Story by Mary Kroner
LINCOLN (SNR) - This month, the United States deployed thousands of troops to help evacuate diplomats, civilians, and Afghan allies from Afghanistan.
“Within 12 days they have pulled out 109,000 people. As a global event, this is unprecedented and historic,” said Father Michael Zimmer, a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln.
Father Zimmer is pastor of St. Mary Parish in Sutton and St. Helena in Grafton, and a teacher at Hastings Catholic Schools. He is also a chaplain for the Air National Guard.
Charleston, S.C. has become the main stage of operations in the U.S. All C-17s plan their refugee mission work through Charleston before going over to the area of operations.
When his base received the request, Father Zimmer volunteered to be the first Guard chaplain to respond to the need in Charleston.
The role of a chaplain for the Air National Guard is three-fold. The first role is to ensure all members have the freedom to exercise or not exercise their particular religious faith or tenets. They are advocates and provide those services. The second role is to provide leadership on moral and ethical issues as well as guidance on the handling of stressful events. Thirdly, chaplains are entirely confidential.
“Any military member can speak to us with the confidence that nothing they say gets back to anyone in leadership,” Father Zimmer. “It gives them the opportunity to vent or process the things they are seeing or experiencing.”
Referring to the challenges of this particular crisis faced by air force personnel, such as packed airplanes and babies being born onboard, Father Zimmer said, “That’s not normal at all and that can have a huge impact on individuals. My role is to take care of the wellbeing of those who are in the direct heart of this mission.”
Father Zimmer emphasized the sacrifice of servicemen and their families, many of whom received less than six hours’ notice before being deployed overseas to help with refugee transports.
“We recognize the importance of remembering that our military members are still people and things like this can impact them as well, not just civilians. It is inspiring to see them, and being part of taking care of them is such a unique gift,” Father Zimmer said.
Regarding the action Americans can take to help during this crisis, Father Zimmer explained that in the weeks to come, ways in which to assist refugees and their families will become clearer.
“Right now, it’s just an absolute mad rush to get as many people out as possible. They are staging in a couple different countries in Europe, and they’re going to be starting the process to bring them stateside,” Father Zimmer said. “Once they get stateside, that’s when the people of the Diocese of Lincoln will have the opportunity to help.”
