with U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. and Peruvian Navy that were monitoring communications as part of a drug interdiction program. His eyes lit up when he talked about cruising the Amazon River on a Navy patrol boat.
In 2002, he participated in what was to be the last Operation Northern Watch in Turkey before Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
While assigned as deputy chaplain to the Combined Air Forces North staff at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey and later Aviano AB, Italy, Chaplain Helmen supervised and stood up bases in Cypress, Bulgaria and Romania. He also assisted in ramping up operations in Spain, Italy and England.
In the middle of all that, he arranged for a Christian rock band to come and tour bases, entertaining the troops. "I became the unofficial manager and roadie for the band," he said with a smile.
The Chaplain's transition from the Guard to the Air Force Reserve couldn't have been more timely, as the previous 940th ARW chaplain, Lt. Col. Michael Murphy, retired in June.
Chaplain Helmen is well prepared to assist wing members as they face the uncertainty created by the Base Realignment and Closure actions that will send away the KC-135s, and bring in the Global Hawk and other emerging missions. He took an early out from his civil service position in 1999 because McClellan AFB was closing.
"Everyone I knew at McClellan ended up getting a better job or a new opportunity," he said. "I'm hoping it will happen that way for the people at the 940th ARW and that they will be motivated to seek new opportunities."
"There is a spiritual bond and camaraderie with the Guard and the Reserve that is very special," said the Chaplain. "I am rewarded when I help people find their way through turmoil in their lives."
He feels people are very stressed when they think, with dread, about what looms ahead. "Once they are in the middle of a situation, they are dealing with it by then," he said. "When they near the end, they are often wondering 'what was I stressing about?"
That is when the chaplain will be needed the most, as he represents the only base agency that offers strict confidentiality and a safe haven for troubled souls.
"The spiritual tends to overlap into the practical," he said. "So I do a lot of different types of counseling."
Chaplain Helmen intends to begin Sunday morning worship services during the August UTA as his journey continues.