In only his second field service since deploying to Romania, as part of the NATO Exercise Steadfast Dart 25, Padre Daniel Alcock, Royal Army Chaplains’ Department performed two baptisms.
Corporal Lindsay Clarke was baptised during a field service in Romania, whilst on Exercise Steadfast Dart.
Colour Sergeant Ryan Grant was baptised during a field service in Romania, whilst on Exercise Steadfast Dart.
Reverend Daniel Alcock, 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The Reverend (and British Army Captain) Daniel Alcock performs a reading for a baptism during a field service in Romania, whilst on Exercise Steadfast Dart.
Baptisms are a public declaration of Christian faith, and these were Padre Alcock’s first baptisms on an overseas exercise.
Padre Alcock who only commissioned into the British Army in May last year said:
“Baptism is a public declaration of a Christian faith and normally done in front of friends and family. But for many people in the Armed Forces their friends and family are the people that they live and work alongside. There is no reason why someone couldn’t be baptised here in Romanian, and I am thankful that we have been able to facilitate that.
We ask so much of service personnel and what they suspend in life be it their favourite coffee in the morning, their gym membership or meeting friends and family. But one of things that doesn’t need to be put in pose is that commitment of faith and I am really proud we offer service personnel of all faiths on exercise that sense of continuation that helps with identity.”
“Baptism is a public declaration of a Christian faith and normally done in front of friends and family. But for many people in the Armed Forces their friends and family are the people that they live and work alongside.”
During the service Colour Sergeant (CSgt) Ryan Grant, 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS) and Corporal (Cpl) Lindsay Clarke, 21 Multi-role Medical Regiment (21 MMR), who had made the conscious decision to be baptised whilst on exercise, openly spoke to their fellow soldiers:
CSgt Ryan Grant, 4 SCOTS said:
“I have always believed throughout my childhood, I used to go to church all the time when I was at school. Then when my grandfather passed last Easter and we were going through his things that’s when I found out he had been christened when he was a child and that I hadn’t.
I had thought all through my childhood that I had been christened but my mum thought I could make my own choice. She did get a bit upset when she found out this mattered to me but something that could easily be sorted. That’s when I linked in with the Padre.”
Cpl Lindsay Clark, 21 MMR, who had lost her faith for a period of time, said:
“I come from Northern Ireland, and I grew up in a Christian faith in a Presbyterian church. I left the church when I was age 16, I suppose I stepped away from the church for personal reasons. Having served in Afghanistan, and on other deployments, I guess one person kept me alive and I am now at the point in my life that I am ready to reconnect and come back to the church.”
