"You have to be ready at any time, you have to be a chaplain every minute, because people will approach you, 24 hours, any time, no matter what you’re doing, in the military they know you’re a chaplain. So I came up with my own motto eventually, that I’m a chaplain every minute." (Audio Interview, 8:03)

Mark Andrew Jumper

War: Persian Gulf War, 1991 Branch: Navy Unit: USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) Service Location: Asia; Africa; Middle East; Europe; Caribbean; Okinawa, Japan; Korea; National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland; Guam (Mariana Islands); Kuwait Rank: Commander Place of Birth: TX

Mark Jumper was in seminary when he got a second calling, to join the Navy as a chaplain. He soon realized there was no time off for a military chaplain, who had to be prepared for consultation at any moment. During a desert training exercise, he pushed himself too hard and went down with heat stroke, depriving his men, as a senior chaplain reminded him, of his much-needed services during his recovery. Aboard ship during a threatened gas attack amid a shortage of masks, Jumper recalled the legendary Four Chaplains of WWII, who sacrificed their own lives to evacuate men from a sinking ship. Jumper also designed and implemented a Warrior Transition program for Marines looking to adjust to life after wartime.