Carey Cash

The Rev. Carey Hall Cash[1] is a US Navy chaplain currently assigned to USS John C. Stennis as Command Chaplain.

A 6 ft 4 in graduate of The Citadel in South Carolina and of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Rev. Cash nearly became a professional football player. He is the great-nephew of the singer Johnny Cash.

Cash was born in Nashville, Tennessee to an accomplished, deeply religious family. His father, Roy Cash, Jr., was a fighter pilot in the Navy for 30 years. His mother, Billie, runs a Christian ministry and is the author of several books about her faith. His older sister, Kellye Cash, was Miss America 1987.

Lt. Cash served on the battlefield during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As a fervent believer, he was deeply committed to spreading Christianity within the armed forces and believed a "wall of angels" protected his men as they fought their way from Kuwait to Baghdad. He baptized more than fifty men during the war.

Chaplain Cash had been recently reassigned from Camp David, the U.S. presidential retreat. As such, he has found himself ministering to President Barack Obama. In this sense, Rev. Cash could be considered Mr. Obama's pastor. Additionally, he recently served as Senior Protestant Chaplain at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.