Tag Archives: Chaplain

AU, ACLU File FOIA over Rock the Fort, Rock Beyond Belief

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a Freedom of Information Act request over recent concerts at Fort Bragg.  (More accurately, they skipped the FOIA office everybody else has to use and sent a letter directly to the Secretary of the Army.)

Interestingly, the letter presents a schizophrenic perspective.  On one hand, they say Fort Bragg’s interaction with Rock the Fort was “unconstitutional.”

we believe that the actions of [Chaplain (Col) David] Hillis and the Department of the Army, in coordinating, planning and supporting last year’s Rock the Fort concert, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On the other, they demand to know if Rock Beyond Belief is truly being Read more

US Navy Chaplain Hull-Hops to Protect Religious Freedom

The practice of “fob-hopping,” or Chaplains bouncing from one forward outpost to another to minister to the needs of the troops, has previously been discussed.

Navy Chaplain (Lt) John Kelly adds another dimension to the extreme means by which the US military protects the religious freedom of its members.  Chaplain Kelly is a Roman Catholic priest, one of the most underrepresented faiths in the Chaplaincy by percentage.

Because not all Navy craft have access to a Catholic Chaplain, Read more

US Army Chaplain Assistant Followed God’s Call

A Chaplain assistant has an interesting story of his eventual enlistment in the US Army:  God led him to it.  From the Army article entitled “God Made a Path to the Army, It Made a Path to Peace:”

After Hurricane Ike, [Spc. Kendall] Jackson was laid off and out of work yet again. Desperate, Jackson said he started reading his Bible, looking for answers, but everything he read talked about fighting in the Army.

While he was out looking for work “with everyone else,” a stranger approached him, touched his shoulder, and said, “Do what God has told you to do.” Jackson shook off this odd encounter. Then, after a Read more

Chaplain Sponsors “Duty Day with God”

Chaplain (Capt.) Tony Cech came up with an innovative way to introduce himself to the men and women he serves.  He has led trips to the local Mount Mauna Kea observatories, which are the highest peaks in the area at nearly 14,000 feet.  These “Duty Day with God” trips serve several purposes:

The Army has developed innovative ways to help improve and maintain a soldier’s mental health throughout the years. One way is to help strengthen the spiritual health of a soldier with the help of Army chaplains…

[Cech’s] ‘Duty Day with God’ helps reduce stress and serves another purpose for Cech.

“I wanted to be able to take soldiers on a trip to help them relax and for me to try and build a relationship with them,” said Cech. “I wanted the soldiers to see an approachable chaplain for anything that is bothering them. I also wanted them to see that the chaplain goes everywhere the soldiers are.”

Read the full story.

DADT: Chaplain Endorsers, Training Begins, and Troop Inputs

The Alliance Defense Fund has filed an amicus brief in the Log Cabin Republicans lawsuit which had temporarily resulted in an injunction against the enforcement of the ban on homosexuality in the military. The brief was on behalf of a fairly long list of Chaplain endorsing agencies — the organizations required to provide endorsements of potential Chaplains before the military will accept them.  The list of Chaplain groups included:  Read more

Chaplain Team Reaches Troops through Holy Crap

Enter any military unit (but especially an aviation one) and you’re likely to find the bathroom stalls stuffed with reading materials.  In some cases you might find laminated copies of aircraft emergency procedures; in others, it might just be generic left over magazines ranging from Guns and Ammo to Newseek; in almost all cases you’ll find copies of the most recent safety publications.  (In years past, various levels of adult magazines could be found in most fighter units.  That practice has largely, though not entirely, faded away).

A US Army Chaplain’s team composed of Chaplain (Capt) Jason Hohnberger and his assistant Sgt David Cavazos recently took advantage of the traditional practice:

Holy Crap: Chaplain’s Thought of the Week, where Read more

The Military’s “Duty to Accommodate”

Mad Padre, a blogging Canadian military Chaplain, posted a link to an interesting article in The Maple Leaf, the Canadian military paper.  Entitled “Duty to accommodate in the CF,” the short article touches on the Canadian Forces’ policies on religious (and other) accommodation.

The article includes a picture of a Sikh Army officer.  The US Army has currently made few uniform exceptions for Sikhs within its ranks, both enlisted and officer.

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