Even the youngest cadet knows that volunteerism and service are the heartbeat of Civil Air Patrol.
Chaplain (Lt. Col.) William Adam has taken that spirit to another level.
Working sometimes 10-hour days three days a week, Adam serves not only as deputy chaplain of the Pacific Region but also on the chaplaincy staff at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Washington, where he ministers to up to 6,000 active-duty military personnel.
A former police officer and college football player who holds a doctorate in theology, Adam has been a CAP member for 54 years. Chaplaincy plays a unique role in the organization beyond providing spiritual support.
“A chaplain is the only position in all of CAP that can serve to augment active-duty personnel,” Adam said. “It is a wonderful job to be able to encourage and uplift CAP volunteers and active-duty military when personnel are stressed with the jobs that they do.”
Growing up in a Bakersfield, California, family of deep faith that was steeped in military tradition — his family counted veterans of World War I, World War II, and law enforcement in its lineage — Adam knows the importance of his volunteer service.
He heard his higher calling early on.
“I knew from [childhood] that I wanted to fly and that I wanted to serve God,” he said.
That love of flying was fueled by his dad, a World War II veteran who flew the B-25 Mitchell and the P-51 Mustang. His father knew a flock of U.S. Air Force superstars at Edwards Air Force Base, including NASA astronauts, Navy and Air Force pilots, and aviation legend Gen. Chuck Yeager.
“As a child, I learned to fly sitting on my dad’s lap and holding the yoke,” said Adam, also a former Air Force fighter pilot. “I flew gliders in the Tehachapi Mountains and later progressed to powered flight. In fact, I had my pilot’s [certificate] before I had a driver’s license.”
As a law enforcement officer who served for 4½ years with agencies at the local, state, and federal levels, Adam “saw the worst of the worst,” he said. He became board-certified in investigating crimes against children, abduction, rape, and homicide cases.
“After 45 years, it was my faith and serving as a minister and chaplain that allowed me to do my work,” Adam said.
In his ministerial role for Civil Air Patrol, Adam is part of an Air Force Total Force initiative that allows qualified CAP chaplains to help remedy a shortage of clergy in the active-duty Air Force, the reserves, and the Air National Guard.
The chaplains must meet the same qualifications as their active-duty counterparts. As a result, they’re the only CAP members who can fill in and substitute for active-duty chaplains.
As expected, Adam’s day includes counseling, conversation, and prayer. But it can also mean cookies for command staff or comfort for anxious active-duty personnel facing their first combat deployment.
For chaplains like Adam, there’s no such thing as a normal day.
“The last time I did a ‘Deployment Line,’ some asked me to pray for them since it was their very first deployment,” Adam said.
“Some asked me to pray for their family since it was their third deployment, and a very few asked me if they could get a hug from me because they were scared.”
Other duties are part of military ceremonies — delivering invocations at change-of-command events, attending the final flight of an outgoing squadron or wing commander, or joining them after that flight, when officers are “wetted down” in a longstanding Air Force tradition.
And in somber ceremonies, he officiates full honors memorial services in coordination with the Air Force Honor Guard.
Adam credits Pacific Region Chaplain (Maj.) Michael Morison and other CAP chaplains for demonstrating CAP chaplains can be effective in serving the Air Force at Edwards AFB, not only in the chaplaincy but also embedded in every aspect of base life.
As in Civil Air Patrol, the active-duty Air Force wrestles with a shortage of qualified chaplains.
In CAP, the chief of chaplains from August 2021 until Aug. 18, Chaplain (Col.) Linda Pugsley, made growing the corps a priority. A recruiting drive has followed, based on the possibility that the shortage could stem from a lack of awareness of the opportunities available in CAP among qualified, trained local clergy.
Pugsley’s newly appointed successor as chief of chaplains, Chaplain (Col.) John Reutemann, has known Adam for years. Adams first met Reutemann as one of the latter’s students at the CAP Chaplain Corps College’s first Auxiliary Chaplain Course.
Adam is part of an Air Force-assigned mission that allows him to fully integrate as a chaplain with the Air Force.
“Chaplain Adam’s willingness to perform this backfill for the active-duty Air Force is one of the brightest examples of both CAP’s spirit of volunteerism and relevance to the Air Force,” Reutemann said.
“After all, he is doing for free what the Air Force pays a full salary to many others to do. Talk about volunteer service and Total Force integration.”
As in the civilian pastoral ministry and in secular professions, military chaplains cope with burnout. Adam draws strength in challenging times through his personal faith.
“Pastoral burnout is very real, just like in any profession,” Adam said. “But in my personal faith, asking my Heavenly Father — who I fully believe is real and who guides my life, for his strength, his wisdom, his peace, and his direction in order for me to help others — actually provides me the strength to carry on without any burnout.”
When he served in law enforcement, he investigated horrific violent crimes. “Depending on God in that law enforcement calling is the same as depending on God for my ministerial calling as a chaplain,” Adam said. “In the military, a chaplain may see horrific things as well as dealing with being a chaplain.
“I have been blessed with dealing in both worlds and it still comes down to depending on God’s strength and not our own.”
Amid all the challenges of chaplaincy, he said, countless moments confirm he was correct in following his higher calling. In his active-duty Air Force service, Adam takes special joy in two words.
“There are many challenges, but some of my joys in the last eight months has been having each one of the squadrons that I support … from the senior airman up to the squadron commander, to call me ‘their chaplain.’”
There are other joys as well. And it can be as simple as the question, “Chaplain, can we talk?”
“When active-duty military entrust me with their most personal thoughts, that is my calling and my extreme joy to be able to help, even if it’s just a listening, caring ear,” Adam said._____Paul SouthContributing Writer
This profile of Chaplain (Lt. Col.) William Adam, Pacific Region deputy chaplain, is 23rd in a regular series of articles showcasing how CAP and its members make an impact in their communities and throughout the nation.
