Brett Cartwright

Brett Cartwright . Chaplain Cartwright is the Regiment Deputy Chaplain at Parris Island.

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By Chaplain (LT) Brett CartwrightCOMNAVMARIANAS Chapel

Brett Cartwright, staff chaplain for Naval Base Guam.

Cartwright, one of the Navy officers who laid a wreath upon a grave marker, added he wished more people on the U.S. mainland knew about the high numbers of Guam residents currently serving on the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Brett Cartwright, left, staff chaplain for Naval Base Guam, and Lt. j.g. Christopher Meraz-Mata, community relations officer for U.S. Naval Forces Marianas public affairs office, salute a grave marker honoring fallen service members from the Persian Gulf War during the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Guam Veterans Cemetery in Piti May 30.

Students and faculty of Pacific Islands Bible College received a message of hope in leadership when Chaplain (LT) Brett Cartwright of U.S. Naval Forces Marianas visited them at the campus on March 2.

Cartwright was invited by the college to speak and share with the students at their Mangilao campus.

Cartwright had initially intended to speak to the students about building sturdy foundations, but had changed his speech at the last minute when he realized what the college was all about.Instead, he gave them a speech that dealt with leadership.

The college was established to help the churches of the Pacific and Micronesia by creating Christian leaders.As an officer and a chaplain, Cartwright is always in the position of having to lead someone.Cartwright knows that leadership is difficult and that it is something that the students at the college will face one day.

Cartwright shared his own life experience with the group of people.Cartwright had told them of his prior enlistment in the Navy, his hopes of becoming a doctor, and his eventual pursuit of a relationship with God.

Cartwright told the students that as leaders there would be difficult days before them, just like he experienced in a previous command aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69).Cartwright said many Sailors in that command had joined to support the war on terrorism and serve their country, but he shared that there were a lot of suicide attempts and depression because the ship was in dry dock and not supporting the fight.

Cartwright said he was almost assigned to join the Marines because of a need for chaplains on the front lines and was excited by the thought of it, but had somehow ended up at Eisenhower.Despite the change of orders and the new environment that affected him as well, Cartwright eventually saw the purpose of being at that command in support of its Sailors.

"The real ministry wasn't in the glory of the battlefield," he said."It was in the rust-pit of that dry dock.

Cartwright continued by reading a passage from 1 Peter, in which it described what it means to be a leader and the suffering that one must endure as a leader.The speech, combined with the passage touched some of the students like Murong Abraham.Abraham said one day when he graduates, he will be in a position to lead people in the faith.He said it is a difficult task where he's from, but the message Cartwright shared was a hopeful one.

"It encouraged me," Abraham said."I am a new student here [and] I'm only here for two years.It's not going to be easy to take the message back out there, but I feel better.I'm not worried."

Cartwright said he was excited to be able to share the message with the students.He said they are considered to be future leaders on the front lines of missionary work and spreading the word of God.

"It's exciting, because I have the opportunity to come from halfway around the world to meet people on the front lines of the mission field," he said.