Fort Bliss Chaplain Deployed 7 Times

Ready First: Brigade chaplain inspired by 9/11 to serve in Army, minister to soldiers
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 01/01/2015

Barkemeyer is also the most deployed Catholic priest and most deployed chaplain currently serving in the Army, Fort Bliss officials said. He has been to Iraq five times and to Afghanistan twice. He volunteered for six of those deployments.

Chaplain Maj. John Barkemeyer is the chaplain for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. He is the most deployed chaplain currently in the U.S. Army. (Rudy Gutierrez — El Paso Times)

Army Chaplain Maj. John Barkemeyer was a Catholic priest in the Chicago area when he was inspired to join the service.

He witnessed Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City. He served as a chaplain for the Chicago Fire Department when its firefighters went to New York to help out.

Barkemeyer also saw many courageous young men and women in his parish join the military in a call to duty after 9/11.

"I saw the selflessness in them and asked myself, 'Am I doing everything I can do?'" said Barkemeyer, a 50-year-old native of Wilmette, Ill. "That coupled with the Ground Zero experience were two eye-opening experiences. 'OK, God, you got my attention.' "

Barkemeyer has now been in the Army for 12 years and is currently the brigade chaplain for the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division. He became the Ready First Brigade chaplain in July 2014.

He helps fill one of the most critical shortages in the Army — a chaplain who is a Catholic priest. There are only about 100 Catholic priests serving in the Army and they probably need about 400 to ideally cover the needs of soldiers, Barkemeyer said.
read more here