At Joint Base Lewis-McChord, there are more than 2,100 airmen across 18 units in the Air Force Reserve Command's 446th Airlift Wing. All come from different walks of life and have the inalienable right to religious freedom while serving on the homeland and overseas.

Charged with ensuring that freedom and providing confidential counseling where needed is the 446th Airlift Wing's Chaplain Corps.

"We're passionate about what we do," Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Pierre Allegre said. "We see this as a calling, not just a job. Morale is high in our unit, and it reflects in our ministry."

The Air Force Reserve Command, headquartered at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, recently honored the 446th Airlift Wing at JBLM with the 2014 Outstanding Chaplain Corps Program award.

This is the second time in three years that the 446th has received the award, which is given as part of the AFRC's command-level Chaplain Corps Annual Awards. The first time was in 2012.

The period of service the award was based on occurred from January to December, 2014.

The 446th Chaplain Corps team is comprised of Allegre, Chaplain (Capt.) Paulette Mixon-Weller and four chaplain assistants: Master Sgt. Norm Bolds, the non-commissioned officer in charge, along with Tech Sgt. Nick Karim, Staff Sgt. Buddy Bennett and Staff Sgt. Allen Jackson.

Bolds said the 2014 award "recognizes (chaplain) groups that perform above and beyond" and looks at how groups compare.

The 446th Airlift Wing rose above the other 38 wings in the AFRC.

Allegre and his team have a new headquarters in Building 1207, which is in closer proximity to the airmen of the 446th Airlift Wing.

"Once we got the office here, we started to get higher traffic," Bolds said.

Though the chaplains and chaplain assistants are in the reserves, meaning they're technically on the clock one weekend each month, plus two weeks once a year, they are all committed to helping their fellow airmen whenever the need arises.

Lt. Col. Anna Sullivan, chief of public affairs for the 446th Airlift Wing, said the Chaplain Corps is proactive about their outreach.

"We make it a priority to bolster resiliency for those who are deployed and help those who are transitioning back to civilian life," Allegre explained.

Allegre, a pastor at a civilian church in Lacey, said he always makes himself available to the needs of airmen and serves several more days each month. Jackson is a postal worker for the U.S. Postal Service. His main route is McChord Field. While delivering the mail, he said he makes an effort to listen to those airmen along the route who may need a chaplain's counsel.

"‘Meaningful unit engagement' is the new buzz word for the Chaplain Corps," Allegre said.

Two outreach programs serviced by the chaplain team and recognized with the 2014 AFRC award were Clergy Day, held in May 2014, and Rainier Medic, a medical field exercise held last August.

The Clergy Day, Allegre said, served a purpose to bring civilian clergy onto base and educate them about the stresses that airmen deal with upon their return from deployment and how civilian clergy can help lessen that stress.

A secondary purpose of the event was to recruit qualified clergy members into the Air Force Chaplain Corps. One such recruit was Mixon-Weller, who serves in the civilian world as a hospital chaplain in Portland.

The service and outreach provided by the chaplain team has resonated. In an October 2014 survey, 75 percent of airmen commented that they were extremely satisfied, and 24 percent commented they were satisfied.