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Chaplain (Major General) Douglas L. Carver served as the 22nd Chief of Chaplains for the United States Army from 2007 until his retirement from active duty in 2011. He currently serves as the executive director of Chaplaincy for the North America Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. An advocate for the religious liberty of service members, veterans, and their families, he oversees the professional and pastoral support to 3800 Southern Baptist Chaplains who minister in various institutional settings in the United States and around the world.

A native of Rome, Georgia, he graduated and received his commission from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville campus in 1973. Upon graduation, he was recognized as a Distinguished Military Graduate and appointed as a Regular Army Officer in the Field Artillery Branch of the United States Army. After serving on active duty for six years, he resigned his commission to enter the ministry. He was subsequently commissioned as a United States Army Chaplain in June 1984 and returned to active duty.

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Chaplain Carver served in leadership and staff positions from the platoon level through Corps and the Department of the Army over his 38 years of military service. His previous assignments include serving as the 22nd Deputy Chief of Chaplains, United States Army, the Pentagon, Washington, DC; the Director of Training, United States Army Chaplain Center and School, Fort Jackson, South Carolina; CJTF-7 Command Chaplain, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, Baghdad, Iraq; V Corps Chaplain, Heidelberg, Germany; Deputy Command Chaplain, United States Army, Europe (USAREUR), Heidelberg, Germany; Installation Chaplain, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Career Management Officer, Office of the Chief of Chaplains, the Pentagon; Assistant Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Chaplain, Fort Monroe, Virginia; Assistant Staff Chaplain, Mannheim Military Community, Mannheim, Germany; 3rd Brigade Chaplain, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Eagle Support Brigade Chaplain, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and 29th Transportation Battalion Chaplain, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

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Chaplain Carver’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tennessee; a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky; and a Master of Science degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He also holds honorary doctoral degrees from Shorter University in Rome, Georgia and Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. An ordained Southern Baptist minister, he has pastored churches in Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia. Chaplain Carver and his wife have been married for more than 40 years. They currently reside in North Carolina near their two children and four grandchildren.

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His military awards and decorations include the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster; the Bronze Star, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters; the Army Commendation Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters; the Army Achievement Medal; the National Defense Service Medal with two bronze service stars; the Iraqi Campaign Medal; the Global War on Terrorism (Expeditionary) Medal; the Army Service Ribbon; the Overseas Service Ribbon with numeral three; the Army Staff Identification Medal, the Air Assault Badge, the Parachutist Badge, and the Ranger Tab.

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