As a Jewish rabbi attending the South Dakota National Guard Golden Coyote exercise, Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Mark Weiner didn't have many denominational duties to perform.

Only a "handful" of the 3,800 military personnel who were in the Black Hills for the two-week training event were Jewish, Weiner said, and he was only in the state for a few days mid-week, not on the Sabbath, anyway.

But like every chaplain in the U.S. military, the first rabbi that anyone remembers ever attending Golden Coyote had a mission to ensure the free exercise of religion for all the troops. Chaplains have a pastoral responsibility to their individual units, as well as denominational responsibilities that may extend beyond their units, he said.

"We use the term 'perform or provide' - you perform what you can and you provide what you can't," Weiner said.

Weiner came to South Dakota to provide religious support for the training brigades that he ministers to as an Army Reserve chaplain. In addition to guaranteeing the free exercise of religion for his troops, a chaplain's other missions include pastoral counseling over issues of redeployment, suicide prevention and family care.

"We call it 'ministry of presence' where chaplains are out and amongst soldiers to give them opportunities to discuss their concerns," he said. "Very often, we're on the front lines of serious personal or family issues … and then we help them get more specialized assistance that they may need."

Weiner, 55, spent one year at Walter Reed Medical Center in residency for clinical pastoral education, followed by a year at Landstuhl Regional Medical facility in Germany, where he supplemented the care of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When he's not serving as a chaplain for the 85th Army Reserve Support Command out of Arlington Heights, Ill., Weiner works as a chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com