Eugene Slade, an Army chaplain at Dugway Proving Ground who graduated from the chaplains' program Thursday, recalls a Marine commanding him back into his hospital room.

The man, in his 80s, told Slade that his last interaction with a chaplain was when he saw one pray at the makeshift burial of scores of soldiers killed at Guadalcanal in World War II.

The man was gruff at first in talking to Slade but eventually softened to tell about his life. Later, he turned his back and cried as Slade offered a prayer of thanks for his and other Marines' sacrifices.

"It was an honor to be a part of his journey," Slade told graduates, referring to the chaplains' program. "Words can't describe the impact of this year on my life."

The chaplains' work in the program is perhaps as emotional as the ones who share. The training requires chaplains to put their own troubles on the table and work through them so they can better help others. They call themselves wounded healers, after the book "The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society," by Henri J. M. Nouwen.

"The hard part is the heart work," Allison told the graduates Thursday. "Chaplains, heal yourself before you can reach out and heal others."

Program participants also learn about ministry in intensive care, spirituality in medicine, post-traumatic stress, ministry to the abused, victimized and traumatized, ministry in a secular environment, professional boundaries, confidentiality issues, grief and the fellowship of suffering.

Sue Bergin became a chaplain after working as a journalist, a BYU professor and bereavement counselor. She now works in hospice care and already has received national certification. Her mother, Marian Bergin, says she's never seen her daughter so happy.

"I get to use my whole being," chaplain Bergin said of her work. "You use your whole self, and who you are, and what you have become."

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