THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesdday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610080440
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALVA CHOPP, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 83 lines
When the amphibious assault ship Bataan joins the Navy next summer, it will be the first in the Atlantic Fleet to include a female Navy chaplain in the crew.
Lt. Cmdr. Anne M. Krekelberg, currently the command chaplain for Naval Beach Group Two at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, will begin her ground-breaking tour next month when she joins the ship's pre-commissioning crew in Norfolk as the command's head chaplain. The Bataan, a helicopter docking ship, is under construction at the naval shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.
``The opportunity to serve on board a ship was too good to pass up,'' she said. ``And I don't foresee any problems because I'm a woman. My experience in the Navy has been a good one.
``The real challenge I see is to give birth to a new ship,'' she added. ``My expectations include a lot of administrative work, getting the new chapel set up and building the ship's library.''
Krekelberg's new duties will include ministering to the Bataan's 1,300 crew members and their families, conducting regular worship services onboard and working with the chaplains of the Marine Expeditionary Units that join the ship during deployments. After the ship is commissioned, a Catholic chaplain will also join the crew.
``No matter where people are and who they are, they need ministry," Krekelberg said. "They need to know there's someone who cares about them and is there to help them.
``We have a constitutional right to practice our religion in the armed forces, and I've found it to be a wonderful ministry.''
Naval Beach Group Two, the amphibious base's largest command, provides the command, communications and special equipment needed to assist troops landing from ship to shore and across beaches. Without a chapel setting for worship services, Krekelberg has spent her current assignment counseling to the men and women in the unit from her office.
``Most of the issues I deal with are marriage problems, personal situations and work issues,'' she said. ``In the eight years I've served, I've come to realize the Navy is just a small reflection of society in general.''
Noting that she is seeing more cases of domestic abuse and family problems, Krekelberg said she thinks people are becoming more willing to talk about their problems and ask for help.
``When we deploy, I get to minister to small congregations because we become a little family in our tents,'' she said. ``When you're living together in close quarters, it gives people an opportunity to open up and share their feelings.
``The stigma about seeking help is, I hope, going away,'' she said. ``That's what we're here for. . . we're not here to be reactive but to be a preventative to problems.''
Although happy with her career choice, Krekelberg, a native of San Francisco, says the Navy wasn't in her mind when she decided to join the ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
``We're a small Protestant denomination with a focus on mission work,'' she said. ``I met my husband in seminary. We got married and were looking for a church to pastor together when the director of ministers suggested serving in the Navy.''
After their commissioning in 1988, the Krekelbergs were assigned duty in Hawaii. Anne's duties later included staff chaplain at the Naval Medical Center in Oakland, Calif. and the Protestant chapel pastor at Alameda Naval Air Station in California before her assignment to the Beach Group.
Robert Krekelberg left the Navy this year but is active in pastoral counseling and is serving in the Navy Reserves. ILLUSTRATION: SOMEONE WHO CARES
CHARLIE MEADS
The Virginian-Pilot
Lt. Cmdr. Anne M. Krekelberg will be the Navy's first female
chaplain assigned to a ship. by CNB