MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Lt. Sean Bland, a native of Jackson, Mississippi, is training at the Naval Chaplaincy School to serve as a chaplain for America’s seafaring warfighters.
Bland graduated from Ridgeland High School in 2014. Additionally, Bland earned degrees from Yale University in 2018 and Reformed Theological Seminary in 2022. Bland is also studying for a Master of Theology degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
The skills and values needed to succeed in the Navy are similar to those found in Jackson.
“My hometown was not that large and people knew and cared for one another there,” said Bland.
Bland joined the Navy four years ago.
“My father served in the Navy for 30 years as an enlisted sailor,” said Bland. “I joined the Navy because I wanted to provide the kind of pastoral care he did not receive as a sailor.”
More than 800 Navy chaplains from more than 100 faith groups, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist, serve in the Navy Chaplain Corps. After seven weeks of training at Naval Chaplaincy School and Center at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, the chaplains set on their mission to provide support and guidance to sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen at sea and on the shore.
“In conversations about national defense, you hear about great power competition and competition among peers and near-peers,” said Capt. Charles Varsogea, chaplain and commanding officer of the Naval Chaplaincy School. “The people of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have no peers. Part of what makes them peerless defenders of the Constitution is their determination to do so with body, mind, and spirit. No nation on earth can replicate the fighting spirit of our sea services. The graduates of our Basic Leadership Course are trained, developed, and inspired to give our seagoing warfighters the strength of spirit necessary to complete their missions with honor.”
Chaplains and religious program specialists (RP) play a critical role in helping the Department of the Navy achieve and maintain a ready force through the delivery of professional religious ministry and compassionate pastoral care. Chaplains and RPs are embedded within commands operating at sea and ashore to ensure 24/7 availability. They provide a source of comfort and refuge that enables service members and their families to practice and grow in their faith and to face personal and professional challenges.
“Navy chaplains encourage their shipmates to connect to the ultimate good and to a community that shares their convictions about what or who that good is,” said Varsogea. “Navy chaplains help people find the value, the meaning, and the purpose of their lives. Navy chaplains support people in their willingness to serve and sacrifice for the greater good.”
In the Basic Leadership Course, Navy chaplains learn to tailor religious ministry to life in the sea services, said Varsogea. They also learn how to facilitate the free exercise of religion for people of faiths other than their own. They learn service-specific ways to care for all people and they learn how and when to render their best military advice.
“The hardest but most rewarding part of both pastoral ministry and chaplaincy is being able to be with families during periods of difficulty, loss or grieving,” said Bland.
With 90% of global commerce traveling by sea and access to the internet relying on the security of undersea fiber optic cables, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity of the United States is directly linked to recruiting and retaining talented people from across the rich fabric of America.
Bland serves a Navy that operates far forward, around the world and around the clock, promoting the nation’s prosperity and security.
“We will earn and reinforce the trust and confidence of the American people every day,” said Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations. “Together we will deliver the Navy the nation needs.”
Bland can take pride in serving America through military service.
“Serving in the Navy means carrying on my father’s legacy and being able to serve something greater than myself,” said Bland.
