A sunrise Easter service, which may trace its tradition back to the early 1700s, was celebrated at Fort Stewart, Georgia, with a unique speaker.
It turns out General Stanley McChrystal, who is currently the commander of US military forces in Afghanistan, has a brother who is a retired Colonel…and Chaplain.
Marne Garden ushered in Easter morning with a message from Chaplain (Col.) Scott McChrystal (Ret.), that God is alive. Read more
In an effort to combine physical and spiritual fitness, some Army Chaplains have hosted “spiritual fitness runs:”
Spiritual fitness runs look like other organized brigade runs and include stretching, warm-up and cool-down periods, but add the benefit of the chaplain’s message at the end.
In the referenced article about Fort Stewart, the brigade Chaplain, Chaplain (Capt) David Clark, spoke at the end of the run on the importance of knowing “the mission of our supervisor” as well as being aware of people so they can offer help, while also being willing to accept help when necessary.
The Chaplain’s message combined a spiritual paradigm and a military application, a perspective military Chaplains are often uniquely equipped to provide.
Via the Army Chaplaincy blog.
The Air Force recently announced that it was beginning to accept voluntary separations (and might ultimately begin involuntary ones) in order to reduce its manning to meets its authorized end strength.
Among the career fields being downsized: AFSC 52R, Chaplains. Catholic Chaplains are not included. Read more
A few days ago, this site noted that a self-described religious freedom organization, Michael Weinstein’s MRFF, had criticized deployed servicemembers for publicly celebrating Easter in the combat theatre.
In an interesting convergence of topics, a message by President Obama recently cited just such a celebration of Easter–and not by just any servicemembers, but by a unit of deployed fighter pilots. A fascinating photo (below) helps explain.
In his “holiday greetings” distributed on 3 April 2010, the President commented on “war time” observances of Easter, saying: Read more
Last September, Chris Rodda, a researcher for Michael Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote an article enumerating her “Top Ten” list of Christian travesties in the US military, emphasizing acts which “convince the Muslims we’re on a crusade.” A less combative version of this same list was re-published in the US Air Force’s Attitudes Aren’t Free just a few weeks ago.
At number 8, Rodda lists this rather interesting way in which the US military is showing the Muslim world America is on a crusade: Read more
Many military members who deploy have “kits” of items that they take with them, some for personal reasons, other for professional. Some military branches and specialties also issue kits with required items for the servicemembers in those fields.
Chaplains are no exception. Over at the Army Chaplaincy Blog, Chaplain Daniel Sparks has a picture and list of the things he packs in his “Chaplain’s Kit” when he deploys. While size and weight are certainly important, Sparks also mentions another important factor: Read more
The ministry team of Chaplain (Capt) Steve Fisher and his assistant SSgt Dewey Landers made a special point in Iraq to minister to the Air Force Security Forces on base. They are one of the few units that is called upon to perform missions “outside the wire.”
The response of the members of the unit to the Chaplain’s visit was an important indicator of the significance of Chaplains in the military. From their Chief, Michael Fluck: Read more
It is not uncommon for people of a religious faith–Christian or not–to occasionally speak of the difficulty of celebrating their faith while in the military. This is particularly true in intense training environments, as well as the obvious restricted areas of combat. The military culture is sometimes hostile (even unintentionally) to the spirit of a religious faith, and the logistical environment sometimes restricts the ability to fully exercise one’s faith.
Despite the challenges encountered, it is important to highlight the fact that the US military has a responsive environment of both commanders and Chaplains to see to the religious needs of all of its servicemembers. Though there are obvious logistical hurdles in some cases, there is no institutional support for or bias against any particular faith. In fact, the opposite is true.
For example, the Aleph Institute, a DoD Chaplain endorsing organization and valuable support agency for Jews in the US military, recently said they had to come to the rescue of a Soldier seeking spiritual resources, and because of “red tape” a Jewish Soldier has “almost no chance” of getting spiritual resources like prayer books and kosher field rations.
History, however, demonstrates the opposite. In fact, Jewish military Read more