An interesting article describes the busy life of a Chaplain serving the US Army in South Korea:<\/p>\n
I spend most of my time during the week working around my battalion. I\u2019m handling soldiers\u2019 personal concerns, from marital problems to issues with their commanders. Soldiers in my unit have asked me to \u201cbless\u201d their newborn babies and perform non-religious…weddings, among other things.<\/p>\n
Often I\u2019m asked to deliver a \u201cnon-denominational\u201d invocation prayer at change-of-command ceremonies and memorial observances, \u201cspiritual fitness events\u201d and other occasions.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Because the MPs work at bases all over the country, I\u2019m often on the road driving somewhere, or on the bullet train visiting troops outside of Seoul.<\/p>\n
Before the Army, I didn\u2019t have much of a background in counseling or attending to the psychological crises of total strangers \u2013 what they call the \u201cministry\u201d. But I\u2019ve become more proficient at it after four years of knocks on the door and phone calls in the middle of the night, sitting with soldiers, listening for hours as they confide in me about their dilemmas, disclosing the most personal of details.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This level of work and dedication is what military Chaplains do around the world every day for the servicemembers under their care.\u00a0 Unfortunately, something as simple as the traditional prayer at a military change-of-command sometimes gets criticized as some sort of secret attempt to take over the world for Jesus — and, yes, the presumption is always\u00a0that it’s Christians.\u00a0 In fact, the last failed lawsuit against the Army<\/a> specifically cited\u00a0only\u00a0Christian prayers in its accusations against the US military.<\/p>\n
The Army Chaplain in Korea, though, is Jewish<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Jews in Green covers the story of Chaplain (Capt) Shlomo Shulman.\u00a0 Shulman is\u00a0no more out to proselytize or take over the world than his Christian counterparts are.\u00a0 Like them, he publicly displayed his faith in the combat zone, even when Judaism may have been viewed with hostility by some locals.\u00a0 (He even “talked a platoon of…engineers<\/a>” into building a sukkah for a religious observance.)\u00a0 Like all other Chaplains, he prays at official events and speaks on Spiritual Fitness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He’s caring for the men and women who make up his ‘flock,’ whatever faith they may be.<\/p>\n
That’s his job; it’s the duty the Army has asked him to perform, because the Army values the religious freedom and spiritual well-being of all its troops.<\/p>\n
And it seems he’s doing an admirable job of it.<\/p>\n