From Arabic linguist to wing chaplain – McCrory retires after 28-year career

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  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs

VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. – Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Duane McCrory retired from active duty during a ceremony held Friday, May 30, in the chapel at Vance Air Force Base.

McCrory served the Air Force for 28 years, both as an enlisted Airman and a commissioned officer.

He enlisted in 1991 and attended Arabic language training at the Presidio of Monterey, California, followed by cryptologic linguist training at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas. McCrory served as an airborne cryptologic linguist specialist from 1993 until leaving the Air Force in 1997.

For the next few years he was a student at Abilene Christian University, Texas, earning a Master of Divinity degree. McCrory commissioned as an Air Force chaplain in July 2003

As a chaplain, he deployed to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, Balad Air Base, Iraq, in 2005, and in 2009, he deployed to United States Central Command, MacDill, AFB, Fla., and provided spiritual support to the headquarters staff.

Most recently, Chaplain McCrory deployed to Joint Special Operations Air Component-Central (JSOAC-C) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, from November 2017 to March 2018 and again from September to November 2018.

He has served as chaplain at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; Beale Air Force Base, California; Ankara Air Station, Turkey; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico; and Edwards Air Force Base, California.

McCrory served as the 71st Flying Training Wing chaplain from February 2022 until his retirement.

Before entering the retired ranks, the chaplain passed on some of his experiences and thoughts about his almost three decades of service in the U.S. Air Force.

Why did you join the Air Force?
When I first enlisted in 1991, it was during the Gulf War, and I joined for two reasons. I wanted to serve my country, especially in a just cause of helping to free Kuwait. I also saw it as a good way to pay for an education. After my enlistment, I used the Montgomery GI Bill to help me finish my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

When I came back in as a chaplain in 2003, it was because I thought with my experience as an Airman, especially with all of the deployments, I could really minister well to Air Force members as a chaplain. My wife, also, who experienced the deployments as a spouse, could partner with me in our service to Airmen and families.

What's your best memory of your first assignment?
Perhaps not “best” in the typical sense of the word, but my most significant memory from my first chaplain assignment to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, is from my time deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq in early 2005 as the hospital chaplain.

It was a very tough but rewarding time being there for patients and medical staff during the most difficult time in our lives as we saw so many patients come through with battle injuries.

You really know you’re having an impact on someone’s life. I clearly remember the time a patient came into the Emergency Room with an eye injury from a roadside bomb and he called for me to pray over him before he went into surgery that his eye would be saved.

After the surgery, when the doctor told him his eye would be okay, he asked for me to come and pray a prayer of thanks to God. That was one of my best moments in my entire career as an Air Force chaplain.

What are three reasons you would recommend the Air Force as a career?
First, I think the sense of belonging to a community, a family, is a unique part of being in the Air Force. There isn’t the same feeling working a civilian job.

In the military, people help each other when for instance someone is deployed and their family needs something. When people are stressed or going through something in life, supervisors and fellow Airmen reach out to check on them and help them through it.

Second, my family and I have loved all the different places we have traveled and places we have lived. Aside from wonderful places in the United States, we have lived in England, Turkey and Germany. You get to experience local cultures and travel to see things all over the world that you would not get to see otherwise.

Third, you get to be part of something bigger than yourself. You contribute to a mission that makes a difference in the world, whether it is training world-class pilots at Vance, or serving with Special Operators at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, who go and eliminate bad guys. What you do has an impact.

What advice would you give an airman or lieutenant just starting their Air Force career?
I would advise them to start by learning their job well and putting their best effort into that. Be teachable and always keep learning.

Then, don’t isolate yourself, but get involved in whatever the base or community has to offer wherever you are. Whether that’s going to drop night and celebrating with new pilots, being part of a service project in the community, or marching in a Veteran’s Day parade in your local town.

Try to experience the culture and things to do where you are stationed. I knew Airmen at Ram-stein Air Base in Germany that sat in their dorm rooms playing video games for most of their assignment and didn’t travel Europe even though they were right there and there was so much to see and discover.

I was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base where the town is relatively small and isolated. However, there is so much to do in that state from the annual balloon festival in Albuquerque and snowboarding at Taos. Be curious, explore and get involved. It will make your experience much better wherever you find yourself.

What is the biggest change you've witnessed in the Air Force?
I have seen a lot of changes in the time I have served. Uniforms changed from BDUs to ABUs to now OCPs. I appreciate that we have adapted uniform wear to allow for religious waivers and to be more like our partner nations.

Major Commands have changed and restructured, and we have changed the way we deploy several times. One of the best changes I have seen is the introduction of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. It is a game changer for helping people to get their education and still be able to afford to live while doing so.

It provides a housing allowance that the Montgomery GI Bill does not. It acknowledges the value of an Airman’s service, no matter what length of time, and prioritizes education even more than before to help people grow, learn, and be successful.