A trio of Latter-day Saints graduated Friday, Feb. 3, from the Air Force Chaplain Corps College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Capt. Grant Arnold, 1st Lt. Jenna Carson and 1st Lt. Hyrum Miller were already serving as active-duty Air Force chaplains. Completing the required four-week Chaplain Corps College course means they are now eligible to be deployed anywhere in the world.
The three chaplains agreed that passing the course was a necessary stepping stone, but the more significant achievement was qualifying for the chaplaincy and being able to perform important work they value and love.
“The accomplishment was getting into the chaplaincy,” Miller said.
“This represents the culmination of all that work,” Arnold said.
“The course doesn’t feel as much of an accomplishment to me as just getting into the chaplain corps in the first place,” Carson said. “Getting through officer training school, my endorsement process as a woman with the Church, those felt significant. ... But I’ve learned a lot. I have loved being here with Grant and Hyrum and feel supported by them. I’m very grateful to be doing this work.”
Maj. Gen. Randall E. Kitchens, chief of chaplains at the U.S. Department of the Air Force, attended the event, as did C. Todd Linton, director of the Military Relations and Chaplain Services Division for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Church-endorsed chaplains
Arnold, Carson and Miller are among hundreds who serve as Church-endorsed military and civilian chaplains worldwide.
The Church has selected and endorsed chaplains in the U.S. armed forces for more than a century. Information about Latter-day Saint chaplains and the different types of chaplaincies is available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
While the job requirements and duties of each assignment may vary, a Church-sponsored chaplain’s basic charge is the same: to serve people of all faiths by helping them meet their spiritual needs, especially during difficult times.
Capt. Grant Arnold
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ volunteer their time to serve in various positions in congregations around the world. The Church has no full-time paid clergy.
Military chaplains are compensated.
It’s something Arnold has struggled with even as he has felt divinely guided to become a chaplain.
“It’s not how our Church works,” he said. “The fact that I’m marrying religion and vocation will always feel weird.”
Before becoming an Air Force chaplain, Arnold served as an attorney for the U.S. Navy for five years. At one point he almost detoured to become a Latter-day Saint seminary teacher.
Arnold, who is married and the father of five children, graduated from BYU’s Master of Arts chaplaincy program in 2021. He is stationed at Scott Air Force Base at Belleville, Illinois, where he works with airmen and their families.
“And so here I am, struggling with it, but also I love it,” said Arnold, who served in the Korea Seoul West Mission. “Every day I get to see the hand of God in what I do working with people, and that is a beautiful thing.”
1st Lt. Jenna Carson
Carson first became interested in chaplaincy in 2015 during her first year at Harvard Divinity School. Some of her colleagues were becoming chaplains and the idea resonated with her even though she had never been interested in wearing a military uniform.
“It made sense,” said Carson, who served as a full-time missionary in the Florida Tampa Mission. “To be able to help people and walk with them during hard times is something I like to do. I love interfaith work and dialogue. I love meeting people and counseling with them. It just felt like a good fit. I felt like God was calling me to military chaplaincy.”
Carson’s quest to become a Church-endorsed chaplain lasted several years. As a woman pursuing a role previously exclusive to men, she encountered several discouraging obstacles but didn’t give up. She also faced the personal trial of a divorce during those years. Along the way she gained experience as a hospital chaplain and federal prison chaplain.
“Whatever I did, I was always being called by God to push again for Air Force chaplaincy,” she said.
Carson in 2022 became the first female military chaplain to be endorsed by the Church.
One of her favorite parts of the job is learning from her chaplain colleagues of other faiths and religious traditions.
“I love it so much,” she said. “I get to learn so much from them and have what we sometimes talk about as ‘holy envy,’ seeing all the rich spiritual and religious practices of our colleagues, and seeing the beautiful traditions that they have. My life is so enriched by them.”
Carson will return to serve airmen at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.
1st Lt. Hyrum Miller
Miller served a Latter-day Saint mission in Armenia and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at BYU, but wasn’t sure about his next step.
He knew he wanted to be in a “helping profession” and considered becoming a counselor, social worker or seminary teacher before he found inspiration in Church President Russell M. Nelson’s April 2018 talk, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives.”
After scripture study and prayer while camping with his wife, Miller felt directed to become a chaplain.
“This idea that God wanted me to be a chaplain entered into my heart,” he said. “From that time forward, I started to do whatever I could to make that happen.”
Miller, who is married and the father of three daughters, also graduated from BYU’s Master of Arts chaplaincy program in 2021. He will continue his chaplaincy by working with security forces members at F.E Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“I know this is where I need to be and I have received a lot of joy and satisfaction in serving thus far as a chaplain,” he said. “And I’m looking forward to the years ahead.”
