Coming full circle: A Hickam tale

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Amber Kelly-Herard
  • 15th Wing

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii—Have you ever felt you were in the right place at the right time?

Some would call this fate, or as Chaplain Lt. Col. David Merrifield, 647th Air Base Group Wing chaplain/Deputy Installation chaplain, would call it--a “Divine Appointment.”

In 1990, Airman 1st Class Merrifield arrived at the gates of what was then Hickam Air Force Base.

“I was in service dress with bags in hand looking for lodging,” said Merrifield, who was assigned to the 548th Reconnaissance Technical Group. “A lieutenant saw me and offered me a ride in his truck.”

Merrifield eventually made his way to the dorms and began to settle in but had little interaction with other Airmen.

“I went to the dining facility and saw a basketball court behind it,” said the Rutland, Vermont, native. “This 6-foot-4-inch-tall guy said, ‘let’s play,’ so we played and I’m losing 11-0, 11-1, 11-0.”

“Suddenly he looks at his watch and says we have to go to the chapel for study,” Merrifield continued. “I grew up knowing the truth, but the dots finally connected.”

Like many new Airmen, Merrifield was missing connectivity.

“The chapel changed the vector of my life,” Merrifield said. “I didn’t have to be anyone other than myself, I didn’t have to change my values.”

Following Hickam, Merrifield and his new wife received orders to Japan.

“I was married, but I knew I had to volunteer with the singles ministry to give back,” he said about his second duty station. “I met another chaplain who changed my life.”

While Merrifield was separating from the Air Force, the chaplain in Japan informed him about the Air Force Chaplaincy Program that offers a route to officership through seminary.

“I love God and I love the Air Force, so it was a great fit,” said Merrifield.

Now back to the present, the Merrifield family arrived at JBPHH in June 2020.

“Thanksgiving was my first major holiday here,” said the chaplain. “I knew I had to spend it at the dorms and give back.”

“I was near the dorms and I saw an airman with a big turkey fryer,” he continued. “He asked me if I wanted to join him as he was cooking his first turkey.”

The chaplain entered a non-traditional Thanksgiving celebration, but a Thanksgiving celebration nonetheless.

“I was seated at a picnic table with lawn chairs, everyone brought something like a bag of chips, and there was this airman beaming with his first turkey,” he said. “I knew I had come full circle—this was the reason I became a chaplain.”

The dorms Merrifield originally occupied are no longer standing, but the chapel is still located across the street from where the dorms once were.

“I preach in the chapel now that I used as an airman for bible study,” he said. “When I preach I have a direct view of where the dorms used to be.”

Throughout his career, Merrifield made supporting dorm Airmen his mission.

“Airmen are smarter and there are new ways to reach people,” he said. “But what everyone still wants is connectedness.”

“I know what it’s like, I was there being prior-enlisted, so I talk the language and I’ve been in their shoes,” he continued. “No one ever notices the chapel unless the chaplain goes out or someone invites you.”

Airmen in the dorms may struggle with connectedness, especially now with physical distancing enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Merrifield’s advice is Airmen need to get out there, just as he needs to visit the Airmen.

To continue his mission, Merrifield and the 647th ABG Chapel Corps and the Inter-Faith Council are moving to re-open the Gathering Place. The Gathering Place was formerly a place for Bible study, food, and fellowship, but it was closed at the beginning of the pandemic.

“Chaplain Merrifield says, ‘changing lives is tying what we do to eternal things,’” said Chaplain Maj. Henry Hahm, 647th ABG deputy wing chaplain. “By re-opening the Gathering Place, which by the way is also what the island of Oahu is named, we’re realigning the Chapel with Air Force Instructions 1-1 and 36-2618, the Enlisted Force Structure, to grow the spiritual fitness of our military ohana.”

“Particularly during the past holidays, when Airmen would typically go home to visit family couldn’t because of COVID-19 restrictions,” added Chaplain Maj. Matthew Hoshor, 647th ABG Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the deputy wing chaplain. “The Chaplain Corps rallied to help prepare a sacred space.”

The Air Force’s first-ever Spiritual Fitness Center opened last week.