A Day in the Life of a Royal Navy Chaplain
Revd Mike Pons
It is easy to say that each day different, yet many days
are just a repeat of the day before. Just the same as in any other walk of
life. The big difference about a Naval Chaplain is that our job not only takes
us around the globe, where we have the opportunity to visit places others might
just dream about, but that we work alongside the people we care about. We are
accepted as part of the team, but this acceptance is based on the fact that we,
like the rest of the ship’s company, spend a lot of time away from home. The
narrative below is a typical day in the life of a Chaplain while at sea in the
Arabian Gulf.
6:00 Woken up by
daily pipe – shower, dress and then breakfast
in Senior Rates Dining Hall
7:00 Morning
Prayer
7:45 CUB –
Command Update Brief with Head of Departments
8:30 Ship Patrol
10:00 Stand Easy
(coffee break)
11:30 Circuits (fitness)
12:30 Lunch in
Junior Rates Dining Hall
14:00 Ship Patrol
16:00 Cup of Tea
time!
18:00 Captain’s Brief
19:00 Dinner in
Wardroom
20:00 Ship Patrol
23:00 Head down
Ship Patrol – means that I wander around the ship
dropping into each department and talking to people, and more importantly,
listening to them. It means getting
involved and ‘walking’ alongside them incarnationally in their daily lives. This might include watching for sea life on the bridge (be that mammals or
boats), washing up or preparing meals in the galley, assisting with training
emergencies, e.g. a fire or a flood, spending time in the SCC (Ship’s Control Centre), visiting the Sick Bay, helping
out on the upper deck rubbing down and repainting the ship, spending time in
the hangar with the aircrew.
Each day the Chaplain tries to stay in touch with as many
of the ship’s company as possible. That
requires flexibility in our routines because the crew will be doing different
watches (6 hours on, 6 hours off).
It is a huge privilege to work alongside the ratings and
officers and be accepted as part of the team.
Oh and when you have a few moments you take those to
prepare a Sunday service….!!