Welcome! It is a pleasure to greet you and thank you for visiting the web page for the Office of the Chaplain at the Joint Forces Staff College! This website tries to capture the width and breadth of pastoral ministry that happens in a diverse educational context within the U.S. military. It includes a survey of the activities planned and supported by this department, and it also contains descriptions of the roles and responsibilities that I, as the Command Chaplain, undertake in addition to the traditional roles of a chaplain on a military installation. If you cannot find the information you seek, or if you have further questions about my duties here, my contact information is on the left side of these pages.  Feel free to contact me!

Blessings,

Chaps

The Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) is the Norfolk, Virginia, campus of National Defense University (NDU) which is located at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C.  NDU falls under the direct supervision of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in order to carry out joint professional military education. Thus, the Office of the Chaplain at JFSC provides traditional pastoral care and counseling in a unique setting that educates Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard officers to serve in various joint billets within the Department of Defense. Civilians from other U.S. government agencies and officers from the armed forces of other nations also attend the schools of JFSC. By virtue of a memorandum of understanding with the Chairman’s Joint Staff, and as a representative of the Joint Staff Chaplain located in the Pentagon, the Command Chaplain of JFSC also provides pastoral care and counseling to military and civilian workers at Joint Staff South locations in Suffolk, Virginia, and NSA Hampton Roads.

The billet of Command Chaplain belongs to the Chaplain Corps of the U.S. Navy, and it requires the individual to be trained and certified in Joint Professional Military Education Phases I and II. In addition, the Command Chaplain must have a professional naval code in ethics. This additional educational requirement, which goes beyond what is required to be a military chaplain, enables the Command Chaplain to teach a military ethics elective to students of the Joint and Combined Warfighting School (JCWS), advice JCWS curriculum developers on the Foundations of Unified Action module on ethics, give an ethics lecture to students of the Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS), and be the ethical and moral advisor to the Commandant of JFSC

Commander (s) Donald Anthony Baker, born in Miami, grew up in Germany, Arizona, California and Florida as the son of dual military parents. After graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 2000, he attended Marine Corps Officer Candidate School and was subsequently commissioned a second lieutenant. As a logistics officer he served tours in 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MWSS-374), First Marine Expeditionary Force (G-4), and Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command (Headquarters Battalion). Among his official billets included platoon commander, detachment commander, training officer, operations officer, and company commander. In 2006, he resigned his commission as a captain in the Marine Corps and was re-commissioned an ensign in the Navy.                                        

In 2008, CDR (s) Baker returned to active duty as a Navy lieutenant and received orders to 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (MWSS-171) in Iwakuni, Japan. During his tour, he participated in Talon Vision 08, Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 09, 10, 11 and deployed to Manila, Philippines in support of the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.                     

In 2011, CDR (s) Baker received orders to USS BLUERIDGE, the Seventh Fleet flagship, permanently forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. For outstanding community outreach and relations in 11 countries in the AOR, he led the ship to receive the Project Good Neighbor Award in 2011 and 2012, a Navy wide award.

In September 2013, CDR (s) Baker reported back to the Marine Corp Air Ground Combat Center, Twenty-nine Palms, California where he served as the Chapel Programs Manager. In 2015, he returned to Headquarters Battalion to serve as the Command Chaplain.

In 2016, CDR (s) Baker received orders to USS MOUNT WHITNEY, the Sixth Fleet flagship, ported in Gaeta, Italy to reestablish the Supervisor Chaplain billet after a 13-year gap. During his tour, he participated in Black Sea Operations 2016 and Baltic Sea Operations 2016 with port visits to seventeen countries in the AOR. In 2017, CDR (s) Baker cross-decked to Destroyer Squadron 60 to serve aboard USS Ross in support of Operation Inherent Resolve during kinetic engagements in Syria.

At the conclusion of his time aboard the ship, CDR (s) Baker reported to Naval Air Station Jacksonville as the Command Chaplain in 2017. During this tour he received temporary duty orders to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to serve in a coverage gap.  

In 2018, the Navy selected CDR (s) Baker for the Ethics subspecialty code. He attended Duke University as a visiting military fellow in the Navy funded-graduate education program. Upon completion in 2019, he reported to the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) and attended Joint and Combined Warfighting School in Norfolk, VA. CDR (s) Baker is graduate of JPME I and II. He now serves as the Ethics Advisor and chaplain at JFSC.

In addition to the bachelor’s degree from FSU, CDR (s) Baker holds graduate degrees from Regent University (Master of Divinity in Practical Theology), Liberty University (MBA in International Business), and Duke University (Master of Theology in Ethics). He is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Philosophy from Liberty University. He is also a nationally certified Emergency Medical Technician.

Chaplain Baker’s personal decorations include Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (x 5), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (x 6), as well as various unit and service awards and campaign medals.

He is married to the former Ms. Jennifer Bradshaw. They have five kids in total: Chris, Ezra, Jesse, Asher and Selah.

WEEKLY BIBLE STUDIES

• Joint Forces Staff College - Tuesdays at 0700, Bldg. SC-1 (Normandy Hall), Room A-325
• Joint Forces South (Suffolk) – Thursdays at 1200 noon, Bldg. NH-19, Room 141 (SeaBee Plaza entrance)
• Joint Forces South (NSA Hampton Roads) – Thursdays at 1200 noon, Bldg. 116B, Room CR1142

The Joint Forces Staff College Chaplain has information on a variety of programs, services, and local resources including:

• On Campus worship
• Naval Station Norfolk and other local area worship opportunities
• Pastoral and Marriage Counseling
• Bible Study
• Marriage Enrichment and Personal Growth Retreats through Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO) program
• Suicide Prevention and Awareness

PURPOSE

Joint and Combined Warfighting School (JCWS) and Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS) students are encouraged to do more than simply study the material and pass their respective courses. Acculturation with each other and the community, and extra-curricular activities that build group cohesion, are also designed pieces of the curriculum. As a part of this emphasis, the seminars (classes) are also encouraged to participate in activities with community agencies and organizations which allow them to give of themselves in the service of others. The Command Chaplain is the coordinator for those seminar activities.  In this capacity, the Command Chaplain meets with the seminar points of contacts at the beginning of each term, gives them information they need to plan an outreach event in neighboring communities, and maintains contact to monitor success and record metrics of planned events.

The faculty and staff of JFSC are also encouraged to participate in community relations projects.  The Command Chaplain supports and encourages an enlisted petty officer who is assigned to JFSC and has been given the collateral duty of coordinating outreach events. Together, they write and revise the outreach standard operating procedures (SOP) for JFSC.

The pictures below depict some of the community involvement by faculty, staff, and students of JFSC.

PICTURES

Pictures will be forthcoming!