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A candidate of a higher calling

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kali L. Gradishar
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Transitioning into an Air Force life, learning new customs and procedures, and understanding a different way to do things with a military twist is not always easy. Add to that, finding ways to perfect a sermon, counseling the young, old and in-between, and being exceptionally unaware of where the next adventure will lead, and you have a chaplain's candidate.

New commission, new career and an obligation to fulfill a higher calling.

"My number one goal follows Micah 6:8. 'To act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God,'" said 2nd Lieutenant Nicole Palmeira, an Air Force Reserve chaplain candidate on a 35-day tour at Fairchild.

Lieutenant Palmeira is a reservist currently on active duty with the 92nd Air Refueling Wing. Working with Chaplain (Capt.) Mark Williams, 92nd ARW, as her supervisor and having Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jeffrey Neuberger, 92nd ARW wing chaplain, looking over her shoulder from time to time, Lieutenant Palmeira has been taking additional steps toward chaplaincy since she arrived at Fairchild May 13.

From Commissioned Officer Training at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., to a two-week candidate course, the chaplain candidate is close to finishing her first of two tours required during summer breaks while in seminary.

Until mid-June, when her tour here ends, the lieutenant will be looking over Air Force Instructions and Air Force policy directives, as well as learning the ways of life for a chaplain in the service.

"I've definitely been getting a broad experience of what day-to-day life is like as a chaplain," said Lieutenant Palmeira. "Also, I'm not prior enlisted and I recently received my commission, so I'm learning about the Air Force and the way it's structured."

As a Massachusetts native, the lieutenant says she's "a Yankee, born and raised." She was also raised with a Catholic background and attended Catholic school.

"I decided that wasn't for me in junior high. In high school, a friend invited me to a youth group and I fell in love with God all over again," she said.

Staying true to Massachusetts, she attended Gordon College, graduating in 2003 with a major in youth ministry and a minor in biblical and theological studies. Before beginning seminary, she was involved in youth ministry inside and outside the church in all different settings.

"During that time I knew a high school student who was in JROTC and trying to join the Air Force at the start of the war on terror," said Lieutenant Palmeira. "There, I got some exposure to the Air Force."

She also received some insight into the service from her niece, an enlisted Airman who recently separated from the Air Force, and her husband's cousin, an Air Force officer.

"I had an enlisted and an officer perspective. I thought of who the Airmen were going to be, how they contributed and the sacrifices made by the families of deployed servicemembers. I already knew that I wasn't going to do youth ministry for the rest of my life," said the lieutenant.

From that moment, she decided she would become a chaplain: "To be the eyes and ears of the wing and help with morale, because without morale the mission won't succeed."

The lieutenant has had many mentors along the way to guide her to where she is now.

"The first is God because I wouldn't be here without a direction and without a calling. Then there's my husband, Jason. He is just a huge support. From the mundane to the bizarre, no one supports me like he does," said Lieutenant Palmeira. "There have been other mentors in my faith, from pastor's wives to friends. It's as if God is using us in each others' lives."

There are many directions that Lieutenant Palmeira has the opportunity to take. On active duty, she would like to attend clinical pastoral education, which would be in a hospital doing similar duties as she does now but with more counseling, or maybe work in a pediatric oncology ward along with a reserve commitment, she said. There would be a lot of work to be done there, among children with tumors and their families.

Joining active duty permanently is also an option.

"I think I can make a bigger difference as an active-duty chaplain. With her first priority being God, second family, third the Air Force and the ministry, and last being herself, the lieutenant stated, "In putting God first, I automatically take care of everything else.

"If I'm true to the gospel and true to God, things in the world will come around as God sees fit. If that means I will stay with the Air Force, then that would be great," said Lieutenant Palmeira. "In 10 years, I hope to see myself ordained, and, God-willing, I'll be re-commissioned as a chaplain in the Air Force with a family."

Though her plans for the immediate and near future are opportune, however uncertain they are at this time in her life, there is one thing that she desires to stay fixed.

"After all is said and done, after promotions and retirements and everything else God brings my way, I hope to hear the words, 'Well done, good and faithful servant,'" said the lieutenant. "All that comes with me when I go is what is in my heart."