477th Fighter Group, Welcomes Chaplain Pat Travers Published Jan. 29, 2018 By TSgt. Mike Campbell 477th Fighter Group Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, AK -- I would like to take this opportunity to wish a Happy New Year to all the members and families of the 477th Fighter Group, and to introduce myself to those whom I haven’t had the opportunity to meet. I’m Chaplain, Lt Col Pat Travers, and served previously as the 477th Group chaplain from 2008 until 2015. Since then, I’ve been an IMA at the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, but now have the happy opportunity to return to the 477th! As you might expect, service with the Special Ops community offered many wonderful experiences of ministry, and I leave it with tremendous admiration for the courage and determination of its military and family members. I am overjoyed, however, to return to the 477th, and to help reestablish our Chapel ministry here during the year-and-a-half before my mandatory retirement at age 67. The demands being made on our members and their families continue to increase as the world situation develops, and it is especially important that you have ready access to the spiritual care that is so necessary in order to meet these challenges. In addition to recruiting chaplains and chaplain assistants for our own Chapel office, it will be important for us to network with the Chaplain Corps members of the active duty Air Force and Army and the Air National Guard here at JBER in order to be able to meet your needs at any time. In civilian life, I’m pastor of Holy Name Catholic Church in Ketchikan, and also serve in the administration of the Catholic Dioceses of Juneau and Fairbanks, and the Archdiocese of Anchorage. I’m here at the 477th for the January UTA weekend, and should be fully “on board” by our UTA in February. If you would like to contact me in the meantime, my cell phone number is 907-723-7303, and my Church email is pjtravers@att.net. Once again, I hope and pray that you and your loved ones will each have a blessed and happy New Year!