'Keep moving toward your destination'

  • Published
  • By Geoff Janes
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF Mildenhall --  When it comes to dealing with hard times, Lorraine Potter has a simple philosophy - "Face the challenge, move your lips in prayer and keep moving toward your destination." 

As a retired major general who holds the distinction of being the Air Force's first female chaplain, General Potter visited RAF Mildenhall to speak at the National Prayer Luncheon Monday at the Galaxy Club. 

The year was 1973, the Vietnam conflict was drawing to a close and things were changing for women in the United States. She played her part by breaking new ground in the Air Force. 

The Rhode Island native first began her military career as a young lieutenant serving as a hospital chaplain at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. 

It was the beginning of a career path that would take her all over the world until she retired as the chief of Air Force Chaplain Services at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. in 2004. 

"I was trained in (hospital ministry), so the Air Force chief of chaplains did a great job of sending me there," she said of her first assignment. "They were going to (create) a training course there that I had the certification to set up. So, it took care of the Air Force, but it really took care of me." 

Following her assignment in Texas, she was stationed in Korea despite some who questioned early on where her career might take her. 

"They were afraid that I would get the cushy jobs, and that I wouldn't go remote," she said of her then mostly male counterparts. "I ended up getting a (remote assignment) before many of them, and some of them never did." 

Even with the male-dominated work climate of the time, she said she was set up for success. 

"I found at the start that I had a lot of support," she said. "The Air Force chief of chaplains basically told my first two or three supervisors that he wanted women in the chaplaincy to work, and that they were to give me opportunities to succeed." 

And, succeed she did. 

Throughout the course of her career, she said there wasn't a time that her faith was challenged, but she did see human nature more clearly than she expected. 

"Sometimes it was like, 'OK, this is a sinful world we live in' - which is very evident," she said. "But more than that, I had unique opportunities in ministry that no one could have outside this military chaplaincy." 

One of those opportunities happened in Korea, and she said it made all the struggles throughout her career worth it. 

It was an icy, cold Christmas eve, and she was scheduled to go to three sites by helicopter with a priest and two Korean girls who played guitar. 

"We were on one mountaintop, and the priest said, 'Well, we'll do services together,'" she said. "There were about 50 Koreans, Americans - Airmen and Soldiers, and French soldiers who joined together in the chapel. 

"And that night, none of us wanted to be there. We would have rather been at home with our families. But, the scriptures were read in all three languages, we sang our Christmas carols together in all three languages ... it was melodious; it was great." 

She explained that the catholic service was held at one end of the alter, while the protestant service was held at the other. 

"I thought how (this was) the oneness of who we are as God's children breaking barriers of language and who we are away from home," she said. "The warmth of that night inside that cold chapel ... I've gone over that many times as kind of a high point."
For all of the wonder she experienced on that winter night, Ms. Potter saw something much different in 2001. 

On 9/11, General Potter was on leave from the Pentagon, but by midnight she had her feet on the ground and was helping with ministry there. Horrific as the scene was all around her, she said her beliefs were strengthened that day. 

"Part of Sept. 11,(2001) and particularly what I saw at the Pentagon, was that in the midst of all the tragedy there was great evidence that God had not abandoned us," she said. 

For her, that evidence came in the number of chaplains who were on hand at the time. She said there are only seven chaplains at the Pentagon on an average day, and of those, only one Army chaplain and a chaplain's assistant are assigned for pastoral care of the 30,000 people there. The other six chaplains focus more on administrative work of the headquarters. 

"There were over 40 chaplains in the building at the time (of the attack)," she said. "Some were there for medical appointments and there was a promotion board going on.
"Within seconds they were all out doing ministry," she added. "Every single one of them worked throughout the night, and they were able to very quickly call on other chaplains in the area." 

Everyone pulled together, and they were able to get through it, she said.
During the course of her career, General Potter said people have always visited the chaplain for the same reason - crisis. 

"If I had one wish, it would be that our Airmen and their families wouldn't wait so long to come see us," she said. "It's a scary place to walk in and ask for help. It's the most courageous thing a person can do." 

She went on to say that most of the time people are worrying about the "what-ifs." 

"Sometimes they think the chaplain is going to tell them what to do," she said. "We may ask some questions of them and help them make their own decisions. We just want to name the crisis, because then they know what they're going to do."