Former Marine and now U.S. Army chaplain, Capt. David Harvey, proudly displays an 11-year anniversary photograph in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, Aug. 3, 2012, of he and his wife with Harvey showcasing his Marine Dress Blues. Harvey volunteered to provide chaplain services to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 261 (Reinforced), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, while they conducted sustainment training in Kuwait. The 24th MEU is deployed with the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group as a U.S. Central Command theater reserve force providing support for maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

By 2ND LT. JOSHUA LARSON

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – U.S. Army Chaplain, Capt. David Harvey, is connected to the “Devil Dogs” of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in more ways than one.

Harvey is the chaplain for 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, a Rhode Island Army National Guard unit currently deployed in Kuwait, where he recently volunteered his time to support Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (Reinforced), the aviation squadron for the 24th MEU when they came ashore to train for several weeks.

The relationship began when Harvey, whose office is located at the far north end of the air field aboard Camp Buehring, began providing chaplain support to the 1204th Aviation Supply Battalion, located at the southern end of the flight line.
“As I was making my rounds between the two, I began noticing these strange creatures in tan flight suits and cranials along with strange aircraft – Cobras and Ospreys,” said Harvey. “I said to myself, ‘there’s Marines here.’”

However, he wasn’t pulled toward the Marines of the 24th MEU because of their tan flight suits or “strange” aircraft – his connection is much stronger than that.

Chaplain Harvey began his military career in 1989 – as a Marine recruit at Parris Island. His enlisted path took him through the ranks as an armorer in the reserves to Quantico’s Officer Candidate School where he was commissioned as a Marine artillery officer in 1994 and deployed with the 11th MEU in 1996 as a forward observer. He deployed again in 1998 with the 15th MEU as a platoon commander with Bravo Battery, attached to Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

Coincidentally, the reconnaissance platoon commander with BLT 3/1 in 1998 was a young Capt. Frank Donovan, now Col. Frank Donovan, commanding officer of the 24th MEU.

Sometime around 2004, Harvey said, he began entertaining the idea of becoming a chaplain. He had a history of involvement with teaching and mentoring throughout his life, including leading religious functions as a Marine aboard ship.

“Putting that altogether, combined with the military, which I had been in since I was 17, the chaplaincy was a natural progression,” he said.

Throughout this progression, several individuals helped him make the decision. Although most of these people were other chaplains in the Navy or Army, an unusual number of them were former Marines.

“The biggest question people ask is ‘why didn’t you just go Navy (The Navy provides chaplain services to all Marines). You spent 18 years in the Marine Corps, why the sudden change?’” Harvey explained.

He says this was something he wrestled with but decided he didn’t want to let his affiliation with the Marine Corps be the deciding factor.

“Once you strip off the rank, the uniform and get to the heart of it, everyone’s the same on the inside. As a chaplain, it doesn’t matter to me whether someone is Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, whether they’re a PFC, lance corporal, colonel… they’re coming to see me as a wounded person, not as a battalion commander.”
Chaplain Harvey was always checking on the 24th MEU Marines – stopping by, lending an encouraging word or just to say hello, even sometimes in the middle of the desert dark when there is a midnight shift change on the flight line.

“A chaplain’s priority of work is his own unit, then other military units. I’m not assigned as a Marine chaplain by any stretch of the imagination, and I’m not trying to take over for the MEU chaplain, but when the Marines find out you’ve got the club ring, got the tattoos, you can establish a rapport with them right away.”

The 24th MEU is in the middle of a scheduled deployment, currently supporting the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility along with maritime security operations with the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.