"No Two Days Are Ever The Same": An RAF Padre's Work In Afghanistan

A nice little piece in today's UK MOD blog) on the work of Reverend (Flight Lieutenant) Matt Buchan, a reservist chaplain with the Royal Air Force currently serving Royal Air Force personnel at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. Nothing especially profound or exciting here, just a real and honest account of what chaplains try to do to serve military personnel and why they do it. Buchan is the first RAF reservist padre to deploy.

The Canadian Forces Chaplain Branch, which is triservice, has deployed a number of reservist chaplains during our time in Afghanistan. Reservist chaplains, like any military reservists, have their own jobs at home. Not every parish or congregation would be willing to let their priest or pastor go overseas for six or more months, and not every priest or pastor is good at managing competing priorities as a reserve chaplain - I know I wasn't. Hopefully the MOD blog entry has already been printed and proudly displayed in Buchan's parish back in Leybourne, Kent.