Kadena chaplain demonstrates courage, evacuates hospital

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Brooke P. Beers
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  "Clear the room, clear the room, clear the room! Everybody out!"

Those are not the words you would expect to hear while standing in a hospital room, but for one Air Force chaplain that's exactly what he heard one day while volunteering at a hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Although Chaplain Capt. Kevin Humphrey normally volunteered at the hospital during his free time, this day was anything but normal.

"We had two Afghan nationals come in [to the trauma center]," Humphrey said remembering the events of that day. "They were doing CPR on the male and the female was being wheeled in."

Chaplain Humphrey, now standing about 10 feet from the woman, then noticed she began chanting "in an unusual way."

"I remember noting to the person next to me 'I've never heard that before'," he recalled.
Then, as the doctors and medical staff began examining the woman they saw wires protruding from underneath her clothes and began to scream.

The medical team and Chaplain Humphrey immediately began evacuating the entire hospital, room by room.

"The people who were in the ICU who were too critical couldn't even move," he said. "So the staff waited there. They could have easily put their lives on the line."

Fortunately, that day did not end in such tragedy.

It was eventually found out that the battery pack and wires strapped to the woman's chest did not contain any explosives ... but that didn't change how those people felt.

"It scared everybody because it made them realize no place is safe in Afghanistan," he said.

Humphrey spent hours counseling and talking to the service members affected by the event.

"Even when things are difficult, we're there to put a smile on people's faces," said Humphrey. "I feel like I get the great privilege of serving our American heroes and it's my privilege to be able to do that."

Due to his actions that day and during the rest of his deployment, and his contributions to Kadena Air Base, Chaplain Humphrey was named the 2011 Air Force Chaplain Company Grade Officer of the Year.

"I keep telling people I can't believe I get paid to do this," he said. "It's such an honor. It's been humbling."