GERALD K. "JERRY" MOORE
MEMORIAL SERVICE COLORADO
CHAPLAIN ANDY MEVERDEN
DIRECTOR OF CHAPLAINCY, CB AMERICA
DIRECTOR OF CHAPLAINCY, CB AMERICA
CHAPLAIN ANDY MEVERDEN retired December 2014 as the senior chaplain for the Colorado National Guard. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, March 10 1954, he grew up in Oconto Falls where he attended St. Anthony’s Elementary and graduated from High School in 1972. Enlisting in the US Army two weeks after graduating high school in 1972, he began his active military duty military career as a Brazilian language linguist and military language instructor. He served as a missionary Pastor in Portugal in the '80s and as a US church pastor from 1990 to 2003. The first 14 of his 40-year military career, he served as an enlisted Soldier in Military Intelligence, Psychological Operations and Armor (M60A1 Tank Commander) before commissioning as an Army Reserve chaplain in 1989. Over the past 26 years as a chaplain, he served in Military Police, Hospital, Aviation, and Special Forces units. He deployed in 2002-2003 to Afghanistan with the Colorado Army National Guard Green Berets.
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There he established conversational English classes for Afghan High School boys and girls. He also led humanitarian missions to rescue orphans, widows, and the local ex-patriot community in Kabul, Afghanistan. "Chaplain Andy," as he is best known, served on 40 casualty notification teams to Colorado Families. He conducted over 500 burials of Colorado veterans since September 11, including the burial of WW2 General Omar Bradley's driver, General Douglas MacArthur’s statistician, and Medal of Honor recipient, Private George T. Sakato. He is married to Myra, an Air Force Veteran nurse who is currently volunteer chaplain for the Denver Rocky Mountain Submarine Veterans group. The son of a WW2 Soldier and Italian war bride mother, Chaplain Andy knows the pain and pride of honorable military service during war and peace. On 1 January 2015 he assumed duties as Director of Chaplaincy for CBAmerica, an association of 1200 churches across America, and as board member of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
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"Unconventional Chaplain: Winning Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan, 2002-2003"
WRITTEN BY: CHAPLAIN (COLONEL) ANDY MEVERDEN (RET)
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Published in May 2020, this 87-chapter non-fiction photo-illustrated memoir starts with the author’s experience in in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001, followed by an “invitation” to deploy with an Army National Guard Green Beret battalion to Afghanistan. This unit association begins with the casualty notification of a forward-deployed unit member and subsequent pre-mob training and JRTC certification. Upon arrival at Kabul Military Training Center, FOB195 picks up two missions in OEF-2: 1) mop up of insurgents and 2) training of the first two brigades of the new Afghan National Army. In addition to unit ministry and the training of Afghan soldiers in human rights (HR) and the law of war (LOW), the battalion intelligence officer (S2) encourages the chaplain to “get out” and
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develop humanitarian missions to engender good will with the local population. Little did the S2 know that the ensuring conversational English classes at the nearby Pol-e-Charki school would become the bridge to conciliation following a tragic training accident that claimed the lives of four boys from that very school, threatening to derail their training mission. The lead up, tragedy and amazing resolution (through the application of an ancient Afghan ceremony) demonstrate the cultural sensitivity, professionalism and compassion of the Green Berets. The heart-healing story is seen through the eyes of a versatile citizen-soldier chaplain, whose observations and interventions include an amazing series of story lines that are played out in two surprising epilogues.
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Page Created: December 2019, Last Updated: November 2021