It has been said here often that the US military can provide an excellent example of religious freedom to other nations who have yet to fully grasp that human liberty.  Unfortunately, in efforts to shore up support with locals, it seems the local religion may get emphasized more than religious freedom.  For example, messages from Afghanistan often tout the United States’ respect for, support of, and even defense of the religion of Islam — rather than its respect, support, and defense of religious freedom.

US military chaplains may be an exception to those omissions.  Within the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa (CJTF-HoA), US military chaplains have been working with their African counterparts to help them understand how they work with people of different faiths:

The second of three Kenyan chaplains to visit Camp Lemonnier during a familiarization program was KMoSD Chaplain (Maj.) Lucas Gatobu, a Catholic priest and Kenyan air force chaplain. He witnessed firsthand how his American counterparts interacted with service members from different services and denominations, in addition to how different programs and facilities fit into the overall chaplaincy program.

For example, the Kenyan chaplain noted the Americans’ use of a shared facility for different faiths, as opposed to their practice of having distinct buildings for each group.

Some people think chaplains in the military are MASH-inspired Father Mulcahys who do little more than dispense religiously neutral platitudes and last rites.  In fact, as these CJTF-HoA chaplains have shown, they not only represent their faiths to their troops and serve the spiritual needs of all servicemembers, they also proactively support the strategic mission of the US military in their direct interactions with the host nation.