Glade Eggett, the first LDS Navy chaplain to complete the chaplain candidate program, is currently in basic training for chaplains at Newport, R.I. After completing his training, he will report for duty at Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., where he will be attached to the Marine Corps.
Brother Eggett attended National University where he earned a bachelor's degree in behavioral science and a master's degree in counseling psychology.At the same time he completed his schooling, he served in the National Guard and fulfilled Church requirements to qualify for the chaplaincy.
"I've always known what I wanted to do," Brother Eggett said. "If I didn't do this, I feel like I would be held accountable someday. I feel like it was what the Lord wanted me to do."
He entered the Navy's chaplain candidate program when he began work on his master's degree. Through the program, he was commissioned as an ensign in the reserves. He spent his summers serving an internship on a military installation under the direction of the installation's senior chaplains.
Paul Jensen of the Church's Military Relations Department said the candidate program enables the candidate and the military to evaluate each other without obligation. The candidate can leave the program or the military can discharge the candidate. Brother Jensen said each service has its own chaplain candidate program and that Brother Eggett is the first LDS chaplain to complete the program.
Brother Eggett was born in Bountiful, Utah, grew up in Preston, Idaho, and left from Anaheim, Calif., in 1987 to serve in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. He met his future wife, Darlene Pickens, who served in the Philippines Baguio Mission, in the Young Adult program. They now have two daughters.
