Marriages in the US military, especially in this wartime environment, will inevitably face separation. One Army unit’s Chaplains placed special emphasis on marriages at a recent retreat, and they will continue that emphasis throughout the upcoming deployment. The news report notes that Read more
Chaplain (Capt.) Emil Kapaun, a World War II and Korean War Chaplain who died in captivity in North Korea, was recommended for the Medal of Honor by outgoing Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.
According to the Stars and Stripes,
Kapaun was captured by the Chinese in the fall of 1950, when Communist forces overran the 1st Cavalry Division in northern Korea near the Chinese border. American commanders had ordered their forces to retreat, but Kapaun, a Catholic priest with the 3rd Battalion, refused and stayed to care for the men who couldn’t flee.
Stripes also called Kapaun a “prisoner of war,” which while commonly understood is technically inaccurate. Read more
The Times of London online published an article on Chaplain (Lt Cdr) Carey Cash, the US Navy Chaplain at Camp David, the Presidential retreat.
The article appeared to rely heavily (if not exclusively) on the Washington Post article on the same subject the day before, though it took a far more provocative tone. It was entitled “‘Islam is violent’ says President Obama’s new pastor Carey Cash,” which is inaccurate on more than one level, and it attempted to emphasize what it claimed were Cash’s controversial beliefs. (FoxNews repeated the article with the headline “Obama’s New Pastor Views Islam as Violent Faith.”)
First, it likened Obama’s link to Chaplain Cash with his experience with Reverend Wright: Read more
The Washington Post revisits the background of Navy Chaplain (Lt Cdr) Carey Cash, the Chaplain for the Evergreen Chapel on Camp David, the Presidential retreat. Previously, Time momentarily called the Chapel the Obama’s “home church,” which lit off a firestorm of controversy and denials. The current article takes the more cryptic form in describing the situation as “The Pastor Who Has Obama’s Attention.”
Much of the article describes Cash’s background, including his time in combat in Iraq and his book, A Table in the Presence. It includes a short description of what the author calls “Cash’s controversial views on Christian proselytizing Read more
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 Read more
Nearly 100 American Muslim soldiers gathered at Fort Jackson to pray as a group to mark Eid al Fitr, celebrating the end of Ramadan. The call to prayer was led by Chaplain (Lt Col) Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad of the US Army Chaplain Center and School. The Chaplain lauded the soldiers’ participation, saying
We want (the Soldiers) to be empowered through the spiritual foundation that Islam provides.
When members of the military fail in their respect and protection of religious liberty, Read more
An Air Force Chaplain in Iraq has drawn the attention of his fellow servicemembers for his willingness to struggle, strain, and sweat right alongside them.
In the Air Force news release (“Chaplain Veers From Straight, Narrow Care”), Chaplain (Capt.) Chad Montgomery has worked under Humvees, helped mix cement with civil engineers, and has even been the “criminal” attack dummy for military working dogs.
He notes that some people (both in and out of the military) may have the wrong perception about what a Chaplain does:
“I don’t think people realize or know what your job is unless they do it,” the chaplain said. “I think people just think chaplains play with flannel graphs or something, just tell Sunday school stories. Read more
The integration of Chaplains in US military operations is so seamless that it is actually difficult to read a story about ongoing combat operations without hearing about the role of the military’s spiritual advisors. In a recent piece at the LA Times about the commander’s changing tactics in Afghanistan, the reporter happens to describe a Chaplain riding in an MRAP with soldiers: Read more