Chaplain leaves footprints at Vance

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Frank Casciotta
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The day she separated from the Air Force in 2011, a 28-year old staff sergeant packed her bags, loaded her car and drove 1,000 miles from Joint Base Andrews, Md., to a hotel outside a college in Tulsa, Okla., which she had not yet been accepted to, but wanted to attend.

Rashaundra Singleton had hopes of attending the Oral Roberts University and becoming an Air Force Chaplain, she said. Within a few weeks she was accepted and is now a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve.

Singleton has an ear-to-ear smile and a laugh that fills a room with joy like a choir in a cathedral. Good characteristics of a person whose job it is to put people at ease and foster spiritual growth of any religious background for the members of the 71st Mission Support Group.

A military chaplain protects the free practice of religion for members of her unit. Singleton excelled at this during her six months at Vance and her footprints are everywhere.

"She's made such an impact during her short time here," said Chaplain (Maj.) Ruth Segres, the 71st Flying Training Wing deputy wing chaplain. "She is someone who genuinely cares about her people."

During her time here, Singleton has implemented programs like Ministry On the Move, a discipleship group, a singles retreat and a handful of other programs designed to help Airmen.

"It does not matter to her what their religious background is," said Segres. "She cares about the individual. She embodies and personifies what it is to have Service Before Self."

Singleton implemented Ministry On the Move to make herself more accessible to Airmen by visiting them in the dormitories here. Not unlike when she was an enlisted security forces Airman and hosting Bible study groups.

"I just go into the common area, arrange the couches in a circle and wait for anyone who wants to come," said Singleton a Fort Worth, Texas, native. "I wanted to show them that part of your spiritual life is to have fun, so we play games and talk."

The Ministry On the Move grew in popularity when Airmen who attended started to bring their friends and other Airmen new to Vance.

Singleton was often spotted at the entry control gate visiting members of the 71st Security Forces Squadron checking up on them. Having been a security forces Airman during her four years as an enlisted member she knows the unique challenges defenders face.

"My first assignment was Kadena Air Base, Japan, and on my first day I spent 12 hours in the pouring rain by myself standing next to an aircraft," said Singleton.

Her focus is not just junior enlisted Airmen. She visits their leaders and supervisors too.

"She's done two resiliency trainings for our security forces Airmen after listening to their concerns," said Segres. "She explained to their commander, without breaking confidentiality, what stressors their Airmen were experiencing. She knows her role as a chaplain is to be a spiritual advisor to commanders and their subordinates alike -- to be their eyes and ears on the ground."

Singleton also hosted a singles retreat where she brought a group to a state park and talked about resiliency for single Airmen.

"It's like we have a revolving door at the chapel for people looking for her by name, and when the next singles retreat will be," said Segres.

Her discipleship group is for Christian Airmen.

"I started this group because I have a passion for helping people understand the truth of following Jesus and counting the cost of following him through Biblical teaching and reading," said Singleton. "It helps people to understand the purpose of their faith and that it is a process."

Though she loves what she does, Singleton says becoming a chaplain was not what she aspired to do when she entered the Air Force. She wanted to be a lawyer.

"I wanted to be a judge advocate for the same reasons I'm a chaplain," said Singleton, who entered the Air Force with a prelaw degree in criminal justice, and bachelors in legal studies at age 24. "I love helping people."

Throughout the four years of her enlisted career she pursued programs like Officer Training School to achieve her goal of becoming a JAG, but doors kept closing on her.

"One day I just threw my hand up and asked God what my purpose was,'" said Singleton. "Then God told me I needed to become a chaplain and that's what I did."

Singleton has moved on from Vance and is now a chaplain at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.