Moore started his career when he joined the Mississippi National Guard in 1963, when he was just 17, but he didn’t get in right away.

“There was such a build up for Vietnam during those days I couldn’t get in that first summer after high school,” he said.

Instead, he made a life commitment to go into the ministry and was transferred from the Mississippi Guard to the Army Reserve.

“There was no chaplain in the unit and I served as the chaplain assistant. I was just a young guy going to college, an enlisted private,” he said.

Moore graduated from Northwest Mississippi Junior College and then went to Delta State College before attending New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Army Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. He was awarded a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Waynesburg in Pennsylvania this year.

He finished the seminary when he was 29 and at that point there was a need for chaplains in the Mississippi Guard.

“I joined back for two years in the Guard and then served over 26 years in active duty for a total of 34 years,” he said.

He flew with other pilots in every helicopter except the Chinook, he said, adding that though he wasn’t qualified to fly the aircraft, he was allowed to sit in the front seat and even shoot rockets and guns.

“I have flown them all and shot just about every gun,” he said, adding that his favorite gun is the multiple launcher rocker system (MLRS) that shoots the Hellfire missile.

Of all the helicopters he has flown in, his favorite is the Apache, which he flew on during Desert Storm in 1991.

“It’s like a Cadillac,” he said.

Moore served in Desert Storm from 1990-91 as the Brigade Chaplain for the 101st Airborne Division. “I met so many people that I later came to serve with now at Fort Rucker,” he said.

He has been to Iraq and Afghanistan several times and even went back when he served as post chaplain in 1994.

After leaving Fort Rucker he traveled to Fort McPherson, Ga., where served as Command Chaplain at the U.S. Army Forces Command and oversaw 1,500 chaplains who worked with him.

He was also a member of the 82nd Paratrooper at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he served as their division chaplain.

“Out of the 10 active divisions in the Army, this (82nd Paratrooper) is the most elite,” he said. “We wore the beret before they changed it. Nobody wore the beret but us.”

People had to volunteer twice to be a paratrooper, he said, once for the Army and the other to become a paratrooper.

He remembers the day before he went into Iraq in February 1991, during Desert Storm, when he received a letter from a Chicago woman he had never met, that read, “Chaplain Moore you may not remember me but my name is Lana Striker, and I’m from Chicago, Ill. I’m the one that wrote you at Christmas, and I’m the one that sent you cookies on Valentine’s Day, and I did something today in the name of Sonny Moore so that if you ever need it, it will be there. I went to my local blood bank and donated blood in the name of Chaplain Sonny Moore so if you or any American soldier needed it, it will be there because you’re doing your part, and I want to do my part.”

“I never saw her, but I called her when I came back,” he said.

Moore retired June 30, 2008, at the age of 62.

His awards include the Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (five Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Achievement Medal (two Oak Leaf Clusters), Liberation of Kuwait Medal with three combat campaigns, Overseas Service Ribbon, Humanitarian Service Medal, Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge. He was also recognized by Army Aviation with the Order of St. Michael Bronze Medal and by the Army Field Artillery with the St. Barbara Medal.

Other assignments during his service included U.S. Army Aviation Center Chaplain at Fort Rucker, Protestant Chaplain at the U.S. Army Way College in Carlisle Barracks, Pa., Cadet Chaplain for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in N.Y., Division Chaplain for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., Battalion Chaplain for the 9th Engineer BN at Aschaffenburg, Germany, and Battalion Chaplain for the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan.

When he retired he had multiple job offers from colleges and the state of Georgia, but he wanted to return to the Wiregrass.

“I still feel part of the team, and that’s one of the reasons I came back to Fort Rucker,” he said.

In 2005, a Memorial Garden was dedicated to his late wife Martha, who he met in fourth grade and was married to for almost 40 years before she died July 4, 2005.

“She was a rare lady. I had to work hard to win her heart,” he said.

Currently, he works for Army Fleet Support as the program manager for Workforce Development and Community Relations.

He can often be found with the 24-hour maintenance work crew on the airfields talking to them about leadership and Fort Rucker’s mission.

“You might see me at midnight out there one night,” he said.

He teaches the supervisors basic leadership and tells all the new hires about his philosophy of the importance of the mission, value of hard work, positive attitude, value of relationships and power of teamwork.

Moore is also involved with United Way and recently donated $180,000 to the organization through AFS.

Moore has two daughters who both married military men and one son.

His daughter Pam is married to Steve Mathais, who served with Moore in Iraq.

“I met my oldest son-in-law when I was his chaplain at the 101st. He’s an Apache guy. I married he and Pam in August 1990, and four days later we spent an eight-month honeymoon in Iraq together,” he said.

His other daughter Tracy is married to Maj. Mark Ray, who Moore met at West Point while coaching the spring league football team Ray was on.

His son Tim works in development for Southern Methodist University in Texas and is married to his wife Jennifer. They have two girls, Macy and Sonny.

Moore has a total of seven grandchildren.

Along with working at Fort Rucker, Moore recently took the position of Interim Pastor of First Baptist Church in Enterprise, which provides services to more than 500 people each Sunday. He also serves as pastor of “Church on the Circle,” also in Enterprise.

Moore stays active in the community by serving as chaplain for Chapter 94 of the Disabled American Veterans and as a board member of the Dale County United Way. He is also a member of the Military Officers Association of America and Army Aviation Association of America.

Photo: (Courtesy photo) Alvin M. “Sonny” Moore III, left, and Dave Bates both served as chaplains for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. (Courtesy photo)