Tag Archives: Chaplain

Marine Officer Defends Beach Baptism of Marines

The LA Times blog on the beach baptism of US Marines at Camp Pendleton generated an unusually high amount of vitriol toward religious exercise in the military.  There were also accusations of command influence and coercion.

A recent comment posted at the original blog attempts to rebut those accusations with the first public first-hand account of the event:

As a Marine Officer and the Public Affairs Officer who covered this event I would like to say that this amazing event was completely voluntary. In fact the event started with a hand-full of Marines who approached the chaplain to do it. As others heard about it they all got on board.  Read more

Chaplain: DADT Repeal will “Shred…Moral Fabric”

A recently retired Army Reserve Chaplain minced few words in criticizing the proposed repeal of the policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”  Chaplain (Col) Alexander Webster (USA, Ret) said, among other things:

President Barack Obama’s initiative to rescind the “don’t ask, don’t tell” statute of 1993 will, if Congress yields to him later this year, shred the social and moral fabric of our armed forces…Fortunately for the nation and its military defense, many chaplains and their civilian faith group leaders are beginning, at last, to push back on the issue.

Webster cites the ADF letter from the Chaplains and the resolutions from Chaplain endorsers opposing repeal.

Conflict Between Belief, Regs Prevents Jewish Chaplain

The Wall Street Journal picks up on a story covered here previously:  Rabbi Menachem Stern has been trying to become a US military Chaplain, but is currently unable because he wears a beard as a tenet of his faith.

The 28-year-old rabbi was notified last year that he had been accepted as a chaplain in the Army Reserve. Almost immediately, Army officials contacted him to say the acceptance was a clerical mistake, and that unless he was willing to shave his beard, he couldn’t join.  As a Chabad Lubavitch rabbi, Mr. Stern refused, saying the beard is a tenet of his faith.

Stern is obviously aware of the Army’s previous exceptions allowed, including Chaplain (Col) Jacob Goldstein, who was grandfathered, and Read more

Chaplains Engage Locals in Iraq

Contrary to some assumptions, Chaplains in the US military do not exist solely to serve the spiritual needs of American servicemembers.  In fact, they often play a strategic role in a conflict.  From Chaplain (LtCol) Ira Houck:

Chaplains are the religious leaders in the military and religious political leaders in Iraq have respect for the integrity of our office.  It’s because of our position that they will tell us information about their areas of expertise that they wouldn’t share with anyone else.

While the use of Chaplains in these roles has a long history, there is a unique aspect of the cultures currently engaged by the US:

Religion is a big part of Iraqi lifestyle and politics. There is no separation of church and state here.

Read more at Chaplains provide new perspective on Iraq.

Muslim Soldier Claims Conscientious Objector Status

According to the Associated Press, US Army PFC Naser Abdo joined the Army last year but has since decided that his faith will not allow him to fight.

Abdo said when he joined the Army more than a year ago, he initially felt he could be a soldier and a Muslim at the same time. But he said he now believes Islamic standards would prohibit his service in the U.S. Army in any war.

According to documents provided to The Associated Press, Abdo cited Islamic scholars and verses from the Quran as reasons for his decision to ask for separation from the Army.

“I realized through further reflection that God did not give legitimacy to the war in Afghanistan, Iraq or any war the U.S. Army would conceivably participate in,” he wrote.

Abdo, for whom a “free Naser Abdo” website has been created, faces a similar problem as others who have thought about claiming CO status.  In order to be a CO Read more

Military, Chaplains Fight Suicide Trend

September is the US Army’s “suicide prevention month.”

The US military, and the US Army in particular, have fought a long battle to prevent servicemembers from taking their own lives.  An Army article notes the efforts of Chaplains in Iraq to fight the growing trend of suicide in the ranks:

“We want to prevent suicide, but we need to do more than just tell people to not kill themselves,” said [Chaplain] LtCol Keith Goode… “We need to give them something to live for, we need to affirm life.”

An Air Force article entitled “Life is precious” recently covered the same topic, as a commander recounted the suicide of a member of his unit:  Read more

The Ground Zero Mosque and the Pentagon Chapel

In response to the controversy over the “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York City, a spate of articles has taken to highlighting the “non-controversy” over Islamic prayers occurring in the Pentagon Chapel, just feet from the impact point of one of the other airliners hijacked in 2001:

The Pentagon chapel is part of a memorial to the 184 people killed in 2001 when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 flew into the west side of the Pentagon and plowed through three of the building’s five office rings.

As part of its massive renovation, the Pentagon opened the nondenominational chapel in November 2002. The chapel hosts a daily prayer group and weekly worship service for Muslims, and provides similar services for Jews, Hindus, Mormons, Protestants, Catholics and Episcopalians.  Read more

Go On Chaplain’s Retreat. Jump Out of Airplane.

Chaplain (1Lt) Domenic Grotti recently took 28 Soldiers through two days of relationship training called Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge.  When the course was complete, the Soldiers jumped from an airplane over southern Colorado.

“It’s an analogy really,” Grotti said. “Skydiving is about faith and trust. Trusting the tool and trusting the training. You put your life at risk, and Soldiers … put their lives on the line every day with relationships and it either helps them or hurts them. So if they can trust a tool or plan to give them success then … they may put their faith in that tool.”

And to think some people call Chaplain’s retreats “boring.”

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