Chaplain (Maj.) Bradley West, a US Army Chaplain, was presented with the Gen. Methodej Kuban Medal by Chaplain Mirek Jordanek, Chaplain for the Czech unit stationed at Forward Operating Base Shank in Afghanistan.

The award was named for a Czechoslovakian Catholic chaplain killed in Auschwitz in World War II, who encouraged believers of all denominations to worship together.

As has been noted many times before, there is a shortage of Catholic Chaplains in the Armed Forces.  Chaplain West, a Protestant, was fulfilling his duties to see to the spiritual needs of all of his troops when he reached out to Chaplain Jordanek.  West asked him to help provide English-language Catholic services for American soldiers.

The article also made an interesting and relatively unknown observation of the local congregation:

During the evening mass, American, Czech Soldiers, and civilians from India, who work on FOB Shank, listened solemnly as Jordanek quoted a verse from the Holy Bible.

As in other locations, US Chaplains may serve a variety of military services and even nationalities, as demonstrated by the third country nationals from India working on the base in Afghanistan.  (This particular reference is to Indians attending the Catholic Mass led by Chaplain Jordanek, though it is a service made possible by Chaplain West.)

In serving as the spiritual leader and advisor for these personnel, should they desire that he do so, the Chaplain can provide them with the counsel and resources they need.  In the joint military environment, there is no prohibition against a Chaplain serving others.

The civilians from India could receive spiritual support and materials from the US Chaplain; the fact that Christianity is a very small minority religion in India does not limit their religious freedom when serving with American forces in Afghanistan.

Likewise, third country nationals in Iraq could also receive spiritual support and resources from US Chaplains–despite the occasional accusation to the contrary.