US military chaplains from US Army Africa helped train chaplains of the Burundi Army on combat-related stress.

The first such USARAF-led seminar of its kind conducted in Africa, U.S. Army Africa Command Chaplain Col. Jonathon McGraw said the seminar showed Burundi chaplains and medical personnel how to help their leaders identify signs and symptoms associated with combat stress.

The US Army has struggled through more than 10 years of war to support its own soldiers through what is commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of combat and separation-related stress.  The soldiers of Burundi have been deployed with African Union peacekeeping efforts in Somalia.

“It is important to assist with the soldiers and their families, [and] to prepare them and to reintegrate them when they return,” said Brig. Gen. Adelin Gacukuzi, chaplain general of Burundi Army. “It will be helpful to share the experience and benefit from the experience of those who have done this job [for] a long time.”

US military chaplains protect the religious liberties of members of the US military.  But as these Army chaplains have shown (yet again), that’s not all they do.