CAMP GRAYLING — Steve Fedewa hopes he never has to use the maneuvers he practiced as an ROTC cadet staff sergeant.

Fedewa, a Hubbardston junior, attended the Field Training Exercise at Camp Grayling this weekend and is planning on becoming a chaplain following his graduation from Central Michigan University and the ROTC program.

“I’m going into the Chaplain Corps. After that, I have to go to three more years at the seminary,” he said. “Then I’ll go wherever they need me.”

Chaplains are sent afield to look after the spiritual and psychological needs of their “flocks,” the group of soldiers in the area they are assigned to.

“Besides Sunday services, we do last rites, prayer for a unit before they leave,” he said. “It’s just making sure they’re all right. It takes someone who cares.”

While chaplains must go through all the same training as other troops, they are forbidden to take violent action against the enemy unless it is in self-defense.

“Chaplains are the only noncombatant in the military,” he said. “If you do (fight), it’s a forfeit of your commission.”

But in a worst-case scenario, the last thing any soldier wants to be is dead weight.

The rarely walked path of a chaplain was a natural fit for Fedewa.

“I’ve always wanted to join the military,” he said.

While he at one point intended to become a Marine, his brother joined them during Fedewa’s junior year of high school.

Afterward, the only military experience he could convince his mother to approve of was to go off to college and join the ROTC.

While he grew up in the Assemblies of God, he is non-denominational and attends services at His House Christian Fellowship every Sunday.

He said the military is exploring expanding the ranks of chaplains with representatives for several major religions, but Fedewa is focused on serving, spiritually at least, Christian soldiers.

“The (percentage) of Christians in the military has dropped, but there are still many out there,” he said.

‘Nobody messes with the chaplain’

When Fedewa completes his training, he will be able to attend the seminary of his choice to become a qualified chaplain. He is considering either George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Oregon or Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in California.

Once he is abroad, he will not be alone in the battle to keep his “flock” in good spiritual condition.

Chaplains have chaplain assistants — enlisted soldiers who serve as chauffeurs, ground crew and bodyguards. They are instructed to take a bullet rather than let the chaplain get hurt.

“Nobody messes with the chaplain,” said Nick Kroll, a cadet major and Zeeland senior.

Individual soldiers can speak easily with the more accessible chaplain assistants, who do what they can themselves and report up to the chaplain.

“The chaplain is more going to pour into his chaplain assistants,” Fedewa said.

Andre Mallett, a Holly junior and Cadet First Lieutenant, also is considering becoming an army man of the cloth.

“My dad’s a pastor and I’ve always been very active in my church,” Mallett said. “Well, you know the old saying, ‘There’s no atheists in a foxhole.’”

E-mail the author: Connor Sheridan