A DoD news release notes the practice of Chaplains travelling throughout Afghanistan to serve even at the smallest forward-deployed units in combat. The lengths to which these Chaplains go, FOB-hopping throughout the combat area, are another indicator of the importance of religious exercise within the US military.
US Army Chaplain (Capt) Carl Subler is profiled by the San Francisco Examiner in a revealing article that describes the comradery the Catholic priest shares with the Army troops he serves in Afghanistan.
His perspective on faith and suffering, while somewhat unique to hear someone say, is actually fairly commonly held:
I find the more creature comforts are taken away from us, in many ways, we look to God with even more hope.
Read more of the interesting article at the Examiner. Chaplain Subler was previously profiled here.
US Army Chaplain (Maj) Julian Padgett served the men and women of Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq, in late 2009. In his proactive efforts to minister to those on Marez, he reportedly “made the rounds along the base perimeter to comfort troops and offer prayers,” as shown in this picture dated in September 2009:
(DoD Photo, PO1 Carmichael Yepez)
An important detail is that Chaplain Padgett ministered to all the men and women on Marez supporting the US mission, including the pictured security guard, a third country national (TCN) from Uganda with whom he shared Read more
The story of how Army Sgt Jeff Struecker became US Army Chaplain Struecker is fairly well-known. Less publicized is the faith of Michael Durant, the helicopter pilot whose UH-60 Blackhawk was shot down over Mogadishu; the shootdown ultimately resulted in the deaths of his crew at the hands of the Somalis. Also killed were two Delta snipers, MSG Gary Gordon and SFC Randall Shughart, who received the Medal of Honor after volunteering to mount a vastly outnumbered defense for the beleaguered survivors.
Durant was a speaker at a National Prayer Luncheon at the US Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. He said that prayer was central to his survival: Read more
A short article at Army.mil details the sermon of a US Army Chaplain to Haitians during his humanitarian deployment. Chaplain (Maj) Brad Baumann was invited to preach in a devastated church in Port-au-Prince. His Chaplain assistant, Spc. Midine Beauvais, grew up in Haiti and was able to translate much of the sermon to Creole.
The most interesting part of the article, though, was the Haitians surprise at the presence of a Christian Chaplain in the military:
The locals don’t expect people in the military to be Christian and take time for God while on a mission…so they appreciated that the soldiers attended the service at their church.
Though there is often an emphasis on the “risks” of associating Christianity with the US military, people often forget that there can be cultural advantages to the mission, as well.
A somewhat under-the-radar controversy erupted in late January at Vanderbilt University. Apparently, the Muslim Students Association and the Army and Navy ROTC programs jointly sponsored a discussion about Muslims in the military, a forum entitled “Common Ground: Being Muslim in the Military.”
Vanderbilt junior Devin Saucier, who is also a member of the Youth for Western Civilization, and Vanderbilt Islamic chaplain Awadh Binhazim participated in a heated exchange that was videotaped and made the rounds of the internet. (It received enough publicity that Vanderbilt issued a statement clarifying Binhazim’s relationship with the school and expressing its support for free speech.)
Through several iterations of the question, Saucier asked Binhazim if he supported the Islamic belief that homosexuality was a capital crime. After a variety Read more
According to an Air Force press release, a reenactment of the first flight of a US military airplane will occur at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, commemorating the flight 100 years ago today.
The celebration is reportedly being held by both the Army and the Air Force. Obviously, the first military flight was conducted in a US Army aircraft.
Update: Read the post-celebration article, which includes pictures of the unique flyby of the Wright B Flyer.
An article at Army.mil explains the unique roles and necessity of the Chaplaincy to the success of the Army mission, something that applies across the services to the US military as a whole. One of the command Chaplains noted the value of the Chaplaincy goes beyond the tangible:
I would hate to think what the Army would be like without the Chaplain Corps. What if all of the positive spiritual emphasis in the world was removed in a moment? What would the world look like? It would be ugly.
Though not often said, there are moral virtues supported by religion and the Chaplaincy that positively contribute to the mission of the US military. Regrettably, those positive contributions are often forgotten, until they are removed and the impact of their loss is felt.
Via the Army Chaplaincy blog.