Within minutes of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon, U.S. Navy chaplains (some of whom had been inside the building when the hijacked plane exploded into it) provided ministry to injured and traumatized victims. Throughout the day and night chaplains supported relief and rescue workers, comforted bereaved family members, and fulfilled the mission set forth by the Chief Naval Officer the day after: "…caring for those—military and civilian—who committed themselves to lives of consequence in wearing the cloth of the nation."

As direct ministry response continued at the Pentagon, other chaplains and staff members assigned to the Navy Chief of Chaplains Office established temporary headquarters across the street from the Navy Annex in the Virginia Department of Transportation building. There they identified the Navy members who had had been in the Pentagon and the hospitals to which wounded Navy members were transported. After the Navy Annex reopened to critical personnel, these staff members returned and set up a coordination center in the Chief of Chaplains Office. They worked to obtain Reserve support and organized ministry support teams to provide ongoing pastoral services to the rescue workers at the Pentagon. Casualty assistance support was the next requirement, and when Naval District Washington called for pastor presence death notification calls to next of kin, chaplains from throughout the District of Columbia metropolitan area participated.

By the morning of September 12, active duty and Reserve chaplains (with the help of Religious Program Specialists and Marine Chaplain Assistants) had extended a ministry of presence to the Joint Family Assistance Center in the Crystal City Sheraton, which provided grief and stress counseling to all who sought help.

For the two weeks that followed, Navy chaplains, Religious Program Specialists, and Marine staff members continued these efforts around the clock. Those assigned to the Pentagon command center, working in unity with their army and air force colleagues, worked the "deckplates" of the Federal Bureau of Investigation morgue. They stood by those assigned to mortuary affairs who were retrieving and processing human remains. Chaplains helped them keep their efforts in perspective by focusing on the sacred nature of the work rather than its gruesome dimension. Other chaplains and Religious Program Specialists provided comfort, prayer, and sympathetic ears to those struggling to extinguish fires, shore up the damaged areas of the Pentagon, and sort through the heartbreaking piles of personal effects. Others consoled relatives at the Joint Family Assistance Center and at Dover Air Force Base, and protected them from media intrusions.

The Pentagon was not the only scene of Navy chaplain service. Within days of the other September 11 attack, USNS Comfort had set sail for New York City, with chaplains and Religious Program Specialists aboard, working around the clock in support of rescue workers at the World Trade Center site. They have provided food, rest, and spiritual support. Other Navy chaplains are serving alongside their Coast Guard units amid the wreckage. Their work, sadly, will continue for some time.

Survivors and the bereaved have—and will continue to—come to the wells of spiritual strength and consolation. Navy chaplains and Religious Program Specialists have stood—and will continue to stand—by these wells, offering to all that spiritual "cup of cold water" our people desperately seek, servants to all and leaders in life-transforming service.

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