Reserve chaplain provides unique capability to joint task force in Alaska

Chaplain (Maj.) Pat Travers brings unique capability to Operation Alaskan Road's joint task force.

As pastor of Holy Name Catholic Church in Ketchikan, he knows southeast Alaska. With 14 years in the Air Force Reserve--he's currently assigned to the 446th Airlift Wing at McChord Air Force Base, Wash.--he knows the military, too. And as a result of a three-month tour in Iraq last year, he has some unique insight into the challenges associated with deployments.

In his civilian capacity, Chaplain Travers has been a voluntary participant in Operation Alaskan Road for five seasons, having gotten involved by request of the JTF commander at the time. The priest visits Camp Wy-wuh on Annette Island, arriving via a U.S. Navy transport, to say Mass on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. whenever his busy schedule permits.

Operation Alaskan Road is an ongoing road construction project, a joint task force involving Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, both active duty and reserve. The participants are busy cutting a 14.5-mile road through the rugged terrain of Annette Island, the only federal Indian reservation in the state. The completed road will connect the town of Metlakatla with a ferry boat dock to be built on the northeast side of the island. Daily ferry service will facilitate transportation between the island and Ketchikan, Alaska's fifth-largest city.

Operation Alaskan Road has a chaplain billet, but it has been vacant for most of the 2005 season. Chaplain Travers has stepped in willingly. The pastor at Holy Name for six years, he says assisting the JTF is a natural extension of his work there.

"Annette Island is part of my parish, too," he said. "Being an Air Force Reservist makes me a better minister within the military environment."

His parish also includes Metlakatla, and he offers Mass in that community as well.

Chaplain Travers is aware of the stress associated with deployments based on his own experience at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq, in the fall of 2004. Although a road-building project in southeast Alaska is certainly less stressful, the location is still remote, with participants far from home, working long days and living in cramped quarters.

"Ketchikan is my home, but this is a real deployment for task force members," Chaplain Travers said. "The isolation, the weather, the strenuous nature of the mission itself--these can cause problems for some who are deployed here."

Chaplain Travers hopes his ministry has a positive effect.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed ministering here, and I hope to continue," he said. "What the joint task force is doing is very much appreciated by the people of Ketchikan and Metlakatla."

(Major Sater is assigned to Joint Task Force Alaskan Road public affairs, Annette Island)

COPYRIGHT 2005 Air Force Reserves
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