{"id":8604,"date":"2011-01-04T00:45:04","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T05:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=8604"},"modified":"2011-01-03T02:25:47","modified_gmt":"2011-01-03T07:25:47","slug":"army-spiritual-fitness-can-lighten-load","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/04\/army-spiritual-fitness-can-lighten-load\/","title":{"rendered":"Army: Spiritual Fitness Can “Lighten Load”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its continuing efforts to reduce suicides and improve the overall mission effectiveness of Soldiers on the battlefield, Army Chief of Chaplains MajGen Douglas L. Carver recently lauded the value of “spiritual fitness”<\/a> for both servicemembers and their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Army defines spiritual fitness as the development of the personal qualities needed to sustain a person in times of stress, hardship and tragedy. These qualities can come from religious, philosophical or human values…and form the basis for character, disposition, decision making and integrity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“That\u2019s what I think spiritual practice does, lighten the load,” [Chaplain Carver] added. “And who wouldn\u2019t want to take a few rocks out of a rucksack?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coincidentally, the Department of Defense published this article on Spiritual Fitness a few weeks prior<\/em> to an outcry by atheists<\/a> on this very topic.\u00a0 The article\u00a0adequately explains the Army is not\u00a0categorically calling\u00a0“spiritual fitness” a “religious” endeavor, despite accusations to the contrary by atheists.<\/p>\n

Carver recalled an interesting story from a morally conflicted Soldier:\u00a0 <\/p>\n

A soldier approached [Carver] and explained that he was a sniper, trained to kill the enemy. He was struggling with issues of guilt and forgiveness, the general said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not sure you can find some answers to those things outside of a religious or spiritual perspective,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you practice, regardless of what happens in a day\u2019s mission, I know you\u2019ll have the courage to handle it. It goes beyond training.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carver’s response seems to differ from that noted earlier<\/a>, when a Chaplain reportedly told a similarly conflicted Soldier that he couldn’t give him religious assurances of his conduct.\u00a0 Carver, at least, seems to acknowlege the “moral wounds” of war that try men who simultaneously value life and must take it.<\/p>\n

Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of Duke University\u2019s Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, indicated the value of the Army’s emphasis on spiritual fitness:<\/p>\n

\u201cA spiritual world view gives people a reason for living, gives life meaning,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re out there on the field, constantly on the alert, trying to figure out, \u2018What\u2019s my life all about?\u2019 \u2026 meaning is very, very important. When people lose their sense of meaning, they lose their sense of grounding, of direction.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In an apparent allusion to the philosophy behind “there are no atheists in foxholes,” Carver said<\/p>\n

People often are drawn to spirituality when it\u2019s time to face something significant, Carver noted, citing large chapel services at the beginning of the war and on and just after 9\/11.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its continuing efforts to reduce suicides and improve the overall mission effectiveness of Soldiers on the battlefield, Army Chief of Chaplains MajGen Douglas L. Carver recently lauded the value of “spiritual fitness” for both servicemembers and their families.\u00a0 The Army defines spiritual fitness as the development of the personal qualities needed to sustain a person in times of stress, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[20,5284,667,1268,2,10,1267],"class_list":["post-8604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-atheism","tag-chaplain","tag-douglas-carver","tag-harold-koenig","tag-military","tag-religion","tag-spiritual-fitness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}