A Chaplain candidate recently explained what motivated her to join the US military Chaplaincy:

[Doretta] Fortenberry spent quite a bit of time visiting with battle-weary, solace-seeking soldiers [during a deployment to Iraq].
 
“They knew I was a Christian and would come ask me spiritual questions,” Fortenberry said. “We ended up losing six soldiers while we were there. Soldiers started to come to me trying to understand, questioning the deeper meaning of life, why does this happen, what happens when you die? Death was a real reality, and still is, for soldiers.”
 
It became obvious to Fortenberry that she could combine military with ministry.
 
“All of a sudden, there it was,” Fortenberry said. “This is what God had been calling me to.”

Fortenberry’s experience mirrors that of former Army Ranger and Chaplain Jeff Strueker:

As firefights and casualties mounted, the reality of combat set in and “men in [SSG Strueker’s] unit who had wanted nothing to do with God before were coming to him for answers…  They wanted to know what happened to their friends who died and what would happen to them if tomorrow it was their turn.  Strueker and a Christian buddy spent the better part of the next forty-eight hours sitting on their bunks in the hangar while men lined up to talk to them about God” (Stories from a Soldier’s Heart).

Some critics too easily dismiss the eternal questions men ask when faced with their own mortality and the necessity of taking a life.  Fortunately, in both of these cases these men (and possibly even women) had a friend whom they knew to be a Christian from their life witness with whom they could discuss these questions of life, death, and ultimately resurrection.  Chaplains, too, can provide this counsel — counsel that is likely more frequent than some may think.

Some claim to gain their faith in combat; others claim to lose it.  Some struggle, some grow.

Few, if any, remain completely unaffected.  Even atheists.